As with almost every sport, the team demolition derby has an offense (the runners) and a defense (the crushers).  The offense tries to obtain the elements that help their team win (in this case, laps) and the defense tries to stop them from completing this goal.

While it’s not 100% accurate to suggest that half the TDA is offense and half is defense, it’s close enough that this statement can be made.  And what is shocking to me is that in 2012, there are absolutely no good, let alone elite runners in the league.  The entirety of the TDA’s fire power is on the defensive side of things.

2008-2011 marked a true high point for runners in the TDA.  Robbie Stahulak, Ryan Bleuer, Steve Gursky Jr. and Gerritt “Big Kahuna” Vanderbilt consistently performed at Hall of Fame levels, with each man at some point in time effectively winning a race seemingly by his lonesome.  Other runners like Brian Anderson, Elmer Fandrey and Ron Tyrakowski stood out as being extremely competent.

With Stahulak and Gursky Jr. now retired and Bleuer and Vanderbilt currently slogging through a season of hell for Junkyard Dogs 2.0—Bleuer himself has lost in three straight first round races—the well is a lot dryer than it used to be.

There is a downward spiral at work here too.  With less truly elite runners present in the league, teams have (and rather smartly) begun to pick on the good runners that remain.  In short, if a team that used to have two good runners now has one good runner and an average runner, that good runner is going to be hounded mercilously.  Case in point: Reckoning.

In 2011, Reckoning had the best running 1-2 punch in the league: Gursky Jr. and Anderson; not coincidentally, they also won the championship and blew the doors off the league, going 12-2 on the season.  Teams couldn’t devote undo resources to stopping Gursky Jr. because Anderson also needed to be dealt with and vice versa.  The Reckoning runners’ biggest protection was having the other man on the track.

This year, with Gursky Jr. retiring and joining the Behind the Destruction podcast, Anderson is now running opposite Wally Hartung.  Hartung is a capable driver, but not viewed as anywhere near the same type of threat as Anderson (or Gursky Jr.).  Thus far in the year, what has stood out the most about Hartung is his total lack of speed as a runner.  He not only has come to a full and complete stop multiple times when going around the tires, but he once hit a turn so slowly that a crusher who had been trailing him in straight away somehow managed to get ahead of him and deliver a front end shot to him before he finished turning. As such, Reckoning’s opponents have turned their sites on Anderson.  Face Reckoning?  Stop Anderson.  It’s just that simple.  Teams are daring Hartung to beat them and, so far, he has been up to the challenge; the Jamie Moyer of the TDA.

The Junkyard Dogs seemed to be in a prime position to avoid this type of fate with both Bleuer and Vanderbilt on their roster, but quizzically the two have yet to actually race together.  This fact may also help explain why the Junkyard Dogs are currently 0-2.  Their opponents simply attempt to shut down whichever member of the VanderBleuer duo is racing and dare Brice Martin to beat them.  So far, Martin has not had the same good fortune that Hartung has had in this respect.

Being in the crosshairs of both of the opponents’ crushers can be an incredibly frustrating experience for a runner.  In 2010, when Stahulak was racing with Damage, Inc. teams zeroed in on him with brutality.  He was Damage, Inc’s only real lap running threat and, as such, teams went after him like Charlie Sheen after new porn starlets.  By the end of the season, Stahulak threw up his hands and began crushing, a site so bizarre it would rival Brian Urlacher lining up under center.

So far, Reckoning has been dealing with teams gunning for Anderson in a unusually cheery and upbeat fashion.  I’m not sure how this is even possible, but Reckoning has won five races thus far this season… and Anderson hasn’t gotten a single checkered flag.  More impressive still, Anderson doesn’t care.  When I spoke to him, he explained that Reckoning knew that their opponents were going to come after him and that they game-planned for their opponents’ game-planning.  “We won the night,” he said exuberantly.  “I’ll gladly get taken out in every race if it means we win.”  Then, in a platitude that actually makes sense given the context, Anderson stated, “I have faith in my teammates.  If someone wants to take me out, that’s fine.  Wally, Nick [Hartung] or Speedy [Steve Vollbrecht] will step up.”  And so far, they all have.

However, no matter how you couch it or understand it, it’s still rather weird to think that there aren’t any runners tearing the track up this year.  If I was making an MVP list right now after two races, it’d look like this:

1)    Ryan Decker – Mean Green Machine

2)    “Speedy” Steve Vollbrecht – Reckoning

3)    Tom “Brickman” Lewis – Orange Crush

4)    Ron Johnston – Full Throttle

5)    Pete Ryan – Damage, Inc.

All crushers.  Just weird.

I, for one, will be very interested to see what happens (if and) when VanderBleuer hits the track Third Night.  I just hope that The Junkyard Dogs don’t pull Stranglehold in the first round, win handily and then sit either Vanderbilt or Bleuer in the second round because of their six-man rotation.  If that happens, you’ll have no problem seeing me; I’ll be the guy in the bleachers whose head just exploded.  My fingers are crossed…