Consider this a BangShifty moment. I was cruising the 2011 PRI show when I ran into pals Keith and Tonya Turk. They were conducting some ECTA business, well Tonya was. Keith, as per usual was goofing off. Anyway, Turk and I were talking when I noticed the Wiles Driveshafts booth and was admiring their carbon fiber driveshafts. I then noticed a sign for a slider demo derby shaft and had to learn more about this totally ingenious creation. 

This is a company that makes some of the most hard core and advanced driveshafts for drag cars and dirt track racers and here I am, drooling over this bizarro world demo derby piece. I felt like an idiot…a curious idiot, but an idiot just the same. Thankfully, the guys in the booth humored me and gave me the skinny on the demo derby slider shaft.

In the Midwest there are a lot of high dollar demo derbies that pay from $10,000 to $50,000 to win and are very liberal with modifications to cars. Experienced demo derby guys have come up with a modicum of tricks and enhancements to use and one of their innovations was a driveshaft that could extend or collapse depending on what happned to the car. Wiles built one for a customer, someone saw it, suggest some improvements and they made them. Selling for $650.00 a piece, I was told that the company moves a bunch every year becuse they are moved from car to car by serious demo guys. Outside of their ability to grow or shrink massive amounts, they can also operate at obscene angles due to the flanged ends that won’t bind up even when it appears the laws of physics say that they should.

Learning about new parts is cool, but discovering parts you never knew existed, especially ones that are so simple and brilliant you wish you thought of them first is awesome. Scroll down to see the amazing amount of growth and shrinkage (I was in the pool!) this driveshaft has!