"The Grim Reaper"

The first all-woman team was formed in 1991, competing annually until the 14^th derby. They never won the final show down, but they did win a few heats, plus the support of many fans. The history of the little Massey is very colorful!  Although the team was  surrounded by encouragement and cheers from the bleachers, the atmosphere inside the arena was a different story. No matter how extensive and detailed their decorations, the combine must have resembled a huge magnetized Bulls Eye as every combine in their heat was ‘pulled’ to it, rendering destructive blows.  Didn’t take long, and the women’s entry was helpless and stranded in the middle of the arena. If there were 5 combines in the heat, four of them would zero in on the combine and in a short period of time, it would be incapable of leaving the arena under its own ‘steam’. When the Grim Reaper made her debut, the Lions Club had just assembled new bleachers (1999) and at at that time, a record crowd watched the derby. With enthusiastic support, the Grim Reaper entered the arena with the best of intentions!  However, the combine  ‘sighed and died” about five minutes into the first heat. The husbands of the team were, of course, the team’s crew, and guess who was blamed for the early demise of the combine? You guessed it! Those guys had to tend to business in order to get the combine ‘street ready’ for the parades following the derby (to advertise for the derby).  After 10 years (and ten Best Decoration Awards) the busy crew retired their combine. It presently is parked in a corner of a field and will probably remain there until it is covered by years of dust storms.

Members of the women’s crew:  Driver, Dawn Watson Lobe, Karla Fowles, Robin Kulm, Val Watson, Sidney Wahl, Ruby Koch, Carol Kent, and Carol Kelly.