Rommeney, aka Cheesebox, ready to roll at Riverhead

Cheese and butter are yellow. Michael Rommeney's cars are always yellow. Cheese and butter are two of his favorite foods. The chassis of Rommeney's demolition derby car is in the shape of a box.

If you follow logic correctly, it's easy to see how Rommeney's nickname, "Cheesebox," came about.

"When I was a child, all I used to do eat was cheese and butter," said the 32-year old from Maspeth who officially received the nickname from his brother. "I needed a name kids would really pick up on. They go crazy for me now."

The energy will be electric Saturday night, the final evening of competition at Riverhead Raceway, for the National Demolition Derby championship, with a $1,500 prize going to the victor. Rommeney is a 16-year veteran who has won nearly every derby title at Riverhead - except the national title.

"It would be astronomical to win it," he said, adding that he expects between 20 and 30 cars to be entered. "It's always been the $1.50 part that gets away from me in this race."

So Rommeney has put in many hours to ensure his car can stand up to the rigors of the event.

"Nothing on the car will fail," he said. "It's just a matter of if the chassis will hold up."

You know, the cheesebox.

Oh, brother!

In figure eights, Scott Pedersen replaced his brother Arne in the top spot with a second-place finish last week. Scott leads by four points, meaning Arne will need to finish two spots ahead of him in Saturday's race to overtake him for the title. If they finish tied, Arne would win the tiebreaker with four feature event victories to Scott's zero.

In legends, Kevin Nowak of Medford won his first career title, and Tom Rogers Jr., who won last week's figure eight event, sealed the modified crown. He also won the class in 2004.