Meet the Kick-Ass Women of the Texas Banked Track Roller Derby
See why TXRD is arguably the sport’s toughest league
TXRD plays on a banked wooden track. Leagues that play on banked tracks are a kind of homage to roller derby's roots in the 1930s and '40s.
Drew Anthony Smith for Rolling Stone
We caught up the “derby girls” late in the TXRD season, and flying elbows have taken their toll.
Saturday night’s big bout featured the Putas del Fuego (whores of fire) and the Holy Rollers, who fielded a lineup heavy on replacement players, since their roster was decimated by injuries. In front of a raucous convention center crowd of nearly a thousand, the Rollers kept the game tight, before the Putas finally pulled ahead, thanks in part to quick passing by Knockout, the Putas’ jammer (a point-scoring position.) Here’s a look at what it takes to be Texas tough.
