The cars’ trunks had been crushed like soda cans and fashioned into jagged, knifelike battering rams. As the vehicles strategically crashed into each other and kicked up dirt into the audiences’ eyes and mouths at the Wasatch County Events Complex, an unwitting passenger could be spotted strapp ed to one car’s trunk: Elmo from “Sesame Street.” Even though he’d been rammed and had watched a car flip over only a stone’s throw away from him, Elmo walked away mostly unscathed. He’d sacrificed one hand and a bit of stuffing — and, undoubtedly, incurred shaken baby syndrome — but his four-man team, “Shift Happens,” had triumphed over the opposing team at the Wasatch County Demolition Derby on Friday.  Driver Ryan Chivers explained that torturing stuffed animals during demolition derbies is a family tradition his dad started. “The best ones are the 4-foot-tall ones like, say, a SpongeBob full of little packing peanuts. And then, a little hole will get into it, and it’ll just blow over the track, and it’ll be in everybody’s cars,” he said. “Kids love it.” Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park Record Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park Record Children participated in the demolition derby on a variety of Power Wheels and other small motorized vehicles during the children’s heat. Chivers has been building his car since the beginning of June and spent about $50,000 on it, including the plushie. He’s been attending demolition derbies since he was younger than Elmo and competing since he was 15. For him, the appeal of the sport is simple. “You have road rage, and you can take it out. There’s no consequences,” he said. Chivers is from San Jose, California, and made the trek for the Wasatch County Demolition Derby because it’s “one of the more premier events in the United States.” Organizer Brad Bowman agreed. The event has been going for about 55 years, but was nearly shut down in 2016 due to a lack of competitors.  “We could only get, like, 15 cars,” Bowman said. Since Bowman’s promotion company, Destructive Behavior, took over organizing in 2022, the competition — now a three-day event — has seen a massive resurgence. This year’s derby featured about 160 contestants from across the country. “People that want to do it competitively, they want fair treatment,” Bowman said.  DJ Cameron’s derby car goes up in smoke. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park RecordWorkers tow dead cars from the arena following each event to prepare for the next heat. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park RecordThe Mountain Valley Stampede royalty greets the crowd during the commencement of the Wasatch County Demolition Derby. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park Record Bowman said there are two reasons for the derby’s renewed popularity: the $200,000 total payout in prize money, which is funded by ticket sales and sponsorships, and the way the drivers are treated. That’s why each competition class has a rulebook filled with as many as 20 pages of fine print. A technician inspects each car to ensure there’s no funny business. Bowman’s technicians come from all over the country to ensure there’s no favoritism among locals. The arena, too, is high-quality, this year implementing cutting-edge rubber berms instead of concrete ones. They’re reinforced with “75 dump truck loads of dirt,” Bowman explained. “We’re doing this hoping that the concrete will not explode and shoot debris into the bleachers,” he said. “We hope that it makes it safer for the drivers and the fans.” It was clear from watching the competition that safety was the top priority. If a bumper fell off or tire came loose, siren lights would flash and the announcer would tell the drivers to stop while the debris was dragged off the track. That’s not to say it wasn’t dangerous. In the youth competitions Friday night, one car caught fire and another flipped. But as soon as the teenage drivers got out of their cars, they were pumping their fists in the air, working the crowd.  Workers rush to Cade Goode after being rolled over by other derby cars. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park Record Another tense moment came during the advanced youth competition, when a car bumper flew through the rear side window of Heber City 15-year-old Cache Jacobsen’s car, narrowly missing his helmeted head.  “I didn’t even know it went through,” Jacobsen said. “(The safety technician) goes, ‘Don’t move. … That bumper just barely missed your head.’ I look back, and there’s a bumper right there.” What, instead of the bumper, went through Jacobsen’s head at that moment? “Dang!” he exclaimed.  But as soon as the bumper was dislodged, Jacobsen was pedal to the metal. Even though he lost one of his back tires, he ended up in a three-way tie for fourth place. Bowman said, “These guys, I’m telling you, will take cars whose bumpers will be 6 feet in the air, and they’ll be straight tomorrow, heading back onto the track for round two.” A crew rushes to change the radiator on Skyler Hadley’s car before the derby. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park Record Often, drivers will lend each other parts mere hours after demolishing their vehicles. “There is bad blood, don’t get me wrong. But 90% of us will do anything for each other any given day,” Bowman said. Driver Parker Lazenby, a Heber City native who now lives in Delta, recalled last year’s derby, when he substituted as a driver on his friend’s team and ended up head-to-head with another one of his buddies.  “I laid some hits on him that I was kind of worried about, like, I should slow down a little bit. But at the end of the day, you give hugs and high-fives. It’s a cool sport. So much sportsmanship for that much violence,” he said. “I think that comes with how dangerous this actually is. There’s a level of respect that all of us drivers have for each other.” Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Brad Bowman, left, and Parker Lazenby, right, the afternoon before the Thursday competition. Lazenby has been competing since he was 16. Over a decade later, he’s glad no other hobby has caught his fancy. He doesn’t have the time or money to spend on anything but his derby cars.  Lazenby’s 2011 Ford Crown Victoria, worth about $20,000 after modifications, has a bumper “you could probably weld on the front of a dump truck and run into pretty much anything.” “I think the dump truck would probably be more abused by the time you assess the accident,” Lazenby said. Even after adding about “4,000 pounds” of parts and metal to his car, Lazenby’s favorite part is the engine. Rowdy Burns (right) smashes Ryan Sweat (left) into the arena wall. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park RecordParker Lazenby (left) and Tyson Shelley (right) go head to head in a front end collision. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park RecordDJ Cameron (right) rams into the side of Patrick Bettolo (left). Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park RecordJosh Holt climbs on top of his car to celebrate his victory. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park Record “You need to be able to ram into a bunch of people, get it smoking hot and have it still scream,” he said. What Lazenby loves even more than the blood, sweat and tears he’s put into his car is the fact that all that work pales in comparison to the whims of Lady Luck. “You can have a guy that can have the best built car there, and that guy has no control over how the night goes,” he said. “There’s so many underdog things that happen in derby, whether it’s a first-time driver going out there and getting lucky against a bunch of veterans, or one guy who’s outnumbered by five and still finds a way to dismantle those guys’ cars and get them in bad positions.” This year’s underdog was 15-year-old Corbin Anderson from Heber City, who won first place in the beginner youth competition.  It was his second time ever competing in a demolition derby. Last year, Jacobsen lent him a spare car that got knocked out seconds into the competition. But in preparation for this year, Corbin spent hours toiling away on his very own car, assisted by Jacobsen and his derby-loving family. “Last time, I only had two or three days to get my car ready and mentally prepared,” Corbin said. “This time, I was more prepared, ready mentally, to go crash cars.” Corbin Anderson (left) works together with his friend to tape up some foam padding on the door frame in preparation for his upcoming derby heat. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park Record His strategy was making hits that he could get out of unscathed. He aimed mainly for tires or passenger doors. Watch out for him when he gets his driver’s license next year.  Corbin’s mom, Nicole, said her son has learned teamwork, perseverance and mechanical know-how through competing. “I am actually really surprised by how much he knows,” she said. “He’s taken a welding class at the high school, and he’s getting pretty good. I think it will help him in a future career.” For placing first in the beginner youth competition, Corbin won $3,000. Some will go in his savings account, and some will go toward another derby car. After experiencing the high of going from last to first place in only a year, Corbin is hooked. There are worse things a teenager could get hooked on, Bowman joked.  “I always tell people one or two things,” he said. “It’s cheaper than drugs … (and) everybody’s got a hobby.” Corbin Anderson celebrating on top of his car after winning his heat. Credit: Christopher Reeves/For The Park Record The post Wasatch County Demolition Derby brings glorious destruction to the masses appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less