SUN Center helps earn funds at Carbon County Demolition Derby

This archived article was written by: David Adams

Crash, bang, boom, is the sounds that you heard at the 2009 fall Demolition Derby held at the Carbon County Fair Grounds Aug. 29. Teams from throughout Utah came to smash the guts out of their cars in this spectacular event. Also attending the event was student from the College of Eastern Utah, but not as spectators, but as volunteers in the concession’s food stand. This year the SUN Center held sign ups for anyone who wanted to volunteer to work in the food stand. Ten volunteers took orders and served food to the spectators. All their hard work will pay off when the final tally is done and a check is cut to the Family Support and Children’s Justice Center.
“It feels good there is no other feeling like it when you volunteer for a good cause,” said Cole Unsworth, SUN Center president. This is the second year that he has volunteered for the SUN Center, and encourages everyone to try it. “Once you start you can’t stop, it is very addicting.”
This is not the first time the SUN Center provided fund raisers for the justice center. When the justice center first opened, renovations had to be done to the building that was once a house in order for it to be a workable business. CEU stepped up the challenge. With the SUN Center in front of the charge, they went to work painting and fixing the building. Former CEU President Grace Jones, donated the carpet out of her home, and the curtains that hang over the windows were made by the SUN Center’s Director Kathy Murry.
This year the SUN Center is volunteering at multiple events, and their goal is to have every student sign up for at least one event throughout the year.
Demolition Derby
Now for the Demolition Derby. By the time the night was over, the best looking car had no better use than a paper weight. The number 69 car was drove by John Perry from Price. The car, a 1986 Ford LTD, looked more like a compact by the time the night was over as did most of the other cars. Just before the derby started, a safety briefing was given. “This is not NASCAR guys, tear it up. The only rule is don’t hit the other guy’s driver side door,” said one of the officials.
By the last round, 10 cars remained. It was a battle for the times and after about five minutes of heart-pounding action, the only person to come out on top was Rick Adams of Adams Motors in Price, smashing into his own brother Gus and disabling his car. So at the end of the night $3,000 went to Rick Adams, $2,000 went to Gus for second place, and $1,000 was given to Denis Sandoval for third place.