<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rick Fields (left) works on his demolition derby car with his friend Kody LaFond (right) in a garage in Wasilla on Aug. 13, 2023. (Anisa Vietze/Alaska Public Media)</figcaption></figure>

Seventeen days before the demolition derby, Rick Fields was in the shop welding and grinding a make-shift gear shifter. He spent weeks working on his car, a 1988 Ford station wagon, all in preparation to destroy it in minutes.

“It works in theory, right?” he said as he inspected his rebar and angle iron gear shifter in the Wasilla garage. “But until we get in the car and smash it up, then we don’t know.”

Each year at the Alaska State Fair, demolition derby drivers like Fields deliberately crash cars into each other in a big muddy pit. They do this until there is only one car left running, and the winner receives $3,000.

The drivers have a lot of different reasons for competing. For some, it’s just an adrenaline rush. For others, it’s a unique way to bond with family. And for Fields, it’s a way to spread a message.

“I come from a background of addiction and I’ve struggled with it myself,” Fields said. “Part of what we do is just showing people that there’s fun on the other side of it. You get out the other side of the darkness that is addiction and there’s a whole world, and you get to do some pretty cool things – like build a car and smash it up with your friends.”

<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rick Fields (left) and Kody LaFond (right) came into the shop together almost every day to work on the car. They gutted the whole interior of the car, taking out all the windows, welding the doors shut, replacing the battery and much more. Aug. 13, 2023. (Anisa Vietze/Alaska Public Media)</figcaption></figure>

Fields is the director of facilities and maintenance at True North Recovery, an addiction treatment center in Wasilla. 

“It’s painful and it’s scary to get sober,” Fields said. “If I can show just one person, ‘Hey, this is fun,’ then it’s all worth it.”

<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rick Fields grinds down a piece of angle iron to turn into a gear shifter in a garage in Wasilla on Aug. 13, 2023. (Anisa Vietze/Alaska Public Media)</figcaption></figure>

On demolition derby day, Fields went up against 14 other drivers in the large cars division of the demolition derby. Fields was definitely the underdog: Many of the drivers have been competing for decades, including Brian Bess, the organizer of the derby. 

He’s been competing in derbies for 37 years. Ten years ago, the fair canceled the derby, and Bess convinced fair organizers to bring it back. He’s been running it ever since. For Bess, competing in the derby isn’t about winning.

“It’s just an adrenaline rush and it’s fun,” Bess said. “You know, people climb mountains and people climb icebergs and all of these crazy things.”

Two hours before showtime Bess was busy inspecting cars as they came in. He went through a printed out checklist on a clipboard for each one.

“There’s no glass, there’s no metal, no emblems and no mirrors,” Bess said, standing in front of a black car and marking off his checklist as he read each item aloud. “There’s a hole in the hood for the fire department. Fuel tank has been removed, it’s secured down, covered.”

Fields and LaFond stood next to their car, waiting for the event to begin. The car was adorned with a shiny new paint job, the side of the car said “SMASH THE STIGMA,” as in, the stigma that can often surround conversations about addiction and recovery. 

Fields said he wasn’t nervous.  

“I imagine once we get lined up it’ll start to kick in, but I’m feeling pretty good so far,” Fields said. 

<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Fields and LaFond painted their car with the slogan “smash the stigma,” and clients in