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ST. GEORGE — For the 14th year in a row, SkyWest Airlines, based in St. George, held its “Mini Indy” go-kart racing event.
Go-karts are not very fast, but if you were driving one in St. George Friday afternoon, you probably wanted to pass the guy in front of you.
"These go-karts are only five horsepower motors, they only go 27 miles an hour, but you know, we're all red-blooded Americans. We love to compete and win,” said Chip Childs, president and chief operating officer of SkyWest Airlines.
This year, it was held on the old airport runway on top of the bluff with the landmark “D” for Dixie on it.
"The reason why we do it is because we've raised over a million dollars for some fantastic causes," Childs said.
That’s right — $1 million since the event started.
The money comes from racers, sponsors and donations.
All the money raised from this event goes to the United Way of Dixie.
"We receive anywhere from $70,000 to $90,000 a year from this," said Rebekah Pectol of United Way Dixie. “A hundred percent of the donations we receive here from Mini-Indy that goes to United Way goes right back to our community in Washington County to 17 nonprofit organizations."
In fact, the Mini-Indy event is so important to United Way of Dixie, administrators say without it they couldn't fund nearly 50 percent of the programs they do every year.
“We’d be lost without this event. I wouldn’t even want to think about it,” said Pectol.
Although nonprofit groups certainly win, there can only be one main winner from all the teams racing.
Some take it very seriously and have been going after the first place trophy for years.
Dixie State University's team has been racing in this event for 13 years.
"We think of ourselves as seasoned pros, but we're probably just seasoned and not pros,” said Darcy Winona, one of Dixie State University’s drivers. "We're not going to win, we're not going out to try and win. We're just here to have fun."
In the end, that's what this racing event is all about — fun and raising money for organizations that make the entire Dixie community better.
