Man, somebody slap me if I ever say that I will go to a mud racing event again.  Yep, I did agree to go with Brad and take Big Yeller to a Saturday event in Muskogee, Ok. and run in a competition.  That’s just about 125 miles away and we hadn’t been out in about a month.  I mean, just how bad could the mud be? 
 
We loaded up the rigs on Thursday night because we had a wedding reception scheduled for Friday evening.  We would just head out at 0600 on Saturday morning for the 2 hour drive.  Due to a blown trailer tire and stopping to gas up the Jeeps, it turned into 3 hours, but we still arrived in plenty of time to get unloaded and ready for the drivers meeting.  There was not a large turn out, but they had 17 trucks signed up for the 38.5" and larger tire class.  With the large amount of rain during the week and right on through the event, every course would be a tough one.  They even pumped several thousand gallons of water out of the pits of the obstacle course.
 
After walking the courses, we knew that it was going to be a tough day.  The first test would be on the rock course.  It was moderate in toughness except for being very narrow, at least until the last 20 feet.  There they had prepared a large hole for us to drop down into and featured a huge rock that gave you very little room for error.  A couple of feet off center and you would drop off about 8 feet and find yourself upside down in the mud.  Remember that everyone had mud on their tires as they pulled onto the rocks.  No one in either of the first two smaller sized tire classes got anywhere near the end of the rocks.
 
The classes would run in the order that the drivers had signed up.  Brad would be going 3rd  in the big tire class and I would follow him in the 5th position.  The first contestant failed to reach the last section.  Then, Larry Jordan of Bluementhol's transmissions made a good run and got his front end up onto the last big rock but slid off to the East. He held fast to avoid rolling so they could take his measurement.  Brad followed with a smooth run through the rocks but high centered his front diff and wedged the rear of his truck leaving all 4 tires hitting nothing but air.  Even with being locked all the way around and having rear steering, he still couldn’t do much when all tires are just biting air.
 
With Brad doing the spotting for me, we maneuvered Big Yeller across the rocks and made it to the mammoth rock at the end.  We got the front end up on top but kept sliding the fronts off to the East.  I tried to bump the rear up several times hard but it kept pushing Yeller off and away.  As the time ran out on the 10 minute time limit, we had to settle for the measurement.  Larry Jordan was sitting in the lead with me holding tight in second place.  I would be knocked back into 3rd by a later contestant.  There were 4 rigs rolled into the mud on this event and no one completed the course.  You really did have to keep your wits about you on this event.

Next up would be the log jam which consisted of a series of muddy logs placed at different distances.  Before you get to the logs you had to pass through 3 deep holes that were staggered so you could not drive around them.  They were just big enough to swallow up a 44” tire and test your articulation.  Then you hit the logs that are placed to catch any wheel base.  If you made it past the logs you had a 180 degree turn in a mud pit and then a Jeep sized hole to pass through.  Then it was hammer down and across a jump to the finish line.  Jordan once again set the early mark with Brad riding as spotter.  They both jumped out of Larry’s truck and switched positions and Larry was spotting for Brad.  Brad smoked the holes and the log jam in a lightning fast time, blew through the 180 mud pit, but flipped the YJ upside down in the Jeep sized hole recieving a DNF for the event.  After righting his Jeep, Brad then shook off the mud and climbed into Big Yeller as my spotter.  Big Yeller cruised through the first holes but took a bad bounce on the logs and slid sideways.  Brad quickly jumped out and pulled the cable on the Ramsey Patriot 9500 winch.  We were soon out of the log jam and continued smoothly through the rest of the course but with the winch penalty, I dropped down into mid pack for this event.

Then came the obstacle course.  It was a serpentine course that started with a series of 3 mud pits and 2 hills, then a 180 left turn through another mud pit into a straight shot through more deep mud into another 180 right turn with VERY deep mud.  From there it ran through another shallow mud pit onto a very steep slick hill and through one last moderate mud pit to the finish line.   Most in the big tire class made it into the second 180 turn to the right where the very deep mud was.  This halted all of the first 5 competitors and left me sitting in 1st at that point by a few feet.  By the end of the event there had been 3 rigs conquer this course.  The Mud Bug from Mud Bug Motorsports  out of Muskogee, Ok. finished the run.  He did receive a 1 minute penalty for getting off course.  He was running cut Boggers which did very well in the mud and 2 trucks running tractor tires completed the course.  By this time it was dark and they had to postpone the mud pit until Sunday afternoon.  After getting the mud washed off of ourselves, or at least most of it, we finally got to cooking supper about 11:00 PM.

 
As the sun climbed into the sky on Sunday morning, and with a failed starter on Big Yeller that was so mud packed that we couldn’t even see the starter, we chose to pass on the running of the mud pit even though we were still in the running for some cash.  I just couldn’t bring myself to fight the mud and change the starter out and then stay around until late Sunday evening to get started back home.  This was a good decision as it turned out, because on our return trip to Oklahoma City we got to refresh our pit crew skills by blowing 2 more trailer tires.  I had packed 2 spare tires so this left us 1 tire short.  We were lucky enough to break down about ½ mile from a truck stop that had a tire shop so we dropped the trailer and carried the rims back into town and had them mount up 2 more new tires.  After about an hour delay we were rolling back toward the fort.

Thankfully the rest of the trip home was uneventful and we enjoyed a nice 2 hour ride on back to the Austin homestead.
 
God graced us with a fun and non-boring weekend and a chance to enjoy fighting the elements.  But once again, if anyone hears that I am thinking of going to a Mud Race again, just go ahead and shoot me and put me out of my misery.  We worked for the next 4 evenings cleaning mud out of the jeeps.  Man now that is real redneck fun!!!!!!
 
I want to thank Scott and the rest of the crew that worked so hard to put on a great event there at Richardson's Offroad Events. They were very gracious and showed us a great time. I think as they get a little more experience, this will grow into a feature event for the Mud Racin' crowd.
 
God Bless You and Yours……  Now come on down and lets go wheelin'. (ON THE ROCKS!)
 
OKIE- OUT
David Austin (Wheels Up)