Mud Bogs and Dirt Tracks

[countrygirl1986]

Noticing the whole retirement of Jeff Gordon last night got me to thinking...

I've never been into NASCAR racing. I've never cared for it. Now that isn't to say that I don't like racing.

No, what I grew up with and prefer instead was more akin to Hazzard's answer to racing - the Dirt Tracks. I grew up watching what I believe are referred to as Sprint Cars, racing the mud tracks - in person. I don't care for it on the TV - has to have that authenticity that comes with being there in person with the sounds and the smell of the exhaust and.. *sigh*. I grew up watching stock cars on mud tracks too. We used to have a mud track over in New Castle, Delaware somewhere I believe. I'm not sure if it's still there though.

My favorite to watch when I was a kid though were the Mud Bogs - drag racing in the mud. Someone always eventually got stuck. Now that being said, the last time I watched a mud bog in person, my mom was racing them and one of my other relatives... don't know if I should refer to him as my uncle or my cousin - I've always called him uncle, but he's actually my like, second cousin through my father's marriage to my step mother and I knew him as uncle long before my step mother came into the picture....?

Anyway, that last mud bog race, I was really young at the time, but that race scared my mom enough that I do not believe she returned to race with us in tow. She was next in line when the wind kicked up really bad. She got disqualified for leaving her vehicle to get us kids to safety. The wind was so bad that they covered us head to toe and got us to the regular vehicles. The adults who carried us to the vehicles looked like they'd been hit by a sand blaster - the sand and fine dirt that was dried out of the mud and the lots and such was blown up so bad by the wind storm (I'm surprised it wasn't declared a small tornado) that they were all bleeding in places.

It happened during the 90's in like Delaware, Maryland, or Pennsylvania. I can't remember where exactly. From that point on, my mom checked for wind warnings before taking us to any dirt based race.

I kind of want to get the money up to go to the dirt track races and mud bogs again... haven't done it in years.

Actually, that particular race came up the other day when my mom and I were talking to someone, my mom's fiance's sister I think, who had no idea what a mud bog was. Of course, while my mom was explaining it, I popped off and told her you just gotta check the wind warnings before you go and why, and my mom was honestly shocked I remembered that incident. I also remember my "uncle's" Chevy Nova getting stuck during that event lol (and the wrecker got stuck getting him out)... I miss that Canary Yellow Chevy Nova... but he kept blowing the engine... and yes, it had a name. We called it the Canary. I think it was like a '71 or something.

But yeah, I think I want to go watch some of those races this summer if I can get the money up. I wonder if they still do periodic free admittance. 

Ugh, first I have got to get my cooling system fixed in my car before I can go - pin hole in the radiator and my coolant isn't circulating properly at times (and or my cooling system fans are NOT kicking in so it may be the circulating but the fan motors could be blown. It could also be my fan relays - my dear sweet brother jumped my car and reversed the polarity - dummy was lucky not to blow both our cars up. he assumed something when my leads weren't marked instead of checking the +/- markers on the battery. He also melted. literally melted, my ground wire for my engine. Everyone swore he wouldn't have made the mistake he made, but a week later with my car sitting with a dead battery - parasitic drain so I have a kill switch i forgot to hit - he looked at the battery finally and admitted, ADMITTED he reversed the polarity).

Speaking of Kill Switches - those are required today for any kind of racing vehicle to safely kill a vehicle engine, preferably remotely, to protect the driver in case of a wreck. Many of the remote kill switches can be used to remotely start a vehicle as well. My mom's pathfinder when she raced that had to have one installed or else they would not have allowed her to race. Needless to say, she is permanently retired from doing any kind of racing for health reasons.

Definitely want to go watch one of those this summer if i get the chance and my knee holds up well enough to get into the stands.

[RogerDuke]

I'm getting pretty excited about the local dirt track opening up here in Conneaut Ohio soon. (I live just across the line in Pennsylvania) I try to make it every Friday night and I always wear a Dukes shirt and orange 01 hat.

[countrygirl1986]

It's more exciting than NASCAR in my opinion, that's for sure, and I think that might have been part of what interested me in the Dukes in the first place - the dirt track racing that was portrayed, but it was portrayed in a way that it sucked a dirt track fan in, even if they only really liked the in person races.

[RogerDuke]

The thing that I like about dirt tracks is the way the cars fishtail on the turns....I believe kids call it drifting. Whatever you call it, it's fun to do and fun to watch. That's why I like dirt bike races too. We have a track up here called Holeshot that I go to.

[countrygirl1986]

Not going to disagree, Roger... The fishtailing is a lot of fun to watch... not so much when you end up doing it when you're on pavement when you slam on the brakes to avoid a deer and almost hit the guardrail instead - no damage thank God.

Thought my mom was gonna kill me when I told her I had a near accident - her brakes locked up on me when i slammed them on. My car needs brake work done to it so they will not lock like that. There may be some minor bubbles in my brake lines - the car stops and stops well, but the brakes will not lock even though they don't have ABS. My brother drove my car a few months ago (I was on pain meds and needed to run up to my school), and he b****ed the entire drive about the brakes, as well as a minor exhaust leak that I have to get fixed. He also complained incessantly about the way the car vibrated.

But yeah, the way the cars handle at high speed on a dirt track is great when you're watching it.

You should watch the mud bogs sometime. Harder to locate but they are great. As previously stated, someone ALWAYS gets stuck once during the event. That's fun to watch (and from what I understand, more fun to do). Drag Racing street legal cars and trucks in the Mud... whoever thought of that needed to receive an award.

[RogerDuke]

Lucky for me one is not hard to locate at all, it's only 10 minutes from my house. It's called Dirty Cherry Mudding (because it's located on Cherry Hill Road) and isn't that old but is getting bigger every year. I think they have one event every month but it always seems like I have something to do that day. I'm definitely going this year. I have been to a place called Yankee Lake in Ohio a few times. That's the biggest mudding place around where I live but It's over an hour away. Ray Khon does some of his Dukes stunt shows there. What a muddy blast!