Mud racing:

Sandman, I know a guy down there that his brother and him run mud drags and bogs in the L.P., I can't find his e-mail address right now, but when I do I'll give it to you. He run with us all last year, really good guy. Another great race down there that is different is at Boyne Falls during Polish fest. It is like a figuire eight track. You start with s fairly short straight stretch, go around a fairly tight circle, cross over the first straight stretch as you go down a longer straight stretch, near 150 feet I would guess. There is flags along the whole way, every flag you hit they add 2 seconds to your time. The loop is where the race is won or lost. It takes some driving to get around it fast, smooth, without hitting the flags. The loop is way to tight for a rail with 138 wheelbase, trust me I tried. The money is darn good there too.
I bet most of them bad races talked about didn't have a sactioning body.
I ran into that kind of stuff when I use to try to go to Wisconson. One time they would not let me race because the S-10 that I had at the time didn't have a floor in the box and the tires stuck out past the fenders, this is open class I'm talking about. They had a couple of rails, nothing covered there tires.
Another thing that is trouble is local guys running a race with stop watches and flags, let me say can be trouble.

<font color=purple>There's a guy you can link to from my web site (Sean MacDonald or something like that - his site is called "Twin Soo's 4x4 racing" I think) either from the pictures page or the home page links who puts the schedules for those "figure 8" events on his page. Might want to keep an eye on that.

The problems I mentioned were indeed at local or "outlaw" events, rather than "sanctioned" events. We have also had some problems with stopwatches. Although, it's normally more a problem of guys not understanding how they're supposed to time, rather than outright cheating. The latter does happen, & even when it doesn't you sometimes wonder. We've got one guy in Missouri Mud Racing Association who really is fast & VERY consistent. Never a bad pass. But, his wife ALWAYS times when he runs. Granted, she's one of three timers & they throw out the fast & the slow time. But, it still looks bad since he wins an AWFUL lot of the time. Actually, if you've got a good, honest crew, I've found timers to be more reliable than lights. BUT, lights do take the human factor out of it, which can squash rumors of cheating even when it isn't going on. And a good, honest crew is tough to come by. At our club events, we've got an honest crew. "Good" applies only to some of them though. The club got lights in '99, so it's no longer an issue - although I'd prefer that we still use the stopwatches in the "bog" events & just run the lights for "drags". At my G.U.M.B.O. races, we do exactly that - lights for the "Fast Track" & stopwatches for the "Pit". I've got our club's lights (and workers) for the July 4th race & they've got a dual-lane setup. I only run one lane, so we're going to set up both timing systems on that lane & use the "lane 2" time as backup when the "lane 1" time fails.

The thing that happened with your S-10 is unfortunate. Sometimes guys end up in a class they really don't belong in because one little mod (like a cut-out bed) that's legal where they normally race is NOT at some other place. But, how they could say you didn't belong in "open" is beyond me!</font color=purple>

TEX

[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Got Mud?
G.U.M.B.O. Mud Racing

With your lights do you guys add in the reaction time?
Five or six years ago we got a new set from portatree, I believe the name is.
These are wonderful lights, very little trouble like the previous version that we had. At least until I ran over the sensors at the finish line last year at the last race. Then they made a trophey out of the pieces for me at the banquet.
We add the reaction time, it adds something for the driver. Not to mention the pressure to cut a good light. We also give 25 bucks to who ever cuts the best light of the day. This way even if a guy can't win his class, he still has a chance at some prize money. This money comes from sponsers the assocation gets so no money is taken from the 100% payback. I have never claimed that honor but have seen a few red eyes in my life. And that stays at the back of your mind for next time.