![]() ![]() ![]() You can pick out the Chevy backers because they're the ones standing around the fire, hoisting cold beers and hollering. In the evening's first drag race a Chevy truck wins, which causes the Chevy backers to whoop with approval. Often, the drags set the stage for the longtime philosophical battle of Ford versus Chevrolet that still rages today. "To give the normal Joe a chance," Don Fowler says, the evening traditionally starts with sand dragging, which is head-to-head speed racing on the sandy banks of the hole. And there are some local rules: Nobody runs without a helmet and a seat belt. There is a National Mud Boggin' Association that governs the sport, which seems to thrive in Southern states. The best drivers keep one eye on the mud and one eye on their stopwatches, trying to get the optimal time. Drivers try to get as close to the target time without going "too fast for the class." For instance, a 12.01 time in the 12-second race is about as good as it gets. There are different time classes _ 14, 12, 10 and eight seconds _ for covering the 200-foot distance. There's nothing intricate about mud racing. "Then next week he's down there with his $10," Malinda Fowler says. This generally happens when the races are over and it's midnight and the Fowlers just want to go home. After watching the big boys churn through the hole all night there's usually "some guy in a Toyota who just wants to see if he can get through," Malinda Fowler says. For a $10 entry fee, which gets them two runs, they compete for trophies (big ones), prize money (as much as $200) and, to varying degrees, local fame.Īnd every week, it seems, there's another rookie looking to break into the driver ranks. But when Goodwin decided to move to Georgia in 1993, the Fowlers decided to try their hands at running the place.Įvery Saturday night since then, the Fowlers have staged races that attract several hundred fans and drivers from all over west central Florida. The Mud Boggin' track opened in 1991, Fowler says, and was run by Ray Goodwin. Prodded by the long arm of the law, the Fowlers had to look elsewhere for their weekly mud fix. "We got a truck and when we'd trailer it to a lake the deputies would come and run us off." "Just playing in the mud," Don Fowler continues. "My daddy kills trucks," Malinda Fowler interjects. "We got interested playing in the lakes and stuff, like a lot of them do. She's the one that got us into it," says Fowler, a soft-spoken mail carrier who lives in Brooksville. That was about five years ago, before he met wife Malinda. There was a time when Fowler led an ordinary, mud-free existence. Track owner Don Fowler even sells a T-shirt describing the condition. ![]() The people gathered around this dank bog suffer from a disease that is slightly contagious and that permanently alters their lifestyle. They could be somewhere else tonight, but they're not. until midnight each Saturday, as many as 50 drivers fire up their machines to test their ability against the most fundamental of elements: dirt and water. ![]()
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