MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/EA433227/WhatisMudRacing.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" What is Mud Racing

What is Mud Racing?

Mud racing combines the competition of track motorsports with the thrill of off-road driving. The racers involved compete to be the fastest through a mud track filled with pits and holes. Thes= e mud racers, called mud runners, include dragsters and four-wh= eel drive pick-up trucks. The sport, also known as mud bogging, has combined the extreme racing of mud pits with the custom culture = of top level trucks.<= /p>

Mud racin= g emerged as a sport in the early 1970s in Northern Lo= uisiana. What started as recreational driving for truck owners soon became a sport w= hen mud racers began organizing and competing.= With the expansion of mud racing into Southern Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, permane= nt pits began to emerge. Mud racers wou= ld compete at fairs and establish pits in small arenas.

Mud races are most often competed in pits= and tracks of up to two or three feet of mud. Pits span many distances, from 50-80 feet short, hilled tracks, to 300 feet twists and turns. To traverse these pits, trucks are usually four-wheel dri= ve, though they do not necessarily have to be. Many of the mud racers competing complement their truc= ks' power with a supercharger= . These supercharger= s allow more fuel to be given to the engine, which supports more oxygen and more work in the engine.

With tracks across the Southern United States and infiltrating the Northern part of the countr= y, mud pits vary in details, features, person= ality and difficulty. They have mud drags = and pits, and range from hills to bogs to holes in the ground and modified dirt paths. The pits can be man made or natural, with human up keeping to ensure= the proper depths of mud.

Today, much of organized mud racing= motorsports are governed and promoted by the American Mud Racing= Association (AMRA). This organization follows in the steps of USA Mot= orsports and other organizations which provided rules and promotions for mud running competitions. In the late 1980= s and early 1990s, mud racing began to hold national championship= s, which continue to this day. Today’s AMRA sets rules for certain restr= ictions and truck classes. These include tires, suspension, engine size, camshaft s= ize and carburetor size.= All organized mud racing tires= must be street legal and Department of Transportation approved. =

The culture promoted by these organiza= tions has includes safety and toughness. Mud racers also have added pizzazz to their sport, often seen in the flashy des= igns and paints of their trucks. The sport has earned its reputation from some of its more famous racers. These mud ra= cers are often exuberant personalities with flashy styles. They include many loc= al and out of state champions. They are among the faces of a sport that has br= ought art, competition and attitude to swamps and pits around the country.

Green Valley Speedway in Glencoe, Alabama now adds their name to the lis= t of fine mud courses in the South and soon shall put the Glencoe complex on the National map. With it’s already famous Dirt Track, known as ”The Jungle” which recently hosted= the 13th annual” Bama Bash” = in February of 2010, the GVS Crate Nationals in March, the popular Go= Kart Track and now the New Mud Course,= to be known as the “Python Pit”, t= hey are on soon to get more National prominence.