Loving mud and lots of it

By Gloria Austin  
    A sport that is a decade old in the area is mud running, and owner/drivers have a lot of money invested in their machines.
    Bob Smart and his companions sink money into building a mean mud machine.
    “People ask us why you’d spend so much money,” said Smart. “It’s what we like to do and we have fun.”
    Smart, a native of Millinocket, now residing in Amity learned about the mud runs from a flyer hanging on a gas station wall.
    “I started watching them and I’ve been going ever since,” he said. “I began building a truck really cheap. I ran stock and I’ve been improving ever since, going into the modified open classes.”
    Smart now races a skimmer — a vehicle that literally skims across the top of the mud — in timed events instead of measuring by the distance a truck pulls through the mud.
    Mud running hit the area about 14 years ago. The mud running events were held at Conrad’s Place in Weston, moving to the David Knowles resident before making its home in Hodgdon on the McIntyre Road.
    “A lot of people like to play in the mud,” said Smart. “It comes from people going into the woods. We try to make a controlled environment for it.”
    The mud runs have several divisions from stock trucks, ones driven on the road, to those running seven-foot tractor tires or belting out 1,000 horsepower engines.
    No matter the machine, Smart said a lot of the competition is racing.
    “We have machines with a lot of horsepower and big tires,” he said. “People like big trucks and at our events you can see anywhere from 10 to 30 trucks all built up. At the fair, we may have as many drivers as 75 to 80. Entries come from Canada all the way to southern Maine.”
    Many drivers are local — Laurel Violette, Billy Joe Hall and Eric Flewelling are some veteran racers — with others coming from the northern part of the County, as well.
    One modification to the mud runners’ events this season is the hopes of drivers receiving a payback for placing in the competition.
    In past years, drivers would pay an admittance fee of $8 to $10, along with an entrance fee. This season, Smart and other organizers want to allow drivers into the competition free, with just those drivers paying their entrance ranging from $15 to $25.
    “We’d like to have the entry fees used for a payback,” said Smart. “We want to draw more drivers by having this payout. The Houlton Fair has a good payout, and there is always a big crowd.”
    Another area organizers are looking to expand is the sponsorships.
    “Right now, we have to hire an excavator to dig the pit and a tractor to pull the trucks out of the mud. We have some tentative sponsors, but we’d like to have more to help offset set-up costs.”
    A $200 sponsorship includes a two-by-four foot banner that would be displayed at all events. The mud runs will be held June 20, July 4, July 18, August 22 and September 26 at the Houlton Fairgrounds during Motorsport Weekend.
    The mud runs draw a number of faithful followers.
    “It’s hard to have an exact number,” Smart said. “We don’t have gate recipients or any records. I’m guessing we have anywhere from 100 to 150 at an event. The fair usually draws about 500.”
    Racers can range in age. But, for lawnmowers, drivers need to be 18 years of age or older. Mud runners can be 16 years old with a Maine driver’s license to compete in the Houlton State Agricultural Fair event, but they need to be 18 years old for the Hodgdon events.
    Estabrook and Smart just want to get the word out and put on some shows for people to enjoy. Rules can be picked up a Power Sports on North Road or at Military Street Automotive.