{"id":431774,"date":"2016-02-19T02:02:05","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T10:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bangshift.com\/?p=431774"},"modified":"2016-02-16T20:38:07","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T04:38:07","slug":"mud-bog-time-machine-early-1980s-mud-bog-action-from-oklahoma-awesome-rigs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangshift.com\/bangshiftxl\/mud-bog-time-machine-early-1980s-mud-bog-action-from-oklahoma-awesome-rigs\/","title":{"rendered":"Mud Bog Time Machine: Early 1980s Mud Bog Action From Oklahoma – Awesome Rigs!"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Words and photos by Doug Gregory) –\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Part one of our expedition to yesteryear takes us to Perry, OK.\u00a0 Situated just off Interstate 35, Perry is home to the Cherokee Strip Museum and the Charles Machine Works \u2013 maker of Ditch Witch equipment.<\/p>\n

The location near Perry was a multi-use space.\u00a0 Truck and Tractor pulling, mud racing, ATVs, etc went on there.\u00a0 Perry was the first time I got to see Paula and Jim Harbuck in their \u2018Master of Disaster\u2019 mud machine.\u00a0 Though Paula hadn\u2019t yet reached the zenith of her mud-racing fame, she came ready to race and win.\u00a0 Back then their Chevy Luv ran cut tires mostly and the top-of-the-line back then was the Ground Hawg.\u00a0 I can remember debates about the best big tire for this and that both in the pits and on the streets (because \u2013 you know \u2013 a good ole boy needs serious mud tires for his lifted, 99% street-driven pickup).\u00a0 The Gumbo Monster Mudder was another big hitter that many ran.\u00a0 Scoop tires weren\u2019t all that common around then and I do not remember why.\u00a0 Sometimes there wouldn\u2019t be many show up to run in the paddle tire class and they cut tire rigs would run there too\u2026.and sometimes beat the scooper-equipped rigs.<\/p>\n

More two-wheel drive rigs in here.\u00a0 There\u2019s a colorful Corvette (with matching tow rig) I believe came out of Enid, OK.\u00a0 The \u2019Lil\u2019 Monster\u2019 Luv makes another appearance in a low-slung, mud-racer version.\u00a0 \u2018Double Trouble\u2019 was a unique rig for the day with a rear-engine configuration.\u00a0 Don\u2019t shoot me because I snapped pics of the Ford coupe or the Chevy II two-wheel-drive competitors.\u00a0 I certainly don\u2019t condone that kind of thing today, but no one was thinking about conserving real steel back then.<\/p>\n

For those not in the know about mud pits back then \u2013 sometimes the mud was very deep and well-stirred.\u00a0 Sometimes it was a mucky, sticky mixture of clay and water that was very inconsistent from end to end. \u00a0 Eventually what started as \u2018mud bogging\u2019 evolved into \u2018mud racing\u2019 and the depth decreased as did the consistency of the \u2018mud\u2019.\u00a0 The pits featured in these galleries are typically inconsistent and DEEP.\u00a0 Often the smaller rigs ran first and that progressed into the larger stuff.\u00a0 Typically your fastest-class vehicles with paddles or cut tires were last to run so they had to navigate large ruts and mounds pushed up by vehicles being sucked down in the same spot.\u00a0 It was certainly exciting to watch.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve included shots of some pullers assembled during one event including the Landwehr\u2019s \u2018Stir Crazy\u2019 pulling truck (as a Commanche in this version) and their \u2018High Risk\u2019 monster truck.\u00a0 Good times.<\/p>\n

Enjoy.<\/p>\n

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