The swamp buggy is a vehicle that was designed to navigate the Everglades and was used in its development as well as for hunting and off road transportation.
As will happen hunters would gather to compare stories and buggy designs. These stories led to challenges and races between the different buggies which usually took place through a muddy bog on Raymond Bennett's potato farm. The first organized race took place on Mr. Bennett's farm around 1943 between a dozen or so hunters. The potato patch has since evolved into the Florida Sports Park and is now known as the "Mile of Mud". The depth of the mud is hard to gauge because of the brown swamp water that covers every inch of the track. It is estimated to be about 5 or 6 feet deep in the deepest section which is commonly referred to as the "Sippy Hole".
There were lots of Jeeps racing too and here are some of them going through the Sippy Hole.
And of course some didn't make it.
During intermission we even saw a flying lawnmower.
What race would be complete without a Queen and her court. At the end of the race the winner gets to dunk the Queen into that lovely muddy swamp water....yuck! Makes me wonder why anyone would want the job of Queen. Now in this sport you can't be afraid to get a little wet.
There were some amazing machines and some very skilled drivers but for the most part it was a lot of good old boys just having fun. It was a great race and we had so much fun watching it.
1 comment:
Great pics, I'm glad you took these, I was there, (with the 3 shirtless guys in the back of the pickup in the last 2 pictures. They kindly invited my nephew and I to hang out with them. Couldn't ask for better seats).
Enjoy your travels.
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