Weiser Mud Drags set for Oct. 2

Mud will fly and engines will roar at the 2021 Weiser Mud Drags, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 2 at Mortimer’s Island in Weiser.
 Like regular drag races, there are two lanes where vehicles race against each other on a straight course. This race, however, involves mud, pitting drivers against each other in an effort to keep their vehicles straight while vying for the fastest time.
 The Weiser Mud Drags are not like mud bog competitions where vehicles are judged on distance achieved through a muddy pit.
 Participants can enter their vehicles the day of the race at a cost of $30. Driver gates open at 6 a.m. with spectator gates open at 9 a.m. Races start at 10 a.m. Cost is $9 for spectators. Children six and under get in free of charge.
 There will be a beer garden and several vendors selling food and drinks.
 Entry money goes back to the drivers, with gate and vendor fees benefitting the Weiser City Fire Department Volunteer Assoc.
 “The City Fire Dept. has become very good partners and we just really appreciate them,” said co-organizer Laurel Adams. “Part of the money goes back into next year’s mud drag races. All of the people working the venue are volunteers.”
 There will be first- through third-place trophies in several categories, including Pro-Mud, Super Modified, Powder Puff, Pro-Stock, and Street Legal.
 “We started the races when I was at the Chamber of Commerce and when I left the Chamber, we just kind of took the race with us because the Chamber had limited resources, but the committee and I wanted to keep it going and so we did,” Laurel said.
 “One of the cool things that we do involves Patrick Nauman at Weiser Classic Candy, who provides a one-pound, solid chocolate truck for all of the first-place winners,” she added. “He’s been doing that for us the last several years.”
 Laurel’s husband, Ken, who works at Farmer’s Supply Co-op, has been involved in the races for about 13 years and is instrumental in preparing the course.
 “I build our lanes for speed, but by the end of the day, they get deeper,” he explained. “We build for speed because it’s really boring for the crowd when they get stuck and you have to pull them out.”
 No vehicles got stuck in the last race, which was held in 2019.
 “It takes about five days to build the course. You can’t just throw it together in a day,” said Ken, who is a fifth generation Weiser native. “We pump water out of the river, come in and disk everything real good, and then we land plane it, and make it as smooth and flat as possible. We build dykes around the lanes, fill it with water and let it soak in.”
 Ken is a racer himself, driving a 1971 Jeep Wagoneer, which has a stock 350 Buick motor and 375-horse power.
 “We found it out at Hells Canyon. The Mountain Man Lodge used to operate on the Brownlee Reservoir and they used it to shuttle people around, but they went out of business and it sat out there in the sage brush for 10 years,” he explained. “We got it for $500, cleaned it up a little bit, put a little gas in it, and it started right up.”
 Ken has two partners who race with him, Joe White, with Royal’s Truck and Diesel in Ontario and Justin Sheldon, Shelden Stacking and Eleven One Equipment.
 Joe races his own rig, a 1981 Chevy truck.
 “Every year we have people telling us we have the best races,” Laurel said. “It’s very competitive. This year is going to be interesting because we didn’t have the event last year, so we don’t know how many people to expect. We just want everyone to have a good race. We take a lot of pride in our event. It’s the nicest venue around. It’s a fun event and if you have kids, you’ll want to bring them.”