Mud Trucks
Somewhere Between Horse and Lobsterboat Racing
They’re designed to power through mud. But with tire tread and HP enough to go rock climbing, why not leaping in the air off a ramp to see what happens. As the event evolves new stunts are inevitable. Fishermen’s Voice photo
Just add water to a section of horse racing track, after digging a 4-foot-deep trench to hold the mud, and you’ve got a mud truck track. Mud trucks are not exactly re-purposed, they come with a singular purpose, they are already what they are intended to be and will ever be. They growl through mud that anything else, man, beast or motor, would immediately get bogged down in. Mud truck events could be seen as the urban-arena-based monster truck event going au naturel, “back to the land movement”, y’all.
This is engineering and invention for the hell of it. Competitive fun, with surplus income, a range of mechanical skills, a facination with what a big engine can do when it’s attached to something and wives who are OK repeating into the phone, “He’s not home,” mixed together in varied proportions. Attendance is a family affair with low entrance fees and some of the usual fairway attractions.
A mud truck event was held in Steuben, July 9-10. They have been held there for about five years. Other venues in Maine at Blue Hill and Machias have faded, but there are events in southwestern Maine. Lauden, N.H., is home to a large and long-lived mud truck races. Along with conventional car racing back to the 1990s. Mud trucks are and have been more popular in the southeastern U.S. for about 40 years.
Anticipating a highly technical answer that the interviewer might embarrassedly need to have re-stated, volunteer and event organizer Mark Pelletier was asked what was the difference between a 2 1/2 ton- and the 5-ton big lift suspension. The interviewer was soon relieved by Pelletier’s response, “The 5-ton don’t break.”
This custom everything monster engine being excavator-lifted for installation into lobsterman Jeremy Beal’s short bed Chevy mud truck delivers 1200+ HP. It’s a 706 cubic inch Sonny Leonard alumimum engine. Jeremy, below in background, supervises with a coffee.
Mud truck competitions are separated into classes by tire size, engine size and suspension size. Size matters here. There are different event classes, including the mud race, which is based on speed and distance traveled over the 200-foot course. The other classes are stock, tractor and truck tire sizes up to 48 inches, four and six cylinder and the unlimited motor and fuels classes. The obstacle course features ramp jumps and table tops. “The jumps brought more interest and excitement to the event,” said Pelletier.
The vehicles are built by the owners or a mix of owners and professional, with stock engines and the custom engine work of professionals like Richard Weaver Jr. of Steuben. Richard Weaver Sr. is the legendary lobster boat racing and truck pull engine builder whose engines dominated the lobster boat racing circuit for decades. The Weavers were up overnight modifying Jeremy Beal’s big block Chevy 706-cubic-inch Sonny Leonard engine for the Sunday morning mud truck race at Steuben.
Pelletier said Steuben Mud Truck events have attracted up to 600 spectators. The events and prizes are sponsored by auto parts and other companies, truck racers and the gate. Some observers have speculated on the evolution of the mud truck, being as close as it is now to the lobster boat racing circuit. Left-over nitrous oxide down below in a boat at the wharf. A nitrous-fueled mud truck parked at the wharf. Monster submarine intertidal racing?