Muddrags of San Antonio Texas Outlaws Pro Mud Racing Series 4th Annual Swanner Memorial Race

Saturday July 11th, 2020

With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic a lot of our normal 300ft sand drag season has been delayed or cancelled, so with the help of sponsors and supporters of ours in southern Texas, we decided to give some attention to the close cousin of sand drags with mud drag racing. Three members of the WSDN crew made our way to San Antonio, Texas to cover our first mud racing event.

The one night event at the Muddrags of San Antonio featured a 240ft track that housed a large field of vehicles ranging from stock ATVs to the kings of the mud: the Blower Outlaw cars. Most classes were run on a double elimination system with the exception of the Blower Outlaw Class and Consistency class. These two classes were allotted two passes down the strip with the quickest pass in the Blower Outlaw class claiming victory for the night, while the Consistency class aimed at trying to make two identical runs.

As part of the newly formed Texas Outlaws Pro Mud Racing series, the event featured shootout classes for four classes aiming for larger prizes and prestige. Classes in contention for the shootout were: Blower Outlaw, 2 Wheel Modified Outlaw, 540 Outlaw, and Super Stock Outlaw.

The Blower Outlaw class was essentially an unlimited class that saw different combinations of blowers and turbo chargers in dragsters and altered chassis. These vehicles were given two passes at the track with the goal of running the quickest pass of the evening to claim victory. Times ranged from 3.00s – 2.70s at this event. Mark Riggin in the Another Bad Habit mud rail who holds the track record at a 2.59 was certainly the mark to beat. We didn’t quite see that level of performance at this event. Conditions certainly held back the Blower Outlaw class with the heat reaching 103º with a large dose of humidity to top it off. Even as the night wore on, temperatures were still above 80º. Riggin put together a duo of low 2.7 passes with Jim Ingram right behind him in his Whipple Supercharger equipped Bad Trouble dragster. Ingram certainly had the power with his combo, but couldn’t get around the seasoned Mark Riggin to take the win with a quickest E.T. of 2.740.

The 2 Wheel Modified Outlaw category saw a regular to the sand scene pulling double duty in his mud truck. Rodney Fisher, who you’ve seen at sand events in Atoka, OK, was in attendance with his Pure Addiction truck. He was a favorite in the two wheel drive class and his experience at the sand drags helped him pull off the win with several great reaction times to get out ahead of the competition. Last year at this same event, Fisher wrecked his truck and landed upside down, he escaped with minor injuries and began rebuilding the front end of the chassis.

Stock appearing trucks with big horsepower ruled the 540 Outlaw class. Up to 540 cu. in. engines on methanol coupled with strict rules on allowance of modifications to body and chassis and no paddle tires meant we’d see some heavy trucks with a lot of power and a whole lot of wheel speed. Eventual class winner Wesley Hodge of Hodge Electric in his beautiful Blown Assets Chevy took down a heavy hitting field in the San Antonio heat beating out second place Casey Rogers’ Hustler Jeep.

Super Stock Outlaw continued the program after their 540 Outlaw big brothers. More restrictions to the engine configuration and a 500 cu. in. max meant that these machines weren’t turning quite the times as the 540 Outlaw class, but the tighter rule package meant stiffer competition. Justin Scroter would take the win in this class with the Mud Mistress, defeating Trent Phillips.

The Quad Class was an interesting mix of stock ATV’s, side by sides, and one motorcycle powered mini buggy running a heads up format. In the end, Craig McNiel took the mini buggy entry to the winner’s circle with a vast difference in horsepower vs the competition.

A myriad of Index classes were run ranging from the ultra quick 3.30 Index all the way down to the 6.00 Index where the truly stock vehicles had a chance to shine.