Another beautiful day, about 70 degrees and partly cloudy with a little wind coming out of the West. Continuing to take a break from our labors we decided to take in the finals of the 2010/2011 Swamp Buggy Races (http://swampbuggy.com/) held in the Collier County Sports Park about 15 minutes from our condo.
After breakfast we finished a few items on our “ToDo” list then, around 11:00 AM we headed out for the races. We got there in time to get a great parking spot, straight out from the main gate. Grabbing our seat cushions we picked up our tickets from Will Call and made our way through the gate onto the main concourse. We decided to sit up high in the grandstand behind the finish line, so we trudged up the 15 rows to the top (grunt, groan – heh, heh) and put our seat cushions on the bench to hold our spots. Then Tina headed to the food venders to get us some lunch. I got a pulled pork sandwich and Tina got a steak sandwich. After a couple of bites, Tina asked to trade, so we did. They were both pretty good.
By now it was noon and the race activities were starting with the announcing of the points standings as of the end of racing yesterday, introduction of drivers, presentation of the colors and the national anthem. The it was race time. There are six classes of buggies: Jeep - Must be a 4 cylinder American Jeep.
Air Cooled - Must be air-cooled. Usually powered by motorcycle or Volkswagen engines.
4 Cylinder - Must be 4 cylinders.
6 Cylinder - Must be 6 cylinders, V6 or straight 6.
V8 Sportsman - Must be stock V8 engine block according to manufacturer's specifications. Modified 4WD - Must be driven by all 4 wheels. Engine of choice; big block Chevrolet modified with high performance parts.
Pro Modified - Same as above, except 2 wheel drive. These engines can develop nearly 1,000 horsepower
First up were the quarter finals for Pro Modified with three heats of two buggies each heat. They were followed by three heats of two or three V8 Sportsman per heat.
Next up was two heats for the air cooled class with two buggies in each heat. And finally, the Jeep class had three heat races of four jeeps per heat. By two o’clock, we had completed the quarter finals for the four classes racing today.
It’s really exciting to watch the big monsters wheeling out of the pits and into the swamp to line up at the start. The noise and color as they are staged before getting the green flag. It takes two flaggers to get everybody set. The first flagger has a furled red flag and brings everybody to the line. When they are properly staged he points to the starter who uses a furled red flag to point to each driver in turn with each driver giving an affirmative thumbs up that he/she is ready. Once everyone is ready, he uses an unfurled green flag to start the race.
The buggies come off the start line in a churning mass of mud and water heading across the infield towards the far turn. They have to hold their line just like the hydros to keep from washing out their competitors. Reaching the far side of the course they enter the back straight and immediately go into the far right hand turn. Sweeping around the far turn they enter the front straightaway and barrel down towards the finish line and sweeping into the right hand pit turn. Exiting the pit turn they thunder down the back straightaway, tear through the far turn and fly down the front straight to cross the finish line. The really high powered buggies complete the course in 60 to 65 seconds.
Whewwww! I got tired just writing up one race – heheheh! All the classes perform the exact same circuit. However, there are some places on the track called “Sippy Holes”, essentially an 18 to 24 inch trench carved out of the bottom of the track from one side to the other. The V-8 Sportsman and Modified classes, with their power and speed fly right across them without missing a beat.
First up were the quarter finals for Pro Modified with three heats of two buggies each heat. They were followed by three heats of two or three V8 Sportsman per heat.
Next up was two heats for the air cooled class with two buggies in each heat. And finally, the Jeep class had three heat races of four jeeps per heat. By two o’clock, we had completed the quarter finals for the four classes racing today.It’s really exciting to watch the big monsters wheeling out of the pits and into the swamp to line up at the start. The noise and color as they are staged before getting the green flag. It takes two flaggers to get everybody set. The first flagger has a furled red flag and brings everybody to the line. When they are properly staged he points to the starter who uses a furled red flag to point to each driver in turn with each driver giving an affirmative thumbs up that he/she is ready. Once everyone is ready, he uses an unfurled green flag to start the race.
The buggies come off the start line in a churning mass of mud and water heading across the infield towards the far turn. They have to hold their line just like the hydros to keep from washing out their competitors. Reaching the far side of the course they enter the back straight and immediately go into the far right hand turn. Sweeping around the far turn they enter the front straightaway and barrel down towards the finish line and sweeping into the right hand pit turn. Exiting the pit turn they thunder down the back straightaway, tear through the far turn and fly down the front straight to cross the finish line. The really high powered buggies complete the course in 60 to 65 seconds.
Whewwww! I got tired just writing up one race – heheheh! All the classes perform the exact same circuit. However, there are some places on the track called “Sippy Holes”, essentially an 18 to 24 inch trench carved out of the bottom of the track from one side to the other. The V-8 Sportsman and Modified classes, with their power and speed fly right across them without missing a beat. 
But the two cycle and jeeps, because of their lower horsepower and torque never generate enough speed to get across them. So they tend to nose down, bog down and have to fight their way up the other side of the hole to reach firmer footing and get back to racing speed. So these classes take about three to four minutes to complete a heat, but they are exciting to watch too.During the intermission, a team of RC Planes took to the air to entertain the crowds. Along with the acrobatic fliers, the Swamp Buggy Queens vying for the 2011/2012 Season Crown came out and made a pitch for votes.
These eight young ladies ranged in age from 16 to 20 and were students at the local highschools and Edison College. All during the afternoon they had been selling tickets for the 50/50 drawing. They received 50% of the take to support the Swamp Buggy Queen Scholarship Pageant held every April at the race course. By the end of the day the kitty was over $10,300 split two way with the winning ticket holder walking away with over $5,150. We put in $20 bucks to buy six feet of tickets but we weren’t the winner, heheheh!The second half of the day saw semi finals then finals for each class with a consolation heat for the jeeps who wanted to do a three lap exhibition race. By 4:40 PM all racing was complete and the trophies handed out to the season champions. At the end of it all, the Queen gets tossed in the swamp in all her finery – it’s a tradition!
We left the track and were home by 5:00 PM. Tina fixed a light dinner, I worked on the blog and we pretty much took it easy the rest of the night. To see all our photos, clicck on:
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