First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of, and quality of pictures. At the end of my 24 exposure
roll, my camera fell into the muddy waters and ofcourse was ruined instantly. I was lucky to get a few pictures
intact from the camera.
Anyway, The Sand Drags in Amarillo were hosted by the Sand Drags Association this year. The event
is usually held the last weekend of February. The past 2 years I have atteneded but this will be the first report
on the event. Friday, I left work a little early in my little peice of crap S10 above. The trailer built by Chris Steward
aka Kodiakman, and my old 1991 Honda 300 4x4.
We grabbed a Whataburger and met up with a group of Chris's Coworkers and started to set camp up. Everyone else
had nice accomodations, pop-up trailers, 5th Wheels, etc. I felt silly pitching a tent next to everyone. But I did...
Amarillo in February can be rather cold and windy. Friday night was chilly but actually lucked out weather wise this year. Only a few days
after Sand Drags were over a Northerner blew in. We are sitting in the single digits at time of this writing.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Saturday morning, we got up to
a chilly but sunny morning. After a healthy breakfast we bundled up and cruised down to watch some of the Drag Racing that was already starting.
I managed to snap a few shots of the action that actually developed!
Most of the racers and other Off-Road Enthusiast traveled from Out of State. One racer whos truck did
did not develop was a custom built Toyota Body, all Cheverolet performance parts and straight stacks right out the hood.
Combine this with some swampers and he had a nice sand or mud drag truck. His name was Gus, he and his wife travel around to different events
entering their truck. They were from Muskogee, OK. Sorry this picture did not develop.
Moving on, after watching the Sand Drags for a while, I noticed a group of rock climbers trying some really crazy stunts,
so I went in for a closer look. I took the ol Honda 300 for a little climbing up to the highest point around the area
Jeeps were not making it up the 75 degree inclines. The jeeps would stick about 20 or so feet from the top.
A few would have flipped and rolled down to the bottom if werent for someone hooking a winch up just in time.
Here are a few pictures of the area close to where the jeeps were climbing.
This dune buggy was just awesome to watch. He would practically hop of the rocks, performing stunts for the crowd cheering near.
He would raise the front end up, do circles, jumps, lord I am not sure if he was just drunk or was really that good of a driver.
The buggy seemed to break laws of physics and gravity by somehow not flipping over time and time again! I had my cell phone ready to call 911,
because I just knew this guy would eat it eventually. But thankfully he didnt.
What I like about the event was how "laid back" everyone is. It was just 2000 people having fun
with their machines they obviously spent major bucks on. By afternoon, the weather finally hit in the 70's. This is when everyone
really loosened up. As I tooled around the river beds, pulling out kids that stuck their 2wd ATV's playin. I noticed
everyone just playing in the mud!!!!! That is the main difference from 2001 Sand Drags. It was a little windy to get wet.
This year it was just flat warm, kids and adults the like having mud fights. I really had a good time watching everyone and ofcourse
the trucks and ATV's that were mudding.
The day seemed to pass a little too quickly, I was hungry! Headed back to camp fired up the Charcoal Grill. Made the best dad burn burgers I ever et.
Ofcourse food is always 1000 times better when you are camping because you dont take it for granite. After munching, I tryed to
lay down for a short nap, but could'nt go to sleep. So, I hoped back on the Honda. And headed back to the river bottoms.
After meeting back up with the group, (we had a total of 6 ATV's). We went looking for a mud hole.
I seemed to get stuck every hole that we came across. I really felt stupid when Trevor's 10 year old kid with a Prarie 400
walked through every hole effortlessly. It is time to upgrade the Honda, but it is just about paid off too! 2 more payments and its mine!!!!
Chris (kodiakman) was testing his new ATV out. A Kawasaki 650 V-twinn Prarie. He already added some
some super swampers and a 2500 pd Warn Winch. This ATV was just awesome. I dont think he got stuck once the whole time!! Ofcourse
he used his winch over and over to pull my wimpy butt out. The 650 Prarie has full front locker on demand system, more torque than
you can "shake a stick at". I wish I had a picture to post, maybe he will send me some.....
The mud drags were really a joke this year, I dont think anyone got stuck in it this year. The West Texas Outlaws made a hole last year that was
bottomless. It was sweet, if someone did make it through, they really had a muddin machine. This year, I could have made it through the hole
with a bicycle. Needless to say, we did not watch much of this. Mostly ended up riding around the rest of the day and having fun.
If you are reading this and thinking of attending in 2003, check out the location info.
I would reccommend this event for anyone that loves to Mudd, Sand Drag, or climb. It was also very intertaining for thoose of us that like to
putter around and just watch the events unfold. Saturday night was a little routy with some of the teens drinking and getting into fights.
But other than that, if you are careful and dont drink too much, you can really have a great time here!
Below are some other pics that didnt fit into the story.
First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of, and quality of pictures. At the end of my 24 exposure
roll, my camera fell into the muddy waters and ofcourse was ruined instantly. I was lucky to get a few pictures
intact from the camera. 
