Trucks Gone Wild - Twitty City, SC
Photos and words by Sean Rayford
When the engine roars loud enough, and the wet earth flies high enough — most race fans near the announcers booth retreat. A few brave souls hold ground and turn their backs as a jacked up 4x4 blasts through the Allendale County mud on a Saturday night.
“In high school we had four wheel drive trucks — 44’s, 35’s. On the weekends or in the evenings we'd go play in the mud on the power lines — on dirt roads,” says Russell Twitty, about his days attending Brookland-Cayce in the late eighties, “We did that for a long time and then there was a mud hole that was up from the house called Wagener Salley Mud Bog.”
In ’89 Twitty raced his daily driver in Wagener against two dozen others and came home with fourth place. “From there on, it's just been playing in the mud.”
Russell Twitty and the Liva Killa mega truck.
Two decades later and ten years ago, Russell opened Twitty’s Mud Bog in Ulmer, SC — less than fifteen miles from his current home in Barnwell. Last weekend Twitty's hosted their final event of the 2020 season.
“We're all out here to have fun. It's about the people you meet and the times you have out here. I've met a lot of good people in the sport,” says Robert Sturges, driver of the 1500 horsepower Blown Habits Mega Truck, out of Stuart, FL.
Cotton Candy and light sticks
Robert Sturges
Sturges, who competes in 30-40 races each year, started mudding when a friend’s grandfather gave them an old Ram Charger. He was 12.
“It's not as competitive,” he says — pointing to drivers sharing parts. “Obviously, everybody wants to win but I've kinda got a slogan now - ‘winning is for losers.”
“Big power and a ton of fun. It can't get any better than this,” says Joe Bishop of Granville, NY — after rolling his blown small block Ford in the horseshoe turn.
“We were going down through the big pit and it was rolling fast man. I knew the corner was crucial and I wanted to push it in and hold onto it and get the best run we could get. And it just didn’t pan out. I was afraid of not steering and it steered just a little too much. Ended up on the roof and we will get it put back together and come out for round two.”
Joe Bishop and the Airborne mega truck
After yanking off the front clip, Bishop’s team replaced the blower belt and ran the second attempt under 30 seconds. “Everyone treats you as family. Everyone’s there to have fun and race together. It’s a no pressure event,” says Bishop.
Photos copyright Sean Rayford 2020 - To license photos please email seanrayford@gmail.com
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Twitty's Mud Bog season opener (March 2019)
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Sean Rayford is a photojournalist based in Columbia, South Carolina. See more at seanrayford.com