Hett brothers enjoy intense, expensive hobby
Staff writer
"It's a hillbilly drag race, that's what it is," said Troy Hett of Marion, speaking of mud bogging.
Mud bogging is an outdoor sport you may not have heard of, but it has its many fans. Troy Hett and his brother, Tony Hett, who run Hett's Repair on Main Street, will enter the bogging event at Junction City this Thursday and Friday, starting at 11 a.m. both days.
The Junction City event features $10,000 in added prize money, the Hetts said.
The bogging event for this area will be the Lincolnville one, set at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, at Antelope Corner. Ditch Diggers is the presenter of the annual competition.
"That's always a good run there, every year," the brothers said.
The Hetts have run their bright yellow Jeep Scrambler — a 1980 model with "a lot of stuff put together" — for the past two years in these events. They are members of the Central Mud Boggers Association, an organization that's five or six years old.
But mud bogging has been around a lot longer than that, the brothers said.
Their Jeep truck has a 510 cubic-inch cubic-displacement big-block motor that can provide up to 800 HP. The one-seater, driver-only, mudder uses 36- or 40-inch tires, depending on the race class.
The tires are 15 inches wide. There are 20 to 30 trucks in each race or heat, in each class, Tony Hett said.
The mud pit is 200 feet long and 15-20 feet wide. The 200-foot length is a strict rule that must be adhered to.
Each vehicle is allowed to run in only four races per day, so Tony and Troy each drive the truck twice.
They have been known to get to the end of the 200-foot pit in just 4 1/2 seconds.
"It's an expensive hobby," Tony Hett said. "You tear up a lot of stuff. Troy rolled it on its side once this year."
"It gets a little out of hand," Troy said. "We have a competitive vehicle. It can win any mud run."
The Hetts said this is a hobby that requires a lot of effort. "Charlie (Holub) has been a big factor in helping us, telling us a lot," Tony said. "And Randy Williams, from Williams Service, did a lot of work on our motor. If it weren't for him, it probably wouldn't run like it does."
Of course, with the narrow width of the pit, the cars do not race strictly against each other, in real time. They race one at a time against the time clock, or, if they don't make it to the "finish line," they are credited with the distance they do achieve.
"It's loud, if you like lots of noise," Troy Hett said.
Troy did most of the motor assembly and installation work, and Tony did the fabrication and design.
"Everything has to be just right, when you're dealing with that much horsepower," Troy said.
"It's hard to dominate any class, because there are so many good trucks. And if somebody messes the pit up, you can have a bad run," said Troy.
"You'd better enjoy it," said Tony. "If you're going in to win money, you better stay home, 'cause you won't win every time.
There are 13 events remaining this season, including this week's at Junction City. They include one at Abilene, at 1 p.m. Sept. 21, and the season finale, Oct. 4 at Durham (time not available, to be announced).
