Safety officials and onlookers rushed to pull the driver from the flipped, flooded Jeep.
The video above comes from the Mud YouTube channel and it features a heavily modified Jeep rocketing around the course of the Lazy Springs Mud Races in Florida. What starts off as a great-looking run turns scary when the driver overshoots a jump and ends up flipping into muddy water that is deep enough to envelop the driver’s compartment.
Mud Racer
The video below shows a purpose-built mud machine with the body of an older Jeep participating at the Lazy Springs Mud Races. We don’t have any details on this rig, but it is clear that few of its parts came on any stock Jeep. It has an elaborate chassis and suspension setup, huge off-road rubber on beadlock wheels, a roll cage and what sounds like a very healthy V8.
When you combine all of those items in an old school Jeep, or something that looks like an old Jeep, the result is a wicked mud racer.
Racing Action
In the video above, the vehicle begins off in the distance, racing towards the camera and making short work of the watery mud, the muddy hills and the jumps. The driver appears to be on pace for a great run as he carefully slips through the turnaround to the right of the cameraman before heading over a series of dirt hills. That series of dirt hills is where things went wrong.
After sliding around a bit when the Jeep hit the dirt, the driver awkwardly approached a jump into the water. The vehicle came off the jump at an angle, nosed-down and flipped into the water. The water isn’t all that deep, but it is deep enough to present life-threatening danger to the driver of an overturned vehicle.
Fortunately, spectators and event officials rush to pull the driver to safety and the racing action continues with an unbranded pickup truck that nearly flips coming out of the big, wet turn.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
