The Swamp Buggy is a vehicle used to traverse the vast, bog

Bog

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....

gy swamp

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...

s of the American South. Invented by Ed Frank[1], in Naples

Naples, Florida

Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of July 1, 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 21,653. Naples is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated total population of 315,839 on July 1, 2007...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, the swamp buggy proved valuable during early development of the Everglades

Everglades

The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...

 in the 1930s

1930s

File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...

 and 1940s

1940s

File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...

.

The original Swamp Buggy, known as "Tumble Bug", was a tall, ungainly and strange looking vehicle, riding on huge balloon tires, which could be used for everything from hunting expeditions deep into the Everglades to Sunday afternoon outings. An editorial in the Collier County News, a local Naples newspaper, claimed swamp buggies were "as important to Florida as the cow pony

Cow pony

A cow pony is a horse trained for cattle herding. They can be used on a ranch or open grazing lands....

 is to the west, in that they are the only practical means of transportation once off the main road."

The early years

As more and more hunters built swamp buggies, they would gather together to share a few homespun-engineering tips, and before long, one hunter would challenge another to a race through a muddy bog on Raymond Bennett's potato farm, which, according to swamp buggy inventor Ed Frank, "was the biggest hole in the vicinity of Naples." The first organized races took place on Mr. Bennett's potato farm around 1943, featuring a dozen or so local hunters.

By the late forties, 31 to 41 racers would gather the week before hunting season to race for the valued prize, which was usually a new shotgun donated by a local merchant. On November 12, 1949, the first "Official" Swamp Buggy Races were held, with a field of almost 50 competitors, in Naples, Florida. The mid 1950s saw continued growth of Swamp Buggy Racing. ABC's

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 Wide World of Sports

Wide World of Sports (US TV series)

ABC's Wide World of Sports is a sports anthology series on American television that ran from 1961 to 1998 and was originally hosted by Jim McKay. The title continued to be used for general sports programs until 2006...

featured the mud madness in a national television special and Hollywood stars like Gary Cooper

Gary Cooper

Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...

 were seen in Naples riding Swamp Buggies.

Mile O' Mud

The pp patch has now evolved into the Florida Sports Park and the once unruly bog has been groomed into the famed "Mile O' Mud" it is as known today. The "Mile O' Mud" is a seven-eighths of a mile (1.4 km) oval, featuring racing lanes which are approximately 60 feet (18 m) wide, with a one-eighth mile (200 m) diagonal lane slashed through the center. The depth of the mud is hard to gauge because brown swamp water covers every inch of the track, making it appear to be a foot (30 cm) deep, though it drops to between five and six feet (1.5 to 1.8 m) deep in three places. Buggies driving through these holes often disappear up to their steering wheels and exhaust pipes. The largest pit, located in front of the grandstand, is the treacherous "Sippy Hole", named after "Mississippi" Milton Morris, a legendary driver who could almost never conquer the hole without stalling.

Present day

As the popularity of the sport has continued to grow, cash prizes purses of several thousand dollars replaced the shotgun, and the incentives to go faster also grew, until the swamp buggies became far too fast and too loud to be used for hunting wild game. Today’s high-tech buggies are designed for racing only. The pontoon-like bodywork fully encloses a powerful racing engine, and rather than relying upon big fat flotation tires, they stand upon tall and skinny tires, with paddle treads on the rears designed solely for forward motivation and almost bicycle-narrow front tires for rudder-like steering.

There are three races a year, January, March, and October, and all three races are taped and televised by the Sunshine Network. The races have also nationally televised by the National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...

, TNN

TNN Motor Sports/TNN Sports

TNN Sports was a unit of The Nashville Network, and later as The National Network . TNN Sports aired Motorsports events from 1983–2003, the XFL in 2001, and Arena Football League games from 2000–2003-History:It all began when the network launched in 1983...

, ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 and the Travel Channel

Travel Channel

The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...

. Before every October Race there is a Swamp Buggy Parade in downtown Naples. Each of these events finds Naples pulling thousands of spectators from many states, and gives Naples and the Swamp Buggy sport extensive publicity.

Winners

• 1949 Johnny Jones
• 1950 Harry Lowe
• 1950 Bud Popenhager
• 1951 George Espenlaub/Bubba Frank
• 1952 R.L. Walker
• 1952 R.L. Walker
• 1953 R.L. Walker
• 1954 H.W. McCurry
• 1955 Sippy Morris
• 1956 Arnold Walker
• 1957 H.W. McCurry
• 1958 H.W. McCurry
• 1959 H.W. McCurry
• 1960 Chester Byrant
• 1961 Chester Byrant
• 1962 Jack Hatcher
• 1966 Daniel Phypers
• 1967 Jack Hatcher
• 1968 Lee Hancock
• 1969 Jack Hatcher
• 1970 Leonard Chesser
• 1971 Leonard Chesser
• 1972 Leonard Chesser
• 1973 Leonard Chesser
• 1973 Leonard Chesser
• 1974 Leonard Chesser
• 1975 Leonard Chesser
• 1976 Roger McCandles (Oct)
• 1976 David Sims (May)
• 1977 Leonard Chesser (Feb)
• 1977 Leonard Chesser (Oct)
• 1978 Leonard Chesser (Feb)
• 1978 Leonard Chesser (Oct)
• 1979 Leonard Chesser (Feb)
• 1979 Lee Hancock (Oct)
• 1980 David Sims (Feb)
• 1980 Terry Langford (Oct)
• 1981 Lonnie Chesser (Feb)
• 1981 David Sims (Oct)
• 1982 Lonnie Chesser (Oct)
• 1982 Terry Langford
• 1983 Roger McCandles (Feb)
• 1983 Lonnie Chesser (Oct)
• 1984 David Sims (Feb)
• 1984 Leonard Chesser (Oct)
• 1985 Terry Langford (Feb)
• 1985 Terry Langford (Oct)
• 1986 Leonard Chesser (Nov)
• 1987 David Sims (Mar)
• 1987 Lonnie Chesser (Oct)
• 1988 David Sims (Feb)
• 1988 Tommy Turner (Oct)
• 1989 Terry Langford (Feb)
• 1989 Terry Langford (Oct)
• 1990 David Sims (Feb)
• 1990 Wayne Cochran (Oct)
• 1991 Larry Andrews (Mar)
• 1991 Lenny Dunn (May)
• 1991 David Sims (Oct)
• 1992 David Sims (Mar)
• 1992 Eddie Chesser (May)
• 1992 Terry Langford (Oct)
• 1993 David Sims (Mar)
• 1993 Don Jolly (May)
• 1993 Larry Andrews (Oct)
• 1994 Lenny Dunn (Mar)
• 1994 Terry Langford (May)
• 1994 Leonard Chesser (Oct)
• 1994 Leonard Chesser (Mar)
• 1995 Eddie Chesser (May)
• 1995 Eddie Chesser (Oct)
• 1996 Albert Doria (Mar)
• 1996 Terry Langford (May)
• 1996 Eddie Chesser (Oct)
• 1997 Eddie Chesser (Mar)
• 1997 Eddie Chesser (Oct)
• 1998 Eddie Chesser (Mar)
• 1998 Eddie Chesser (May)
• 1998 Leonard Chesser (Oct)
• 1999 Michael Filmore ( Mar)
• 1999 Eddie Chesser (May)
• 1999 Leonard Chesser (Oct)
• 2000 Eddie Chesser (Mar)
• 2000 Leonard Chesser (May)
• 2000 Glen Filmore (Oct)
• 2001 Brain Langford ( Mar)
• 2001 Lonnie Chesser (May)
• 2001 Leonard Chesser (Oct)
• 2002 Glen Filmore (Mar)
• 2002 Leonard Chesser (May)
• 2002 Lonnie Chesser (Oct)
• 2003 Randy Johns (Jan)
• 2003 Leonard Chesser (Mar)
• 2003 Leonard Chesser (Oct)
• 2004 Eddie Chesser (Jan)
• 2004 Eddie Chesser (Mar)
• 2004 Dan Greenling (Oct)
• 2005 Tyler Johns (Jan)
• 2005 Glen Filmore (Mar)
• 2005 Leonard Chesser (Dec)¹
• 2006 Tyler Johns (Jan)
• 2006 Tony Migliazzo (Mar)

¹ - delayed from October due to Hurricane Wilma