Joe Cherniawski had the raw diesel power of 720 horses working for him under the hood of his modified class mud bogger, a 1985 GMC truck he calls Panic.
With his new motor pumping out a ridiculous amount of torque Saturday at the Prince George Motorsports Park, Cherniawski's full-throttle stomp on the gas pedal shot him through the metre-deep quagmire faster than his lifelong buddy Steve Barnaniuk at the Outback Jack's Mud Bog races.
And just to prove his narrow victory Saturday over Barnaniuk was no fluke, Cherniawski turned it on one more time for the spectators, whose show of applause after a six-second pass left no doubt who deserved the $100 crowd-pleaser award.
"My dad started us out and it's good times, we just come out to have fun," said Cherniawski. "It's exciting to drive it, better than anything in the world. You get pumped up pretty good.
"It's a family event and all my buddies are here. I've known Steve since we were in diapers, playing in a sandbox with Tonka toys and we've always been competitive. I'm glad Prince George put this show on for us so we can bring our trucks out instead of having them parked in the back yard."
The mud bog site at Prince George Motorsports Park was the original home of the Prince George Mug Bog Association when Dennis Cherniawski (Joe's dad) and Dennis Ouellette started the club in the early 1970s. The mud boggers were shut down for several years when Ron Cowie owned that parcel of land, which includes a quarter-mile drag strip. The sport was revived last year after Shane Lodjn purchased the facility from Cowie.
Shawn Coburn, 44, a 25-year mud bog veteran in the street modified class, raced for 21 of those years in Quesnel. He's grateful for the chance to race at home again in the two Outback Jack's events this summer.
"There have been a number of changes over the years, the trucks are lot better now than when I first started with a lot higher power, and the pits aren't as deep," Coburn said. "I haven't had too many breakdowns but it can get expensive. It is a fairly pricey sport, it just depends how big you get into it."
In the modified class, it's not unusual for truck owners to spend $50,000 on their trucks, fitting them with lift kits and engine parts needed to climb to the top of the heap.
"I don't even want to know how much I've spent, between all the trucks at our shop we spend enough to keep Chieftain [Auto Parts] open," joked street stock class racer Dusty Fillion.
Barnaniuk figures he's poured about $30,000 into his 1980 Chevy in the three years he's raced it but that investment paid off in three first-place finishes in five events this season. He learned all about mud bogging taking trucks out on dirt roads in the Pineview area east of Prince George. But you won't see him driving his mod in the toolies. A five-gallon can 116-octane racing fuel, good for just four runs, costs $160.
"It makes your motor last, if you run cheap gas you'll burn a piston out," Barnaniuk said.
Halfway through either of the two lanes of pea soup, windshields get covered in mud and drivers just have to guess if they're maintaining a straight run. Once they feel their wheels touch solid ground again they shut down their engines. Some of them don't make it that far and have to be towed out by a cable attached to a skidder.
"I'm not really watching too much where I'm going, you just rev her until she blows, but I've got it built pretty tough now," said Baraniak. "If you don't have good ignition and plug wires, it will miss when it gets wet, but if you have all good stuff, water won't hurt it. It's built for what it does.
"It's the best way to unleash your horsepower if you want to keep your licence."
