Haw Hill Mud Racing

If you’re looking for a column about clean family fun, this isn’t it. Kids, now and again, need to challenge Mister Bubble by wallowing in specks of flying mud and swirling dust. My sons Jack, 7, and Logan, 5, can do this at Haw Hill Raceway in Winnabow, which, far as I can tell, isn’t on a hill and isn’t a typical raceway.

Haw Hill is the local home of mud racing, with events held about once a month during the warm weather. We know one is scheduled when the small white signs pop up on roadsides advertising “4 by 4 mud races.” The track is about a 20-minute drive from Wilmington, off U.S. 17 south of Leland.

The farm field parking lot is full of pickups and SUVs and one mini-van. Mine. Striding quickly away from it with a backpack full of lemonade and snacks, we go to the tent that is the ticket counter. Grown-ups are $10, bigger kids are $5 and little kids are free. Jack and Logan’s newborn brother Ben is a really little kid but because dirt and diapers don’t mix, he’s back home.

So, what’s a mud race? At Haw Hill, grandstands frame two lanes that are cut out of the dirt, full of humps and hollows and door-handle deep mud.

One at a time, the drivers test their tricked-out Jeeps and four-wheel drive pick-ups against the mud. Some vehicles look familiar; others are creations designed only for mud racing. Either way, engines roar, monster tires spin and chunks of brown gook fly. We cheer the winners who go the farthest before getting stuck or the fastest if they have the power to churn from start to finish.

Jack, after two trips to Haw Hill, considers himself a mud racing expert, with a favorite driver and an explanation for what went right and what went wrong after every run. Logan would rather use sticks to draw in the dirt.

But what really gets their attention is the action in the truck wash zone. The competitors use a fire hose to peel back layers of crud. The boys stand spellbound as the mud drips off, revealing shiny sheet metal that will stay clean only until the next go at the pit. If they were as fascinated by Dad washing the pollen off the family car, I’d be $15 ahead.

Haw Hill is worth the money, though. The boys can get up close to the drivers and their trucks. No beer is allowed and the fans are friendly. The racing goes on deep into the night but after a couple hours, it’s time to head back to the mini-van in the parking lot. It won’t be hard to find.

The next mud race is June 23. Until then, here’s mud in your eye.

Jim Hanchett is co-anchor of the evening newscasts on WECT-TV6. His column appears the first Monday of each month in the Star-News. He can be reached at jhanchett [ @ ] wect.com.