A passion for mud racing flows through Wilf Rondeau’s veins.
After tackling his final race at the recent Houston Mud Drags, he donated his two trucks to younger Houston racers.
“There’s a younger generation of people that I admire, and I’d rather give the trucks to them then sell them to somebody,” Rondeau said.
So, to conclude 32 years of mud racing across B.C., Rondeau gave his two big trucks away to three Houston young people.
His “War Contracting” truck, a chevy on tractor tires with a 4-54 engine, he gave to Scott and Melissa Dawson. To Jason LeBlanc he gave his other truck, “The Big Bad Wolf,” which is also on tractor tires and has a 4-60 cobra jet engine.
“They’re great people, and I know they’ll take care of them and prize them, and enjoy them like I have,” Rondeau said.
Two of his friends came to Houston to watch him tackle his final race. Tim Silvira built “War Contracting” and fixed and jacked up “The Big Bad Wolf,” and Mike Kwan, Rondeau’s fellow racer from the past 32 years, both cheered him on.
“The mud was tough, but you’ve got be tougher then the mud. It felt really good. I had an excellent weekend,” Rondeau said.
He wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the event.
Corrina Bodnar, member of Nadina Offroad Society (NOS), agrees.
“It went really, really well. Everybody had lots of fun,” she said.
With 50 vehicles competing and over 400 people crowding the stands during the weekend, the event was very successful, Bodnar said.
The sled class was new this year, with one competitor who sped through the track really fast.
“The crowd loved the snowmobile ripping through there,” she said. “I hope that next year we’ll see more sleds show up.”
The Houston Mud Drags was the first race in the Point Series with the Northern Mud Racing Association (NMRA).
Asked how it was being part of that, Bodnar said it was new.
“It’s all really new to us and new to the area. We’re kind of learning and adopting a new class structure,” she said, adding that the Houston event itself is new and still figuring things out.
NOS is now planning a members-only race in September, and then plans will start for next year.
“We’d love to see more volunteers and grow our members to the Nadina Offroad Society so that we can continue to grow and make the event bigger and better every year,” Bodnar said.