The Telegraph by NICK LUCCHESI - photo by JIM BOWLING

CARROLLTON -- Engines rumbled and trucks lurched, but many could not make it through the slop of a muddy drag strip in what has become a Greene County Fair tradition.

The Mud Bog of 2006 drew slightly fewer than 20 "muddin’" enthusiasts Saturday to the Greene County Fairgrounds in Carrollton, with cash prizes going to the drivers who could get their modified mini-monster trucks the farthest down a sloppy strip on the infield of the fairgrounds’ racetrack.

On the surface, seeing who can drive their truck the farthest through a muddy gauntlet may not seem scientific, but a surveying crew from Heneghan and Associates of Jerseyville judged distances and times of trucks from just behind the starting line. Using an infrared light on a tripod-shaped surveying tool called a total station, the crew bounced the infrared ray off a prism to calculate the exact distance each truck traveled, said Heneghan crew member Scott Peabody.

Most of the drivers -- who had to wear helmets, clear their truck of loose belongings and have a valid driver’s license -- got caught up in an estimated 6-feet-deep pit of mud that seemed to have the consistency of quicksand. None of the drivers made it to the end of the 300-foot strip; most only traveled 100 feet or so before getting their trucks stuck.

The drivers, who ranged in age from their late teens to late 20s, all shared a common reason for the dirty day -- it’s actually good, clean fun.

"We stay out of trouble this way," said Derek Kleidon, 18, of White Hall.

Kleidon’s truck, a 1977 Chevrolet Bonanza painted royal blue with two orange racing stripes on the hood, flung mud 30 feet in the air during his explosive start.

Will Monroe, 21, of White Hall, joined Kleidon on Saturday. As the two watched the first mudders make their runs, Monroe said that while the messy activity is fun to watch, a person can’t really experience mudding unless they get in the driver’s seat.

"People can look at it and watch, and they don’t understand what it’s like," Monroe said. "But when you get out there in the truck, you get an adrenaline rush just like you do in sports."

Most of the Mud Bog participants said they have been driving off-road since they were teenagers.

"When we first got our licenses, we went mudding everywhere, every hole we could find," Monroe said.

Most of the drivers Saturday were men, but a few women made inaugural runs down the strip. Tasha Campbell and her husband, Michael Campbell, drove their trucks through the mud strip. Tasha Campbell said she was excited when she learned she would be driving a Ford Bronco down the track, but she noted that most women are not the typical mudding fans.

"Women don’t like to get muddy; guys do," she said.

The Mud Bog was one of the first events of the fair, which kicked off Saturday. More fun-in-the-mud events are lined up for this week, including a demolition derby, tractor pull and riding lawnmower races, said Mud Bog organizer and judge Jennifer Brown.

Winners took home a $60 cash prize, or first-, second- and third-place prizes if there were enough contestants to fill a class. The competition rules divided trucks into three classes: stock, modified stock and super stock.

For the drivers, though, just getting a chance to take their trucks off road was worth the $20 entry fee. Dan Becker, who said he has been driving through the mud for more than 10 years, also took his 1996 Dodge Ram through the muck. Becker said mud bogging is a natural extension of a rowdy rural pastime.

"There are a lot of farmers out here that are used to driving around out in the fields, and this is just their time to show off, I think," Becker said.