TRUCKS & TOYS
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF GETTIN’ MUDDY REDNECK MUD PARK TO HOST 4-DAY ‘TRUCKS GONE WILD’ BONANZA
Park founder Danny Kelly and his famous Swamp Buggy.
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et ready to celebrate a decade of muddy Southwest Florida fun by taking part in the Trucks Gone Wild 10th Anniversary Fall Classic at Punta Gorda, Florida-based Redneck Mud Park. The four-day mud bonanza, set for Nov. 8 to 11, 2018, will include Mega Mud truck races, a truck tug-o-war, live music, fireworks, camping, vendors and—of course—a whole lot of mud! The park, originally named Redneck Yacht Club, was built and opened by founder Danny Kelly in December 2008. In his youth, Kelly and his friends were often chased off private property. Thus, his keen desire to provide a place for offroad enthusiasts to ride “came from the heart.”
Kelly began acquiring land in eastern Charlotte County in the 1990s and worked it as a potato farm until 2006, when he began the permitting process for the park. He was granted final approval in early 2008. In the meantime, Kelly laid out plans for the world-class mud park that he envisioned. Construction took nearly a year, with Kelly’s goal “to satisfy every type of rider and provide a fun, yet safe, environment for everyone who entered the gate.” As the owner of Kelly Brothers Marine Construction, he used materials on hand to build a tough, sturdy infrastructure on almost 500 acres of his farm. Kelly knew that building the “best mud park in the country” would require it to be unique in many ways. So, in addition to creating monster mud holes and miles of trails, he built
Photos at left and bottom right show early construction of the park. Top right is a recent aerial view.
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F LO R I D A C O U NTRY O c t o b e r | N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 8
TOP LEFT PHOTO BY SCARLETT REDENIUS; OTHER PHOTOS COURTESY OF REDNECK MUD PARK
WHEN FINISHED, FOUNDER DANNY KELLY HAD SPENT MORE THAN A MILLION DOLLARS TO PROVIDE THE AREA WITH “THE WORLD’S MOST EXCITING OFF-ROAD PARK.”