This lawnmower is launched by a 16-horsepower, twin-cylinder Briggs & Stratton. OL ' POSSUM has a Murray frame from the late 1970's. The hood had to be modified to fit the huge engine!! Jim was one of the first two that tried to get a lawnmower through mud for distance -- at first they did it in a swampy portion of a neighbor's yard. Jim started organized mudbogging in 1990 and the "Dewberry Mudboggers" were formed!!

Here's a cool picture of Jim doing a wheelie on "OL' POSSUM" for almost a full run and getting stuck in the process. You can tell by the look on Jim's face that he is getting razzed big time for stalling.

Here's a picture of Jim on "OL' POSSUM".

Here's a shot of Jim while sloshing through the mud pit. Jim finished in second place at the first mudbog for the 1998 season on May 9th. He had the right set up for this messy pit and just missed first place by 9 points!

Sometimes it's just too hard to keep all the horses in the corral, as seen here with Jim going out-of-bounds at the August, 1998 mudbog. Jim ended up in last place for the day at this mudbog because his mower was broke the last couple of races!

This shot is of Jim posing for his trading card during the festivities at the Nationals 1995. If you think Jim was grinning big here, you should have seen the pearlie whites after winning the BP National Championship later that day!! This mower, the "RAINBOW WARRIOR" was bought as a "fixer-upper" from a fellow Dewberry Mudbogger, Rod Day. RAINBOW WARRIOR is a Dynamark from around 1977, and has a 12-horsepower Briggs & Stratton. Jim picked #24 because his favorite NASCAR driver is Jeff Gordon so his mower is a tribute to Jeff.

Jim competed at the Columbus Motor Speedway on June 20th, 1998, and won Second Place in Class 2 in the heat race and the trophy dash. Jim was on the tail of race leader Larry Potenza during the heat race, but during the feature, Jim was battling it out between fellow racers Tim Matheny and Rodney Day and managed to pull off second place!

Here is a picture of Jim after winning 1st Place in Class 2 on June 28, 1998, at the Pickaway County Fair sanctioned by the OHIO MOWER RACERS. Way to go Jim!

Above is a picture of Jim competing at a OHIO MOWER RACERS' benefit race, the Gahanna Grand Prix, which was held on July 18th, 1998. Jim ran a great race and finished in 2nd place in Class 2!

Jim also competed at the 1998 STA-BIL Nationals in Rockford, Illinois, on September 5th. With all of the confusion, no one is sure where they finished (and the only "official results" announced were 1, 2, and 3. Since Jim didn't win a trophy, he decided to race at the Regional race at Rockford also. During the heat race, Jim had a wreck and separated his shoulder from his collar bone, and fractured a couple of ribs!! Poor Jim. The Webmadster happened to zoom in on Jim (I don't know if that was a good thing or not) right before his wreck. At least it helped Jim to see what happened. Here's how it happened in sequence:

Here is a shot of Jim as he is approaching Turn 3.

This shot is of Jim just as his backside of his rim separated from the front side and started to spin Jim out.

This picture is of Jim just as his mower is starting to tip up on two wheels.

This shot is of Jim as his blade deck starts to dig into the clay.

This shot is of Jim and his mower as they are both thrown airborne (Jim approximately was 4-5 feet in the air)!

This is a shot of Jim's mower landing on top of him as he got slammed onto his shoulder (and then his head hit the clay-covered concrete) with a driver approaching quickly!

The racer behind Jim swerves to miss Jim.......

And this is Jim who pulled his legs up just in time before getting hit. Thank God he wasn't hurt more seriously!

Thanks Jim for letting us share your worst nightmare! We all wish you a speedy recovery!! Jim was awarded the Spirit & Spark Award trophy at the end of the race day.

We were very pleased that Jim "came out of retirement" to race with us on August 9, 1999, at an Ohio Mower Racers Sanctioned race in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and did a fine job! Jim pulled off 3rd place!!

Jim is the 1999 Dewberry Mudbog Season Champion! Jim pulled off the victory by a mere 29 points (narrowly beating Bill Burwell). Congratulations Jim and Ol' Possum!!

Lets check out how Jim has done over the years.....