Elite fastener mud racers Bob “GQ” Baer, Jake “Valdez” Davis, and GH3 break a shocking development pertaining to the 2024 Rugged Nut event scheduled ahead of this year’s MWFA FSTNR week. How will this news impact the growing tradition, and what does it mean for the future of fastener mud racing?
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Special Report: Mud Race Cancelled?
The fastener mud race community was struck with news recently that has inspired a special edition of Fully Threaded Radio. I’ve got three members of that community with me at the moment. GH3 from Brighton Best, Bob “GQ” Baer, he’s the Commissioner, so to speak, of this whole thing, plus Jake “Valdez” Davis, MWFA President. What happened was that I was at the NCFA meeting. We had a dinner meeting, and it went great. GH3 came in from Chicago to promote Fastener Week on behalf of the MWFA, and you dropped the bomb on us, George. You got some forewarning on this. This was the first I heard of it. What happened?
Horrid news, Eric. I’ll tell you what, we were full steam ahead, getting excited, ramping up for another installment of our Rugged Nuts team. We had a lot of excitement going on leading up to this presentation that we had. I know a lot of people out there in the industry are excited and working towards trying to jump on board the team.
We’re probably going to take our team, who knows, another 10, 15 strong. All of a sudden, our leader and Bobby Wagner informed us that, unfortunately, Rugged Maniac went bankrupt. We just lost an event that really kicks off and really starts a week that we have really come to love and adore. It looks like we’re going to have to pivot, my friend.
The Cancellation Of The Rugged Maniac Race
Yes, a lot of people were hanging their hat on this event. I know several who have been training, several who had committed after a lot of consternation on the whole topic, and it’s hitting hard. Bob, where did you get the info at first, and how did you feel when you first found out? What’s going through your mind right now?
Surprisingly to me, because we do have an actual rep for our team we’ve had the same rep for the past few years now, and I’ve already been in correspondence back and forth with him this year but it was a total surprise to me as well. Bobby Wagner was out playing around on the internet, went to their website, saw the message, and emailed the group. I went to the website and I was just as shocked as everyone else.
I did actually get a hold of our rep and emailed him and said, “What’s the story here? A little warning would have been nice.” he said it was sprung on him as well in the last week, and they just shut down. There’s a, “Thank you for the mud and memories,” message, whatever that may be, and I found out basically that they shut down, went out of business.
Sounds a lot like what happens when companies go under. They don’t telegraph it if they can prevent it. Suddenly, they just have to shut their doors. We’re in shock and we’re sad about it. Jake Davis, what was your spin when you first heard?
Very similar to George and Bob. Just completely took the wind out of our sails a little bit. Didn’t see that coming at all. Just frustrated, because I think the momentum that we had over the last three years with having the Tough Mudder and two Rugged Maniacs and we’ve had just sustained growth over all three years. Just really excited to do it again. It’s becoming the official kickoff to the MWFA Fastener Week. Just frustrated and a little bit disappointed. I hadn’t started my training yet, so thankfully, this pivot will maybe allow me to maybe slow that down and pick that up maybe a little bit earlier than I did last year, which was the day of the race was my training.
Don’t slow down based on that.
I’m confident that the mud race community, my fellow Rugged Nuts, will come up with something. After doing a little bit more research, I feel like I can pinpoint it to two different things as far as the downturn and the bankruptcy. It’s got to be “Bionomics” or Craig Penland’s pending litigation with the knee injury.
The lawsuit that’s coming.
Probably the latter. No, that’s all tongue-in-cheek. Just an unfortunate but this group is resilient enough to go find something to replace it, and we’re working on it.
This group is resilient enough to go find something to replace it, and we’re working on it. Share on XWe’re going to talk about that in just a moment, and resilience is what mud racing is all about, so thank you for turning the tenor of this conversation, Mr. Valdez. You’re the President of the MWFA for a reason, and so let me ask you this. When you were doing your planning for this year’s Fastener Week, did the race play into the scheduling of the overall week?
Yeah. We do take a good look at that and see what race dates look at it, what’s on the calendar and what we feel like can fit. Certainly, we feel like it’s got to be close to that mid-August what we’ve had in the past years. Thankfully, the last three years, we’ve been blessed to have dates going back to the first one, the inaugural Tough Mudder, and then the Rugged Maniac, they just worked out.
It’s just almost very blessed to be able to have that date on each Saturday before Fastener Week kicks off. As I said before, we’ve just seen sustained growth with more Rugged Nuts joining us, joining that community. We were looking to try and maybe hit that 45, 50 goal this year. We’ll find something else, but we’ll be alright.
The sad part is that had we known 4 or 5 weeks ago, we could have pivoted, maybe. In the Chicago area, there are events all the time, and we could have had a fair chance of pivoting the Fastener Week dates to accommodate a different race. We got no notice whatsoever, everybody’s in shock by this.
I think Francesca might have lost it if we said we needed to move Fastener Week dates after contracts were signed based on a mud race.
For sure, she would, and she should.
Yes, absolutely.
Maybe in the days when GH3 was president, that could have happened, but now, it’s not really in the cards.
Eric, look, it’s definitely an anchor. To Jake’s point, we really do look at the calendar and we do try to make sure that we accommodate this day. There’s been a lot of stock put into the camaraderie that we have built over the years. This team of misfits, if you will, in this industry have really taken the bull by the horns and has really built a pretty unique thing.
When people talk about this and the day, it’s just not a race, it’s an entire day of collaborating, networking, and just getting to know each other on a more intimate level. It’s really allowed us to run into this week and have a great week and put our stamp or our footprint on the year that we have, and it allows us to bond together as brothers and sisters, and it’s unique. I really have enjoyed it, and we’re not going to let this hamper us or get us down. We’ll come up with something.
Discussion Of A 5k In Skokie As The Alternative Event
Let’s turn the conversation to that topic. Who’s been discussing this? What’s on the table so far? I know it’s not decided yet, but are there any contenders for an alternative?
There are a couple of things out there. We do want to have something. We’re going to absolutely have something on Saturday. Not only does it bring the group together and get us started, but it gets people there so they’re there also on Sunday for the bed build, which is a very important part of our week, the big charitable event. We’ll absolutely have something.
We’ve been tossing around a couple of different 5Ks that are in the area. It seems like the one that has taken hold at the moment is in Skokie. It’s not that far away from the event, 30 minutes or less. It’s on Saturday, it starts at 11:00 AM, so it’s a little later than the Rugged Nuts are accustomed to. It’s a 5K and it’s easily doable. There are no obstacles. Here’s your chance to jump in, join the group without worrying about having to haul yourself over walls or through mud.
Burnt shoelaces.
Exactly. Jumping over fire or climbing up a rope ladder. It looks like that might be the best choice. By all means, we’re still looking into it and putting things together. I know Bobby Wagner took the lead on that event. He’s going to contact them and hopefully we’ll know something in the next day or two and we’ll get something out on it.
Was anybody looking at that carp wrestling event on the Illinois River?
I don’t think we looked that hard, Eric.
No, I didn’t think you might be looking at your channels there. I put that in the hopper. It’s a whole totally different channel than we looked at.
I know Carmen has been training actually like a warrior, and he’s crestfallen at this moment, so we’ve got to come up with something. I don’t know how many people who were really thinking about doing an obstacle race want to do a straight run, but if that’s all we have, I think that we’re going all rise to the occasion. How do you like that?
To Bob’s point, we met Friday morning, just the three guys on this call, Bobby and Joe Lewis, and just talked through some things. Again, the great part about the obstacle race is doing it together as that Rugged Nut family. I think that’s our mindset going into a 5K or anything. Certainly, if we’ve got a fastener friend that wants to try and win the 5K for his age group, then so be it. Our goal is that entire day. 11:00 start, that’s what we end up and do. That gives us a little bit more pre-gaming time.
The aspect of it, even if all of us walk it, that’s probably about a 45-minute walk. Next thing you know, we’ll be breaking bread somewhere, just like we did the last the last couple years after the Rugged Maniac. In our eyes, it’s start together, finish together. That will be the mentality in anything that we do, certainly this year and for the years to come.
Start together, finish together. That should be the mentality in everything that we do. Share on XAll right, that sounds good. Same great motto, new event, and off to the bar.
There are a lot of emails that I’ve been getting, probably more than anybody because I’m at the head of this thing usually. Carmen is so disappointed. He was looking forward to getting muddy after seeing us for the last two years and running alongside of us, John Kovac, but mostly what people are saying is, “The race is great. You can finish, you can, so to speak, pound your chest and say, ‘I did it,’” but the real benefit and the real networking and the camaraderie is at the end of the race, we all get together we talk about who did what and that’ll still take hold. We’ll still have the afternoon to do that, and so that’s the best part about it.
The swag will be there for sure. We can’t go without mentioning the swag that comes along with being a Rugged Nut, regardless of what we do. Bob and George and all the sponsors that we’ve been blessed to have throughout the years, that remains and it’s just going to look different. I think, like I said, it’s going to be a fantastic event whatever we land on, and I anticipate that we’re going to have growth yet again.
All right, guys. I appreciate you coming together at very short notice to do this. Before we do close off this special short edition of the show, let’s also point out that there’s a full-throttle Tough Mudder race the weekend after, isn’t that right, Bob? Now that’s not going to be in the cards for some people who are traveling in, but for a lot it just might be. We’re going to have more details on that. Is that it, Bob?
Discussion Of A Full-Throttle Tough Mudder Race The Following Weekend
Yes, that’s absolutely true. Saturday the 24th, there’s a Tough Mudder in Chicago up at the Rockford airport area, and there are a handful of us that have already committed to doing it. We would welcome anybody attending the show to hang around in town. The show’s over Wednesday night, so it’s a couple days if you can find yourself some work and keep busy and make calls. By all means, join us on Saturday. We’re going to do the Tough Mudder for sure. If you’re a die-hard and you really were looking forward to an obstacle race, it’s out there. You just need to massage your schedule a little bit.
George, are you on this?
Absolutely, you know it. For those adrenaline seekers and those Rugged Nut connoisseurs who still want to get muddy and still want to go through all the obstacles, Bob and I are going to make that happen for you. Don’t worry, you’re just going to have to stay a couple extra days, and Bob’s got room at his house, so we’ll probably have a slumber party.
Eric, I am going to ask for a hall pass on the Tough Mudder on the 24th. I’ll be giving away my only daughter the following weekend, and I feel like I’ll have some duties as I get back in town after Fastener Week. I love the aspect of adding it that Bob looked at that calendar and I know they’ve already got probably 6 to 8 people that are that are all in. Men and women. Just kudos to those guys to keeping the tradition going too.
Congratulations to you, and like we say, it’s not going to be in the cards for some people, but it’ll be another great year from start to finish and look at it this way, it’ll be a little bit longer this year, the week.
Exactly, we just extend the week a few days and Chicago’s a great place to get stuck in the summer. It’s not like you’re at the North Pole or anything.
Let’s just hope it’s not 115.
All right, Rugged Nuts, Bob “GQ” Baer, Jake “Valdez” Davis, and GH3, sure do appreciate you guys coming on. We’ll close it out there and we’ll talk to you folks well in advance of our next episode, and certainly in advance of Fastener Week. Just to reiterate, the Tough Mudder race as we’ve known it for 2024 is not going to come off. We’ll have an alternative and it’ll be a great thing. Stay tuned for Fully Threaded Radio and elsewhere for details.
