MWFA FSTNR Week ’25 is right around the corner, that means it’s time to start prepping for fastener mud racing! Team leaders Bob “GQ” Baer of Abbott-Interfast, Jake “Valdez” Davis of BTM Manufacturing and Bobby “Tater Tot” Wegner of Beacon Fasteners set the stage for another memorable year. Once again, they hope to avoid electrocution, dehydration, excessive grass stains, and of course, hydrogen embrittlement, and they want you to join the team today! Run time: 25:06
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Special Report: The Mud Racers
The Fastener Mud Race Returns: Get Ready To Get Muddy!
This special report episode is a conversation with Bob “GQ” Baer of Abbott-Interfast, Jake “Valdez” Davis of BTM Manufacturing, and Bobby Wegner of Beacon Fasteners and Components. He’s known as Tater Tot by the Mud Racing Set. We’re going to talk about the annual Fastener Mud Race that’s coming up to try to get you guys inspired to jump onto this team, or if you’ve already registered and you’re going to be there, get you fired up. That’s right. Mud racing is back. In 2024, we had to take an unexpected year off. MWFA Fastener Week is right around the corner, so it’s almost time. It’s a fun conversation this time, not too much to do with Fasteners, but all solid Fastener people on this one.
The title sponsors of the show are Brighton-Best International, Global Fasteners, and Star Stainless. The show is also sponsored by Buckeye Fasteners, BTM Manufacturing, Eurolink Fastener Supply Service, Fastener Technology International, INxSQL Software, J.Lanfranco, the International Fastener Expo, MW Components, Solution Industries, Volt Industrial Plastics, and Würth Industry USA.
This segment was originally recorded to be part of a regular FTR episode, and then it seemed like it would make way more sense to have it as a standalone special report. It flows like one of our regular features, but it’s a standalone. It’ll go by fast. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope to see you out in the mud in August 2025. Here’s my conversation with GQ, Valdez, and Tater Tot.
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We’re back. It’s July 2025. That means August is right around the corner. That means the week with no vowels, Fastener Week, MWFA’s flagship event. We’ve been kicking it off for the last several years with a non-sanctioned event. That’s the Mud Race. It started off as the Tough Mudder, and then it became the Rugged Nuts, I believe. It was a weird walk in 2024, and it’s back to the Tough Mudder.
I’ve got some of the instigators of this whole thing on and some of the OGs of the Mud Race, that being Bob “GQ” Baer, the godfather of the whole thing, Jake “Valdez” Davis, and Bobby Wegner of Beacon Fasteners. Thanks for being here. Let’s open this thing wide up, maybe grab another person or two for this year’s team.
Eric, I appreciate you letting us come on again to talk about the race. It’s a big event. We are happy to be back and getting ourselves a little muddy this year as opposed to jogging around, which pretty much is all we did in 2024.
Walking.
Walking, for some of us, but the main thing is we always get together at the end, no matter what happens.
Demystifying The 5K Mud Race: Obstacles, Teamwork, And Fun
That’s right. There’s a lot of camaraderie in this event. There’s a lot more to it than just a race, that’s for sure. It’s a Fastener event unlike any other. Mr. Valdez, I know you’ve been doing some special things to train up for this. Bobby, you were telling me you’re using it as a warm-up for an actual marathon a little while later. We all have our own ways of coming into this. We want to talk about who, what, where, and when, and make sure everybody who wants to get involved in this knows. I’d like to start with a little history on this race because it goes back to 2021. We did the race in Rockford. Was Rugged Nuts our original team name?
Tough Nutters.
I keep getting confused. Bobby, why don’t you lead us off here? What are your fondest memories of that first go?
There is so much to recount from. We had an unexpected river cruise. The OG crew almost got swept up in the river and almost needed somebody to rescue them. Luckily, George Hunt was there to step in and make sure that we all made it to drought land. Also, we had the giant wall that nobody thought we were going to make it over. Somehow, between multiple attempts and people hoisting each other up, everybody who attempted the wall over the wall. It’s one thing we love about doing this as a team. It’s not a race. Everybody’s starting together, everybody’s finishing together, and everybody’s helping each other along the way.
It's not a race; everybody starts and finishes together, helping each other along the way. Share on XA lot of teamwork, that’s for sure. Let’s set this up a little more for people who have no idea what we’re talking about. We can’t assume that they do. This is a 5K mud race. Meaning, there are twelve obstacles interspersed with a 5K run. You never run all that far. In the time that you are “running,” you never know who’s going to be right there with you, not running so fast. On the other hand, certain people like to speed through. That’s the great thing. All speeds are accommodated. We do it all as a big team. Isn’t that right, Jake?
Yeah. Speaking back to that first one, I had done a few half marathons prior to doing the Tough Mudder. It was unlike anything I had done. You worry and have a little bit of anxiety about the obstacles. Doing it together as opposed to maybe by yourself or another person brought that down from a simple fact, especially doing it with great friends in the industry. We’ve been blessed to be able to grow that.
Bobby talked about the wall. That scared the ever-loving you-know-what out of me. I was like, “There’s no way this human body can get up there and do that.” My philosophy is that I run as fast as I can. Jesus takes the wheel, and I run straight to Mike Robinson and Bobby. They pull you over. It worked out. Bobby spoke to it. We start together and finish together. Anybody who hasn’t done it, anybody who might not be interested in it, or anybody who thinks it’s not for them, it is for you because we do it as a group.
You look back a couple of years, when we did the Rugged Maniac. We had low 30s. I know Bob has done a great job of posting that picture. It’s one of my favorite pictures when we finished. There’s an accomplishment field to it, like challenge accepted or challenge met. There’s the fraternal part of it that follows the race, which we can talk about. I am looking forward to it again with Bob, George, and Bobby. That original group set the expectations very high. It’s always been our goal to grow it. It’s a great lead-in to a wonderful week with our industry friends.
As Jake says, it’s the finish that counts. It’s getting to the end. Bobby mentioned the wall. It’s called Everest. It’s thirteen feet high. Everybody who’s been in this race to date, and you can see the list and pictures online, has made it up that wall. If you have any doubt whatsoever that you can’t get through the obstacles, look at our group and look at that wall. Know that we will get you through every single one of them. If there’s an obstacle out there that you don’t like and you don’t want to go through it, I’m not going to talk about electroshock therapy. That may be one of them. You’re welcome to skip it.
If you doubt you can get through the obstacles, look at our group and that wall. We will get you through every single one. Share on XI want to clarify one other thing. We call it a mud race. We’re not timed. We’re not in a hurry. Our goal is to start together, finish together, and get everybody through safely with a lot of fun and a lot of camaraderie, and a big party at the end. We have a tailgate party in the parking lot, and then we go to lunch. I’ll be putting out a couple of emails with some training tips and some suggestions for the gear and the type of clothes you should wear. We have an awesome group of sponsors, which we’ll mention in a few minutes. We have great bling. BBI sponsored a special coin for their 100-year anniversary on one side. God bless them. They put our logo for the mud race on the other side.
When you sign up, it’s a $75 fee, which is a deep discount from the regular pricing. It includes parking. You get a finisher’s shirt and a headband. They give you a beer. More importantly, you get the epic Tough Mudder Race shirt that everybody wears as a team at the beginning of the race. It’s a real bargain as far as costs go. It’s a fun party.
Jake will talk a little bit about where we start out before the race with our pre-race routine, but it’s held in Rockford near the Rockford airport this year. It’s going to be August 23rd, 2025. Our start time is 10:30 in the morning. We generally get together around 9:30 up in the Rockford area. It’s a nice way to start out Fastener week.
You said that it’s not a race, which is true, but it is muddy. You’re going to get mud in your shoes. You’re going to get it in your pants. You’re going to get mud pretty much everywhere, so be ready for that. Also, hope for warm weather. That’s all I got to say.
It does take a couple of days to get all the mud out, from what I hear.
The Arctic Enema Challenge: Are You Brave Enough?
We don’t know which twelve obstacles we’re going to get. Although we do know that Wall Everest will be included. We do know that we’re going to have to cross the Rock River again, which was pretty cool, waiting across that river last time. The one obstacle, and we were talking about this before we turned on the recorders, that I’m going to have to psych myself up for is an ice bath. That is what it is. You have to dive into an ice bath and swim under a couple of barriers. They’re calling it Arctic Enema.
The name alone is scary enough.
Are you going to do that, Bob?
I’ve done it twice in my life. It’s 34 degrees of water in a trailer. You jump on one side. You have to go underwater to get in. There’s no way around it. You’re completely submerged. You come out on the other end, and you are pretty frozen for a good twenty seconds. If it’s 95 degrees out, it could be refreshing.
It would feel great.
It’s the coldest I’ve ever been in my life, to say the least.
Our original Tough Nutter, Tabitha, says it messed up her inner core for a little bit, but she has fully recovered from the one time she did it before joining us back in ‘21.
I will say this. The chance of Arctic Enema being a part of the 5K races is that it hasn’t been in it so far. It’s pretty slim. They reserve that for the hardcore people doing the twelve-miler. It is out there. It is a possibility. It’s not as frightening as we make it sound. It’s over in about 5 or 6 seconds. You’re recovering about another two.
As much fun as we have playing around with some of these, we kid about the electrocution one, too. If you do want to walk around one of these, there’s no dishonor in that. We’ve got a couple of people with various medical situations that we know about. They’ve pre-warned us. There are a few that we’re not going to be able to do. I’ll tell you this as well. If you’re thinking you’re too old for this, we have a couple of senior members already on the team. We have Carmen Virtulo and Dan Zender. They’re both going to be out there on the course, huffing it through. Rumor has it that Brian Musker may be there, too. He has been there supporting us. He may put on a jersey this year.
He is going to leave the media junket to join the Tough Nutters.
Nobody’s too old.
You got that right.
We have a nice range of participants age-wise, from the 30s all the way up into the 60s, and maybe even the 70s. Age is not the issue. The ability to run maybe a half mile straight or maybe three-quarters miles at a jog pace, and a little bit of some weight training will get you there. We have 6 to 7 weeks before the race here. There is plenty of time to get in shape for this thing with the help that we provide to all the participants, as far as pushing people over walls, pulling you through water, or grabbing you as you come up the wall. Almost anybody can do this race. Take a look at our participants. We’ve been posting. You could see who’s done it in the past if you want to gauge yourself against the past participants.
Meet The Mud Racers: New Faces And Veteran Champions
Bob, you’ve got the list of the roster so far. We fully expect that after this. With a few folks who might have been putting it off, we’ll have a team closer to 40 or north of 40. Are there any new names on the list that you want to share with us?
We’re at about 33 to 34 participants, with about 3 more weeks before we cut it off. The big change in 2025 is that Field Fastener has come to bat. There are 8 or 9 participants from Field, including Adam and Dan Derry. We have a couple of people from Big Bolt jumping on. Matt Jagger, a member of the MWFA, is jumping in. Connor has been there, cheering us on and about running the race in the past, but not officially running. He has jumped in this year. He’s considered new. It’s going to be great. We’ve got some of the return folks coming in. A lot of people in 2024 did the 5K, but they didn’t get a chance to get muddy, so they’ll get muddy this 2025.
In 2024, you might recall that we had to do something completely different because the Rugged Nut company, the one that was running the competitor to the original Tough Mudder, went out of business. We didn’t have enough time to reschedule. Instead of doing a mud race, we did more of a traditional 5K run-walk. It turned into a stroll. It was the same group, but it was a lot different. We’re back to being muddy. We’re looking forward to that. Valdez, you’ve been doing some rather unorthodox training, I heard. Tell us a little bit about that. Does it have any impact? Are you going to set the course on fire or what?
We’re going to find out. I don’t think it’s going to help with the speed. It might help with the pregame stretching. I’ve taken up Pilates. My wife and I are trying to be a little bit more active, so we try to do that about 2 to 3 times a week. The best part about it is that July and August are a little bit slower before Fastener week, so I’m hoping to pick it up a little bit more. It’s been very eye-opening, the positions that you can put your body in. One little movement of a foot this way or an arm that way will cause great pain. I love it. I’m headed there when we’re done here.
Eye-opening may be exactly what you need if the Arctic Enema is on the list. There you go.
Spirit Of The Race: Camaraderie, Training, And Traditions
There is one other comment I would like to make to all those out there thinking about it. If you are thinking about it, this is the year to do it. A lot of things are happening in 2026 with MWFA’s 80th anniversary. Events are getting juggled around. Dates are getting changed a little. Things may not line up. You may be thinking, “I’m going to see what happens this year. Maybe I will jump in next year.” This is the year to do it because we don’t know what’s going to happen in 2026. We don’t know where we’ll be. Get yourself out there. Get on the list. Contact Jake, Bobby, George, or me. Look at the posts on LinkedIn. This is the year to do it, without a doubt.
That’s a great point, Bob. We got all the board members on here. Coming off of that, I’m very excited about what’s going to be taking place in 2026. To speak personally to it, everything but the race is probably the coolest part of it for me. It’s the relationship part of it. It’s an extension of the networking and everything that we value so importantly within our industry. You’re doing it with shorts on and mud up your nostrils and orifices.
Everything but the race is probably the coolest part of it. It's the relationship part of it—an extension of the networking and everything that we value so importantly within our industry. Share on XI talked about that Rugged Maniac race a few years ago. It was our largest group. It rained during the race, and then the sun came out. That post-race tailgate was epic. Bobby, I’ll let you talk about our tradition of what we’ve done the last couple of years from the post-race tailgate and then to lunch. For me, it is focusing on everybody showing up and seeing each other in pre-gaming, because we do have traditions with our pre-game thanks to our friends at Parker Fasteners, and then the race and everything within that. The post-game tailgate and the lunch that Bobby is going to talk about make the whole day one of my favorites of the year, honestly.
I agree, Jake. It is getting everybody introduced to one another from the first time somebody comes on the team, and getting them to feel like a part of the team. It is everything from the nicknames. They carry it through Vegas. You’ll hear your Tough Muddeer nickname yelled out. You turn around and it’s one of the Tough Mudder participants who’s cheering you on in other ways.
In the pregame, everybody meets up in a parking lot. We’re hanging out. We do a little pregame tradition. We all go over to the race together and run the race together. In post-race, we meet up in the back of the parking lot, open up the trunk, and stand around. Hopefully, the weather will continue to be good. We’ve been blessed every year that we’ve done it with sunshine for our post-game event.
It’s hanging out and getting to know each other. For the people who’ve done it in years past, it is getting to catch up with one another. A lot of it’s fun. A little bit of connections on the work side, but a lot of it’s getting to know people for who people are and seeing them in a different environment than a conference room. There’s so much power in getting to see professionals muddy. People who you’d usually see in a suit coat are covered in mud up to their eyeballs. It brings it to a different level of being human together, which is one of my favorite parts about it.
They do have showers. They’ve got some kind of system to get some of that mud out. I strongly suggest bringing a change of clothes with you. After we head out of the parking lot, we go out and rent a room for lunch. Everybody comes in and gets to continue in fellowship. Everybody gets to continue to talk about the race and share highlights and their favorite parts. It’s bonding. It has become what Jake referred to occasionally as the “fraternity.” It’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of camaraderie. We love it.
Here’s the bonus. We have hired a photographer who will be coming along during the race, trying to capture as many of us on the obstacles as possible and putting the footage together for posting at a later date. Traditionally, a couple of us have worn GoPros. I’ve made my meager attempt to put some things together and post them on social media, but it is not my forte. We’ve gone ahead and spared no expense. We’ve hired what I hope is going to be a very professional but fun video at the end of this thing. Hopefully, we’ll post that out there. That’s another reason to be a part of it this 2025.
Join The Fraternity: How To Register And Get Muddy!
That’s cool. Do you want to be a mud racer? Get in touch with Bob “GQ” Baar. He’s over at Abbott-Interfast. Bobby Wegner is with Beacon. GH III is with Brighton-Best International. Any one of those three guys will get you all the credentials you need and steer you over to the Tough Mudder website. You can go to ToughMudder.com.
Also, the race that we’ll be doing will be the Rockford race on August 23rd, 2025. We’re looking forward to the announcement of what twelve obstacles we’ll get. We all have our hunches. We don’t know for sure, but we’ll know by race time, for sure. You’ll have a lot of memories. You’ll be in the fraternity, and you’ll have that fantastic jersey. That’ll last a while. It sounds like a ton of social media cred. That’s cool.
That is being brought to us by a lot of generous support. Our list has expanded. Let me run down this list because we don’t want to close this out without giving a hat tip to everybody who’s supporting us in this race. We have Abbott-Interfast and Brighton-Best International. They’re giving away these exclusive commemorative coins we’ve been talking about on LinkedIn and on the show. It’s very nice.
We have BTM Manufacturing, Beacon Fasteners and Components, Carver Labs, Big Bolt, Field Fastener, INxSQL Software, Iron Clad, SmartCert, Parker Fasteners, and Integrated Packaging. We’re helping out a little bit here at the show. That rounds out our list of sponsors. It’s going to be a great team. I’m hoping for about 40 guys or people, let’s say. Bob “GQ” Baer, thanks so much. You’re pulling a lot of weight over there. You have so much to do in your regular job. I don’t know how you do it. Thank you.
It’s all in the spirit of fun and camaraderie, and creating this little membership that is very special. It has become a part of our history as part of our Mid-West Fastener Association, which is also supporting us by putting out things on social media. By all means, go to the Tough Mudder website. View the obstacles. Look at the race. See what’s involved. See the bling they’re going to give away. Know that for registration, you should be contacting Jake, George, Bobby, or me, because we have a special registration procedure so that you can wind up on the team. Whatever you do, don’t register directly through the website. Contact one of us, and we’ll get you taken care of.
Plus, it saves you $50. I’d love to get that 40 number, Eric. That’d be awesome.
Let’s do it. I’ll refer to you by your Tough Mudder names. Tater Tot, Valdez, and GQ, I’ll see you guys on the race. Thanks for being here.
We’ll see you there. Thanks, Eric.
Thanks, Eric, or as you call him in the race, E-Roc.
We’ll be right back with more episodes.
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