Mud racing is all about speed, power and making the gooey stuff fly. But for some, it’s also a family affair.

Local Jack Maunu has been mud racing for 25 years, and this past weekend, he introduced his 14-year-old son Jesse to the sport at the North West Mud Racing Association’s mud bogs held in Collettville, where 2,000 horsepower hot rods tore through 200-foot pits of mud in just seconds.

Jesse competed in a race as he participated in the entry level A Class races – the only class that allows 14-year-olds to participate.

On Saturday, just hours before his first race of the day, Jesse said he was nervous.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” he said.

“I remember my first race. I was pretty nervous too,” Jack responded as the two spoke to the Herald at the race grounds Saturday.

Jack was just 25-years-old when he first took an interest in mud bogging.

“I went to one of these races and watched one and decided it was what I wanted to do,” Jack reminisced.

He said the power of the vehicles captivated him.

Jack’s nickname for the F-Class paddle car he currently races is The Dirty Mudder, which he’s had a personal best of 2.42 seconds through the 200-foot pit of mud.

The car he originally started mud racing with a quarter century ago was a 1968 El Camino, which he built and subsequently sold.

Jesse got to experience his first race flying through the mud in thatvery same El Camino.

“The guy that I sold it to, he gave it back to my son here to use for a couple years, so we’re getting it going,” Jack said.

“He’s starting in the same car that I started in.”

His old car was a bit of a fixer-upper, requiring a motor and transmission, which the Maunu’s built together this past spring.

The reincarnated racer was the original Dirty Mudder, but is now appropriately known as “Son of a Mudder.”

Jesse’s inspiration to start racing came from years of watching his dad race.

Jesse was able to get a little bit of driving time in the Son of a Mudder before this year’s race, but Saturday was his first time in the mud.

“It was nerve-racking at first, but it’s not as hard as it looks. It’s pretty fun, actually,” he told the Herald after his first pass.

His father expressed pride of his son.

Jesse plans to be back behind the wheel next year.