Driver Tim Harris and a passenger go screaming down the slick track kicking up vast amounts of mud during this year’s Sheridan Rotary Mud Drags.
Starla Pointer/News-Register

Finish line judge Al Ashcroft watches closely at two truck go speeding past at this year’s Sheridan Rotary Mud Drags.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

Driver Randy King and his wife, Connie, signal to the crowd that they are OK after their truck took a sharp turn into the hay bails. The rig went into a 180 degree flip,
Marcus Larson/News-Register

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For the Dawkins clan, mud drags are a family affair. And, at last weekend’s Sheridan Rotary Mud Drags, mother and daughter each took home some hardware. Sherry, of Grand Ronde, repeated as Top Woman Driver and also as the runner-up in the road & trail class. Her daughter, Wendy, of McMinnville, won the powder puff class.

“It was a different guy that beat me this time,” Sherry said of her class run. “He was really excited to beat me because we raced last year. Our first race was against each other and he jumped the red light and gave me the win.

“I ran in the powder puff, too, but there I got beat out by other girls.”

Wendy, on the other hand, wasn’t defeated once in the single-elimination contest, which, actually, came as a bit of a surprise.

“It was the maiden voyage on the rig,” she said. “I’d watched my dad race with it and try to get a feeling for it, but before the race I’d never been sitting in the truck with it in gear. I’d never been behind the wheel with it running, so I didn’t really expect to do well at all. It was pretty exciting.”

Various members of the family travel to compete in events in Oregon, Washington and California. In fact, Sherry and her husband, Clyde, organize the Willamina Mud Drags, set to run June 27, with proceeds going toward Willamina’s Fourth of July fireworks show. Wendy’s boyfriend, Jeff Lockwood, also races, as does her brother, Dennis. Even eight-year-old Jazmin, Wendy’s daughter, spends plenty of time at the track and is itching for 14 — when she’ll finally be able to make the transition from spectator to competitor.

Needless to say, this bunch knows a lot about trucks and mud.

They know a lot of other racers, too, which is contributing to the grief Clyde has been catching the last few days.

“Wendy drove in her daddy’s truck,” Sherry said. “It was a brand-new truck, and Clyde’s really catching heck. He was testing it and didn’t know what it was going to take to make it run. He tried three different things and only go one win. So everybody keeps asking why his daughter is doing better than he is.”

In truth, there was a bit of a team effort involved in Wendy’s win. She drove while Dad shifted; there are still some kinks to work out in the new S-10 and a few tricks involved in getting it to run correctly, so Clyde was there for backup.

Still, she said, she always seems to run better in her dad’s vehicles than in her own, which is the source of much amusement for family and friends.

“People always ask me why that is, and I tell them that there’s an easy answer,” Wendy said. “I don’t own a bolt in it.”

2009 Sheridan Rotary Mud Drags
Class 1, 4-cylinder stock — 1. Joe Lane, Willamina; 2. Jason Lynn, Yamhill; 3. Robert Biglin, Newberg
Class 2, 4-cylinder modified/6-cylinder stock — 1. Scott Berry, Whiteson (American Rebel Racing); 2. Mark Quantrille, Sheridan; 3. Isaac Sturtevant, Sheridan (Bettus Racing)
Class 3, road & trail — Jeremy Moore, McMinnville (American Rebel Racing); 2. Sherry Dawkins, Grande Ronde (Total Destruction Racing Team); 3. Shane Oglesbee, Willamina (Total Destruction Racing Team)
Class 4, 8-cylinder stock — 1. Rick Henry, McMinnville (American Rebel Racing); 2. John Gage, Siletz (Screaming Eagle Racing); 3. Jeremy Boaz, Amity
Class 5, 8-cylinder modified — 1. Jacob Pelzer, Sheridan; 2. Mitch Leno, Tillamook; 3. Kyle Gazeley, Sweet Home
Class 6, 8-cylinder super-modified — 1. Rick Gandee, Lebanon; 2. Richard Hoyt, Lafayette (Hoyt Logging); 3. Josh Hermans, McMinnville (American Rebel Racing)
Class 7, open class — 1. Greg Gandee, Lebanon; 2. Dante Perotta, Lafayette (Hoyt Logging); 3. Leonard Trudel, Hillsboro
Class 8, Powder Puff — 1. Wendy Dawkins, McMinnville (Total Destruction Racing); 2. Ashley Reed, Yamhill (Poorboy Off-Road); 3. Kristen Ravie, McMinnville (American Rebel Racing)

Specialty Awards
Top Woman Driver — Sherry Dawkins
Top Team — American Rebel Racing
Wildest Ride — Randy King
Coolest Ride — Monte Layer
Chairman’s Choice — Mitch Leno

Foot Race Winners
Ages 1-7 — Jayden Duarte
Ages 8-12 — Coyote Farmer