Support for this program provided by Howard K. and Nancy B. Cohen.

A century ago, the swamp buggy was born.

But it wasn't enough to use these rugged vehicles to explore the Everglades.

The folks of Naples, Florida, souped up their creations and began racing.

Over, under, around and through the mud.

The wackiest race in history is on.

Die-hard fans and drivers have kept the races alive since 1949.

When Naples was but a blip on the map between untamed wilderness and Gulf beaches.

When locals were known more for their grit than their ritz.

The races recall a version of Naples that's almost gone.

This is really the last bit of culture that we have with all the development.

I meet people all the time and they say they've never met a native before.

Well, just come to the swamp buggy races because we're all out here.

This is like our little local hometown sport that we take very seriously.

We're the only place in the world that does this.

A lot of people see the sport and they're like, oh, it's a bunch of redneck hillbillies, blah, blah, blah.

No, these guys are mechanical geniuses, honestly.

Like Taylor's stepfather, Eddie Chesser.

You know, the motor is the only thing that you can probably buy and throw in there, but still everything else, you gotta to figure it out yourself.

Eddie Chesser is part of a racing dynasty stretching back to his grandma Myrtle.

It's in my blood.

I mean, it doesn't make any sense to do it, to be honest with you.

Doesn't make any sense.

Swamp buggy fever is real.

Go Cold Duck!

It's not your average Oldsmobile.

Yeah, I tell you that much.

It is close to maxed out.

But once you get in that seat, oh, it's a whole new ballgame.

Get out there, sit back, shift'er, and just hammer down.

Hammer down.

I can't live in this world and not be racin' swamp buggies.

Each race brings new challenges.

Heading into the January 2025 races, Eddie Chesser was the driver to beat.

I'm retired, which is not good for my competitors, because I got way too much time on my hands to try to go faster.

Yet victory is never assured when machines and water mingle on the mile of mud.

[Engine revving] ♪ Music ♪ ♪ Music ♪ Swamp buggies were created to solve a problem.

Hunters needed vehicles that would not get stuck in the muck of the woods and the wetlands.

Naples resident Ed Frank invented the swamp buggy around the 1920s.

And back then, Florida Everglades was water almost yearlong, you know what I'm saying?

You know, it was really up to your chest most of the time.

So he had to make a vehicle that could navigate the Florida Everglades, and be all super dependable.

He gained a reputation as a master machinist, though his family said his schooling stopped around the third grade.

He learned his machinist skills from from correspondence courses.

Which blows me away, you know, because the guy was incredible and I guess, you know the pioneers back then had to do that, because they had to be able to survive.

Ed Frank opened a garage on Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples.

He never threw a part away.

Because as soon as you threw the part away, you needed it.

And that's, that's what he did, that's how he built the swamp buggy from junk.

The buggy caught on.

Early versions included parts from Model A's with orange crates for seats and later jeeps and airplane tires left over from World War II.

Every swamp buggy was its own person.

It had its own personality, its own quirks, its own capabilities, its weaknesses.

Ray Carroll inherited his grandfather's buggy.

Mr.

Pogo.

The oldest part... Parts of the buggy are coming up on 100 years old now.

...might be this, the Model A parts.

Because you know?

Not, not very many people have the opportunity to keep something that a member of their family built from scratch.

I'm still using it, and will until one of us breaks.

[Chuckles] Hunting buggies evolved into racing buggies.

In 1949, a group of journalists was coming to Naples.

Local businessmen asked hunters to entertain the writers with a buggy race and parade.

[This is the vehicle that the] [natives of Naples, Florida, use to transport this quiet town] [into a rip-roaring celebration.]

The quirky event became an annual gathering that included the crowning and dunking of a queen.

Swamp buggy days captivated audiences across the state and the nation.

They don't need turnpikes in Naples.

They have swamp buggies.

The derby draws big crowds each year.

Like I say, it was the cultural event of the year then.

There was no Ritz-Carlton there was no Naples orchestra, none of that existed.

The excitement lured Franklin Adams from Miami.

Yeah.

This is ah, this is my buggy, Stump Jumper.

And that's me, and we're beginning to get into trouble... right there.

We're getting stuck.

The mud made for a heck of a show, earning the moniker the World's Muddiest Race.

Nobody really took it serious among ourselves, you know.

‘You brought that piece of crap out here again?

I'm gonna' kick your, you know.'

Franklin Adams won his class twice, but was at a disadvantage when it came to prizes handed out at the parade.

So I said to one of the local guys that I got to know from the race, I said, ‘How come?

We're better than that buggy over there.

Look at us.

Look at that.'

He said, 'Are you from Naples?'

Oh, okay.

No.

[Chuckles] Second place.

[Chuckles] ♪ Music ♪ A favorite of spectators was Tumble Bug, which now lives at a local museum.

Tumble Bug is my, is my uncle's buggy, Paul Frank.

He used to pop wheelies, and he was very careful doing it as he also had good brakes, you know what I'm saying.

All the old pamphlets and everything would have Tumble Bug on it, rearing up, and you'd see two people in the front seat, and then you see a little guy in the back.

That was David.

Okay?

He was always on Tumble Bug.

[Chuckles] ♪ Music ♪ Early on, women wore pioneer dresses before the queen of the swamps adopted glamor.

Driver Randy Alander's mother, Dolly, was a queen.

And that's the court there, the whole court there, of course, we knew, every gal in there, we knew.

But his mom was not thrilled with the custom of dunking the queen.

I think she was like, holding her nose, takin', you know, going in and making sure she popped back up and the world was still there.

In the 1970s, the creativity and ingenuity of builders took the buggies to the next level.

Another family sped forward: The Chessers.

[That is the man, Leonard Chesser.]

Leonard Chesser is known as the godfather of swamp buggy racing.

The first guy to show up with a set of the front skis that we all run now was Leonard Chesser.

And when he showed up at the track with them, I'll never forget it.

He had sheets over the front of the buggy.

So he was all secretive.

And then when he pulled out there, he popped the sheets off and went out there and blasted a lap.

He brought a lot of innovation to the sport, Leonard did.

And so did Lonnie.

Lonnie Chesser was Leonard's younger brother and Eddie Chesser's father.

They competed against each other and everybody else tried to keep up with them.

[That's Lonnie Chesser in The Outlaw] Eddie recalled one way his father made his buggies faster.

He come out with ah, with the first blower you know, a supercharged blower.

And when he went out there and he took off, it was unbelievable.

The addition worried the racing board.

They were scared of it.

Somebody is going to get hurt, a piece come flying off and hit the stands.

So they say, ‘Look, Lonnie, we gotta outlaw the blowers, and turbochargers, and nitrous oxide.'

It was like the night before the race, We're like, 'Look, we're going to name this buggy The Outlaw.

They want to outlaw everything I do.

So we're naming it The Outlaw.'

And that's where it came from.

The Chesser brothers racked up wins as the unconventional sport attracted more national interest.

Timex shot a commercial at the track.

Well, you saw the pounding our swamp buggy took, now let's see how our Timex took it.

Leonard Chesser appeared on the game show To Tell the Truth.

Number three.

My name is Leonard Chesser.

And took Vice President Hubert Humphrey on a memorable buggy ride.

In later years, ESPN and TNN televised the races.

[You see Eddie Chesser here in The Outlaw...] The fever spread to younger generations.

We worked on racing buggies every single weekend.

There was no going to the beach with your friends.

There was no, sleepovers, playdates.

It was get up at 9:00.

You work in the shop until dark.

You win races in the shop.

So that was my dad's motto.

Amy's brother Glen Chesser races too.

[Buggies revving] Their cousin, Eddie and his father, Lonnie, also built buggies together.

Eddie Chesser blasted on to the racing scene after serving in the Army as a paratrooper.

I won my first big feature in ‘92.

And that's, ah, the big trophy on the right.

I don't know you can see it up there.

The trophies have got smaller through the years, as you see how they go down.

Winners earn cash, but it pales in comparison to the time and the cost they invest.

It doesn't pay off.

It, you don't, it's not worth the money.

It's ah an expensive hobby.

The prizes do include bragging rights.

Eddie has the most season championships of any driver.

And carries on The Outlaw name.

[Buggy revving] His cousin Amy sought to leave a legacy too.

This was my four-wheel drive buggy.

Her father, Leonard, saw potential, as he told NPR in 2007.

She had her own four-wheeler when she was a year and a half old.

Three years old, she was driving my airboat around the yard.

I said it from the time I was probably 10, 11 years old.

I want to be the first woman to ever win the swamp buggy races.

Women used to be relegated to powderpuff races.

[After all, what lady doesn't love a mud pack.]

Obviously, it's a male-dominant sport.

So he's like, you don't give him any slack.

Don't let him come over in your lane.

If they are, hit ‘em.

And you, you keep your half of the track.

The kids that, you know, followed me and were my fans, you know, their parents always told them, ‘If Amy wins the big feature, you guys don't have to go to school on Monday.'

So, you know, I have all these kids rooting me on.

‘Come on, Amy, come on.

I don't want to go to school tomorrow.'

In 2008, after six decades of swamp buggy racing, Amy Chesser became the first woman to win the big feature, the final race of the day.

Well, all my family and all my fans are jumping in the water.

Yeah, it was a, it was an amazing moment.

The competition is strong, but so are the bonds that tie local families.

Long before Amy Chesser married Scotty McCandless, Scotty's father raced Amy's father.

This picture right here is very iconic because this is my father, Leonard Chesser.

And then this is Scotty's dad, Roger.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

He was, he was the top dog for years and years, and I finally went out there and dethroned him.

But we shook hands.

And he said, ‘You know, you know, I said, 'Well, to be the best, I gotta beat the best.'

Scotty and Amy merged the names of her father's buggy, Dat's Da One, with his father's, Rat On, to make: Dat's Da Rat.

[Buggy revving] But in 2023, a crime imperiled more than just their racing futures.

The bullet stopped right before it would have put me into, um a stroke that would have killed me.

And then this is like where the, I got shot here, and then they shot me, like, right here.

So.

Amy and Scotty were shot while riding in their pickup truck, causing them to crash.

Scotty's ex-wife and two men were later arrested in connection with the murder plot.

Our detectives have been working hard to process evidence in this heinous crime.

The swamp buggy community supported them as Scotty and Amy fought to recover.

If you would have told me then that we were ever, ever gonna be in a racing buggy again.

I would have told you, you're crazy.

The main reason we are standing here is because the way our fathers raised us.

You know, they raised us tough.

And um, we believe that, if we were raised by other people that we wouldn't have had what we call grit to survive what we've been through.

That grit led them to plan a return to racing.

So we go back to our neurosurgeon.

He's like, ‘I don't, he goes, ‘yeah, you guys are you're, you're just as much able to do this stuff as anybody else.'

How do I tell my children?

‘Yeah, I'm the first woman to ever win the swamp buggy race swamp buggy races.

But, I can't race anymore because, you know, I got shot.'

So it, it is a, it's definitely a goal.

It gives us something to look forward to because so much has been taken from us.

It keeps our family together.

Their daughter Bristol is next in line.

So then hopefully one day, I may not see it, but Scott and Amy see Bristol, my granddaughter.

You put her in there and tell her what to do and she'll do it.

She has no fear.

The dynasty grows from Eddie Chesser too, with his stepson, Taylor Edmonds.

I want people to find out about this and love it as much as I did as a kid.

Eddie was actually, um he was my idol.

And then when my mom said she was going on a date with Eddie Chesser, I was like, are you serious?

And ah, I was really excited and telling my brothers, like, 'What if mom marries Eddie Chesser?'

And my mom's like, 'That's not going to happen.'

And now they've been married for a long, long time, so... Taylor drives a buggy named, Your Mom.

You feel like ah, you're on a roller coaster in a sense.

So sometimes it doesn't feel great when you're behind and you're getting pelted in the face with water, as I have.

But when you're out in front, it's amazing.

And yet he's well acquainted with the dangers.

Years ago, his stepfather Eddie almost drowned after his buggy flipped.

[Get him out!]

The safety crew rushed to the rescue.

Somebody that was a patron jumped the fence and actually helped get him out.

But yeah, knowing that stuff you fear that.

Eventually, his turn came.

My flip was actually a really violent flip.

It wasn't just like a, you know, some of them, they teeter over and they're like, 'oh, he's going to go.'

And then he goes.

No.

Mine was like, whoa, boom.

And I kind of like twisted at the same time.

And so, the regulator flew somehow off of my neck.

So, when I went to grab it, it wasn't there.

And I started panicking.

Taylor couldn't find his air supply and was trapped until the safety crew pulled him out.

[Bye T!]

My son flipped in a corner.

He's at the hospital.

They're fixing his arm so, he's going to be alright.

This season looked better for Taylor and Eddie.

In the January 2025 races, Eddie was chasing a record for the most big feature wins.

Right now, I'm tied with my uncle.

[This man is the winningest swamp buggy driver] [in history.]

They're saying that he has 26, so, and I got 26, so my next win I'm, I'll I'll have the most big feature wins out there.

But he's keeping his strategy to himself.

While it's at my advantage, I want to try to keep it, you know, keep it top secret.

The next morning, the buggies parade through downtown Naples.

[Your Mom.]

Taylor's buggy name inspires playful exchanges.

[Hey, Your Mom] No, Your Mom.

Your Mom.

[No, it's Your Mom!]

Local historians consider the parade and the race the oldest tradition in Naples.

Which has vastly changed since the first 1949 celebration.

From small town to posh destination, with relentless development, and no space for swamp buggy races.

They're now held in the outskirts of Naples at The Florida Sports Park.

After the parade, the buggies line up for inspection.

Inspection area, we go through all the buggies to make sure they're meeting our criteria, what we have to do for safety.

Friends and family gather, including Taylor's mom and Eddie's wife, Nicole Chesser.

It's a fun time.

It's just very time consuming and dangerous.

Yeah.

Taylor and Eddie practice.

Then assess.

You think your motor's not revving up all the way?

I'm just going to take it back to the shop and we're gonna you know, check everything over really good and ah, hopefully we get luck on our side tomorrow.

The next morning, fans, new... It's his first one.

...and true trickle in for the big day.

Kim Kelsey has been a regular since he was 14.

Nowhere in the world does it do this.

Listen to these guys.

This is 900 horsepower right now.

Coming at you.

Theresa Langford began watching her husband race in the 1970s.

Terry Langford was a legend, too.

The tradition carries on with her sons.

I don't have to be out here, but I just feel the urge, that I need to be here to support my boys.

Desmond Wilson is a dedicated member of Eddie's pit crew.

I asked him if I could work out here with him.

He's like, 'Yeah, come on.'

Ended up getting in the pits.

I loved it.

I loved being around it.

VIP tours include a stop with another buggy celeb, Lorrie Johns.

[She runs Lady Liberty] [if you want to get her autograph.]

There are not a lot of women out here driving.

And, and that can make it kind of tough at times.

I'll sit out there sometimes at the starting line waving at the driver next to me, but I get nothing in return sometimes.

Because they're serious and I'm just not as serious because it I still see it as just fun.

Before the races, some course basics for the uninitiated.

It's a standing start.

Green flag waves, and you go out and it's like a figure eight.

You go through what's called the short shoot in the center and then one complete lap around the outside.

We're in two feet of water, we have two holes.

One's about six-foot deep and one's about five-foot deep.

They have to go across.

The top buggies can reach more than 60 miles an hour.

At those speeds, water equals risk.

These buggies be racing beside each other and the spray is going, it's like a boat wave.

If you get out of that wave and the water's on top of you, your visibility is done.

The winner of each heat moves on.

And, the fastest races are less than a minute.

And the record is held by this guy.

I'm Dan Greenling.

I drive the, ah, Pro-Mod Roll On ah, number 47.97.

And the reason for that number, that's the track record, fastest lap ever run out here in 76 years.

Pro-Mods are typically the fastest.

Eddie's class.

There are also jeeps, air-cooled engines, four-cylinder, six-cylinder, and the V8 sportsman.

Taylor's class.

On race day, Taylor and Eddie wait in the pits.

Other family members are there in spirit.

Right there.

Right here.

I have a little container of his ashes.

It says, Dad.

So he rides with me every time.

He's always with me.

Yep.

His father Lonnie Chesser, died in 2014.

His uncle Leonard Chesser, died in 2024.

In a testament to Leonard's legacy, his buggy is memorialized at the track.

The race day lineup shows Taylor facing Lorrie Johns.

His anxiety ramps up.

My flip was against this buggy.

Um, I've only beaten the buggy one time, and it was ironically, ah, when she wasn't driving, it was her husband driving.

So she's kind of like my boogeyman a little bit.

So hopefully, hopefully I can beat her today, we'll see.

[Lorrie Johns in Lady Liberty.]

[She knows her way around this track.]

[And the green flag flies.]

Lady Liberty appears first around the bend.

But Taylor slices the gap in a straightaway and widens the lead.

Your Mom wins.

We went down the straightaway, and I, I just felt this thing just go.

And I stayed in tight, but I just didn't have enough for you.

No, you were great.

You did good today.

Thank you so much.

You did awesome.

Taylor worries about his next competitor.

The driver of All Duck'd Up.

Dave Rodriguez, yeah, and he's running really well.

Um his time that they have on the sheet is really fast.

So that's a bit concerning if it's accurate.

Your Mom and All Duck'd Up start strong.

David Rodriguez pulls ahead and maintains the lead.

He clinches the win and a hug from mom.

Taylor wasn't sure what went wrong.

It felt like it was just not really going anywhere and spinning and even down the front straightaway.

So.

And then, on the back straightaway, it felt like it darted away from me, which is dangerous.

David Rodriguez went on to win two more races, securing a track record in one and almost flipping, in another.

These wins do not come easy, I can tell you that.

I mean, there's buggies tore up everywhere.

That was exciting.

It's, it's a tough sport.

This water does weird things to these things.

And it's never the same.

You think you got it figured out and you don't.

With All Duck'd Up dominating Taylor's class, the focus turns to Eddie Chesser in The Outlaw.

He faces Brian Langford in Convoy next.

The Chessers and the Langfords count a half-century of competition.

[Buggies revving] Eddie runs hard around the corner.

His buggy tips, then slams down.

Pieces of his wheel fly off in the straightaway, but Eddie doesn't let up and wins.

[Now that's some racing right there.]

Eddie Chesser's heading to the big feature, the final race of the day.

But there's a problem.

Eddie needs new wheels.

His crew rushed to pick up replacements, but have not returned.

His opponent Dave Brewer, the driver of Backdraft, is willing to wait.

I'm not going out there without Eddie.

Time is running out.

In the end, the crew switches the bad tire to the inside, where there's less pressure in the turns.

We're going to go like this.

We're going like this.

If it's meant to be, it's meant be.

Though new wheels arrive, Eddie doesn't want to hold up the final.

We don't have time, man.

I can ask.

Let's just do it, man.

[Alright, fire ‘em up!]

Oh God.

[Race fans are you ready?]

[This is going to be one heck of a race.]

[It's gonna be close.]

It's The Outlaw vs Backdraft.

Eddie Chesser is a mile of mud from his Uncle Leonard's all-time winning record.

The Outlaw grabs the lead.

Come on dad!

Backdraft fights to keep up.

The buggies roar into the final lap.

Near the finish, The Outlaw's other wheel shreds as Eddie Chesser seizes victory.

Whoo!

Yeah!

[He's going so fast,] [he already tore out two tires in the last two races.]

Let's Go!

Whoo!

Thank you for supporting this sport.

I want to dedicate this race to my Uncle Leonard.

I just beat his record today and I couldn't have done it without him and my dad.

Thank you guys for comin'!

[Good job, congratulations Eddie.]

He dunks the queen, soaking in the swamp and the moment.

[One.

Two.

Three.]

You know, records are meant to be broke.

You know, I, I hated to break my uncle's, but I'm sure he'd want me to do it than somebody else.

Love you, Eddie.

Eddie, Eddie you owe my brother a trophy.

I do?

The next generations will be chasing his record.

Mama, look at Outlaw's wheels.

As swamp buggy fever lives on.

[Don't forget to tell your friends, tell your family] [that you were at the world famous mile of mud,] [and the world famous swamp buggy races.]

Support for this program provided by Howard K. and Nancy B. Cohen.