Swamp Buggy Queen Jami Pearl Torrella emerges after being dunked by top winner Tyler Johns Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015 at the Florida Sports Park in Naples, Fla.

The Swamp Buggy Races began in 1949, a formal competition between hunters who, until then, could only brag about how much faster their much-modified Everglades machines were than the next guy’s.

Started in 1949 during the first Swamp Buggy Days festival, organizers call the parade the longest running annual event in town. There wasn't a parade last year because paperwork wasn't filed in time.

Naples, Fla., is home to the "swamp buggy" races, an Everglades tradition that dates back to 1949. Although airboats and cars have long since eliminated the need for swamp buggies, racing the ...

Nope, not airboats (good guess though)—it's swamp buggies. The craze was pioneered by Ed Frank, who began wrenching at age 12 and owned his own garage and machine shop by 19.

Swamp buggy racing is unlike any other type of off-road racing. The majority of the course is covered in 17-19 inches of water, and there are two “sippi” holes that are 5½ feet in depth.

Both cities were influenced by similar early settlement patterns and relied heavily on water travel and trading posts.

Some of the buggies had a rough, homemade look to them, but Oates’ $35,000 creations are like Cadillacs for swamp cruising. The vehicles have power steering, automatic transmissions and stereos ...

Buggy racing is the wildest, wettest sport this side of alligator wrestling Sunday afternoons in Naples, a chi-chi resort town nestled between the Everglades and the Gulf in southwest Florida, you ...

Swamp Buggy Drive Through the Everglades For this installment of "I'll Try Anything," PM contributor Jeff Wise heads to Florida for a scary but exhilarating ride through the swamp. By Jeff Wise ...