Matt Brusselback has been a mechanic and fabricator for more than 25 years. Matt has an overly creative mind and can engineer and fabricate parts and craft complete jobs with the precision of a master artist. Matt opened Custom 4 Wheel Drive in 1996 when it was located in Clearwater, Florida. He moved the shop to New Port Richey in 2002 and loves being part of the community here in New Port Richey. Work is done by appointment only.
JEEPTOBERFEST
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Amber Riccinto/Correspondent
By Andy Fillmore Correspondent
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Published: Saturday, October 18, 2014 at 7:23 p.m.Last Modified: Saturday, October 18, 2014 at 7:23 p.m.
BELLEVIEW — Jeep lovers from all over the Southeast jammed the Market of Marion Saturday for the 17th annual two-day Jeeptoberfest.
“This is the biggest one yet. We have about 1,100 Jeeps today and we expect about 6,000 spectators,” said Chip Goodson, president of the Ocala Jeep Club, sponsor of the event along with Phillip Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge and the Markets of Marion.
The Jeeptoberfest features three off-road courses including a 1 1/2-mile stock course for all Jeeps, a moderate course mostly for modified machines and an expanded extreme course for more highly modified machines.
Goodson said about 10 percent of drivers finish the demanding extreme course with its rocks, giant concrete obstacles and mud hole.
Matt Brusselback and his wife Amy Baird, of New Port Richey and their daughters Aly, 21, and Katie, 21, finally conquered the extreme course this year.
“I did it after five years of trying. Other years, I broke a driveshaft or axle, but this year we made it,” said Brusselback, as he drove away in his purple custom CJ-7 Jeep powered by a high-performance 350 Chevrolet engine.
Cody Scott, 23, of Hudson also bested the extreme course with his 1997 Jeep Wrangler.
“I've got about $20,000 invested in this Jeep,” Scott said.
Mark Hyland, 50, handled the extreme course with his Ultra Four class off-road buggy, which sports 42-inch diameter tires and LS-1, 510 horsepower engine power. Hyland has raced in California but likes the course here and “will be back.”
Rusty Krumm, 37, of Ocala muddied up his modified 1982 CJ-7 on the course. He was joined at the event by his mother, Susan Schroeder, her fiancé Owen Sanders and Schroeder's children Jeremiah, 1, and her grandchild Marisa, 11.
Danielle McIntyre made the eight-hour drive from near Piedmont, South Carolina with members of the Twisted Jeepers Club, including her brother Tim Gilliland, who is home from military support work in Afghanistan.
The Trail Monkeys 4 X 4 Club from southwest Florida had about 40 members attend. Club president and Desert Storm veteran Tom Walters, founding member Charlie Scott and members Kelly Brogan, Joe Rumley and Sherri Mulhalland sat under a shelter waiting to hit the courses again.
Rumley, 36, an information technology professional, said the “courses are better, with more mud,” this year while Mulhalland joked that the event was a chance “to go topless (with the Jeep) and get dirty.”
Space Coast Jeep Club members Whitney Greene, 36, her boyfriend Chris Beeler, 42, and Greene's son Landon, 2, came to Jeeptoberfest from Melbourne.
“We love (the Jeeptoberfest). They have the off-road courses as opposed to some Jeep events where the Jeeps are mainly lined up for a show,” Beeler said.
Deputy Sheriff Doug Tanner with the Polk County Sheriff's Office volunteered with about eight other PCSO members to work the event and gather ideas for their own Jeep gathering planned for Feb. 6-7 at Clear Springs Ranch in Bartow.
“This is a model for our event,” Tanner said.
David and Kelly Nash, Ocala Jeep Club members, skipped the event for a few years but joined the fun Saturday.
“The club has really built something here,” said David Nash, 57.
About 50 vendors are set up at the event, including Rusty's Off Road Products of Rainbow City, Alabama. Owner Rusty Megois said he has been at every Ocala Jeeptoberfest since about 1999. Vendor Ricky Artes of Jeepers Den accessories said the Ocala event is his “favorite of 37 Jeep gatherings in the Southeast.”
Last year, Jeeptoberfest raised about $45,000 for local charities including Interfaith-Food 4 Kids, the Transitions Life Center, Hospice of Marion County, Ronald McDonald House and Kimberly's Cottage. Several organizations had booths set up at the event.
Interfaith volunteers Joe and Danita Dunn displayed some typical backpack contents in the Food 4 Kids take-home program, while Ginger Broslat with Transitions Life Center said the first deposit for a campaign to raise funds for an independent living housing and activity center for special needs members of the community came from a previous donation by the Ocala Jeep Club.
The Jeep Club of Ocala was founded in 1995 by Steve Felder after a group of friends gathered for a ride in their Jeeps to look at Christmas lights. The group now includes about 125 families.
We Can Design and Build Your Custom Truck!
Our talented artist-mechanics are ready to help you, from refining your ideas into a solid plan, to engineering and fabricating customized parts needed to bring your dream to life. We have many of the parts you need to begin dreaming what your project can be. Our inventory includes frames and tubs, and if we don't have what you want in stock, we can certainly find it for you. Call today to bring your 4x4 dreams to life.
(727)-815-9905
Our talented artist-mechanics are ready to help you, from refining your ideas into a solid plan, to engineering and fabricating customized parts needed to bring your dream to life. We have many of the parts you need to begin dreaming what your project can be. Our inventory includes frames and tubs, and if we don't have what you want in stock, we can certainly find it for you. Call today to bring your 4x4 dreams to life.
(727)-815-9905
Custom 4 Wheel Drive sponsors Little League and hosts their end of the season party at Rockin' Horse Farm
Fall 2010
Custom 4 Wheel Drive also supports special needs riders and their horses through the Horse Connections Program at www.RockinHorseFarm.org