Mowers not just for cutting grass
RATHDRUM – Dozens of North Idaho riders have caught the lawn-mower racing bug and are turning a weekend chore into a competitive sport. Last weekend’s season opener, Bonner’s Ferry Lawn Mower Races, marked the beginning of a growing lineup of racing events this year.
The sport began in England in 1973 and has been growing since. Today, mower racing has devoted fans, hundreds of events, standardized rules, a national association, sponsors, and champions with names like Turfinator, Sodzilla, Geronimow, Mr. Mowjangles, The Lawn Ranger, and Mowdacious.
Racing is inexpensive, fun and and a great spectator sport, said U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association President Bruce Kaufman (Mr. Mow it All).
“Lawn-mower racing is the perfect sport because everyone can do it,” Kaufman said. “In these days of mega-bucks sports deals, prima donna athletes, lockouts, walk outs, strikes and sanctioning body battles, it’s damn refreshing to be part of a sport that flies in the face of all that is wrong with sports today.”
It doesn’t take much to turn the family lawn mower into a racing machine. Most local events include three or four classes:
“Stock Class – the family lawn mower with the blade removed for safety
“Show Class – stock mowers with body modifications only
“Modified Class – mowers with original style frame, engine and drive train, modified only by gear ratio (changing belts and pulleys)
“Super Modified or Open Class – mowers with more extensive modifications
Most local events do not follow the standardized rules of the national association, but all do have their own rules and regulations racers must follow. Every lawn-mower racing event requires machines to have a lawn-mower transmission, drive axel, engine, frame, wheels and tires. Machines with major modifications like centrifugal clutches or snowmobile or motorcycle engines, are no longer considered to be lawn mowers are typically banned from regular classes of competition.
Locally, two types of racing have emerged – drag-type street races, and oval dirt or grass track events. While most racers are eligible to participate in either, most have a preference due to the type of modifications they have made to their mowers. Those who have put countless hours into perfecting the look of their mowers – such as Curt Green’s Hot Rod lawn mower from Spirit Lake and Eddie Fedele’s custom machine from Smelterville – prefer not to take them on the rougher, and usually dirt, oval tracks.
Others with rattle-can paint jobs, hand-painted flames and names like Flamin’ Mow, Mow Beer, Git-R-Done, Mowby Dick, Elmow, and Mow Jo – delight in the body- and machine-pounding dirt tracks. And, with no suspension and minimal braking capacity, that’s just what these racers get. While a few racers buy new motors – Honda preferably – and some have internal engine work done to improve performance, most have little invested in their machines.
They dig up an old machine – often a freebie – and spend a day or two getting it to run, and hit the track.
They may make a few mechanical changes, like removing the mower deck and blades; changing the size of pulleys and belts to change the gear-ratio; disconnecting or bypassing the governor that limits the motor speed; adding a hand throttle to the steering wheel; and adding a tethered kill switch.
With a full season of events, now is the time to experience the NASCAR-like thrill of waiting on the starting line for the flag and then throttling down the speedway at the breakneck speed of 20 to 30 mph.
Marc Kroetch and the Spirit Lake racers are always willing to help those new to the sport. Visit their Web site at bigbackin.com or call 623-5812.