Archive for August, 2009

What a great weekend it was at Bowles Farm, in Clements Maryland. Tommy and Tina Bowles really know how to make things almost perfect. Bobby Cleveland was there with the Big Blue Truck and all his toys and knowledge for the people coming through to see. And a old friend, X-Mark.. Mark Boyce was onboard with him. It was also great to meet some new faces to racing on a USLMRA track. Welcome Aboard.

When it started raining on Friday Night no one left, just found some cover, for there was a back-up plan in place to get the event in, but when it stopped and it was determined that we could not run on the soaked track Tommy and his crew went to work scraping off the slick, bring in some dry and making it almost perfect. Tacky and very FAST. We had several races going inside each race. 4th and 5th racing for 3rd… 2nd racing for 1st..
What excitement. Everyone had a great and safe time and the crowd of over 1000 hung with us all the way to midnight.

Then came Saturday. It started off like any other race day with registration, and a quick spot tech., then these trailers started rolling in with those monster hp horses. 18 teams of pulling horses gave the crowd a great show, right into the evening. Tommy did a little track Maintenance, the off we went with another great night of racing. And again the track seemed even faster. With people standing and sitting almost all the way around the track, 3000+, gave another great show for everyone.

Traveling to all the National Events doing Timing and Scoring I will have to say this will be one to remember. Don’t get me wrong, I have a great time at all the events, Sparta, MI, Barbourville, KY, LaPorte, IN, and Avon Park, FL. and many more. There is just something about being in the country in the middle of a corn patch.

Now on to Englewood then Nationals….

Check out The Holland Sentinel’s coverage of lawn mower racing at the Ottawa County Fair.

I must admit, I was a little bit skeptical. No, make that a lot skeptical.

I mean, I had to leave Fifth-Third Ballpark, home of the West Michigan Whitecaps after finishing a conversation with former Detroit Tigers’ catcher Matt Nokes to cover lawn mower racing at the Ottawa County Fair.

And if you know how much I love baseball …

Anyway, once I arrived at the fairgrounds track, an official with the Michigan Lawnmower Racing Association briefed me on the technical aspects of the sport.

She told me about how the only resemblance to the lawn mowers you see in people’s yards is cosmetic, that everything underneath the hood, so to speak, is rebuilt from the ground up.

Oh, yeah, the blades have been removed, too.

From my perspective, however, it’s a simple fact of human nature. There’s a machine with four wheels and an engine, there are men (and a couple of women), so it’s necessary to race the darn things.

Right?

To read the rest, head on over to hollandsentinel.com.

You can now watch the Discovery Channel’s “Wreckreation Nation Season One” featuring a segment on lawn mower racing on Amazon here. You can purchase the entire season, episode, or just the lawn mower racing segment! Be sure to check out the free preview as well!