Archive for July, 2010

The Utah State Lawn Mower Racing Association (sponsored locally by Hope’s Outdoor Power Equipment) opened their season on Saturday, June 19th in Salem, Oregon. Photographer Patrick Smith of The Daily Herald was there, and captured these great photos:

TheSocialElement.com is a web-based community project by Summit Brewing Company focused on all kinds of outside-the-box activities seen on the streets of Saint Paul, Minneapolis and beyond. The site has previously feature ddouble-tall bike makers and riders, nordic battle reenactment “warriors”, lawn bowlers, and the Lake Superior surfers and looks to include groups that share the common bond of passion for activities one wouldn’t ordinarily see or do.

The Social Element had this to say about the Minnesota Lawn Mower Racing Association:

In January of 2005 the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association awarded lawn mower racers in the state of Minnesota a Local Chapter Charter. Since that point it has been blades off and away we mow!!

The Men, and Women of the MNLMRA all get their mow-jo on with 6 classes of racing lawn mowers (the fastest of which can reach speeds upwards of 60mph!) that travel to county fairs and festivals during the summer months and various events on ice in the winter.

They also put together this great video featuring many of our MLMRA:

The Newark Star Ledger published this piece last Saturday, just as the STA-BIL Bowles Farms Turf Battle in Maryland was getting underway.

The rolling front lawn of Mike Paccione’s home in Branchburg is dry, straw-colored and not so much trimmed as flattened. It is not the lawn you’d associate with a man who owns and lovingly maintains three riding lawn mowers, two detailed in a gleaming cherry red. But then again, none of them is actually equipped with blades.

Paccione, 43, is an underwriting manager for Chubb & Son, but in lawn mower racing circles, he’s known as Mow Power, whose fierce maneuvering and grace under pressure have vaulted him to the top of the national circuit in three short years. Between racing, working, taking care of his three children and working out, who has time to cut the grass? A mite sheepishly, he admits, “I actually have a service.”

This weekend Paccione and his family headed down to southern Maryland for the STA-BIL Bowles Farms Turf Battle, a major race in the national championship series, which will culminate Labor Day weekend in central Ohio with the STA-BIL Keeps Gas Fresh Finals & Challenge of Champions.

Read the rest of the story here, and check back soon for official results from last weekends races!

The Placer County Fair was June 24-27 at the Placer County Fairgrounds, and lawnmower races took place Saturday and Sunday, with other highlights including Mixed Martial Arts, a Monster Truck and Tractor Pull, Demolition Derby and hypnotist, happening through the weekend as well. The races were run by our own Pacific Coast Lawn Mower Racing Association.

YouTube User wmspencer caught this racing action on video:

Sacramento Channel 3 KCRA also took some live video… click here to view it.

For more information on the Pacific Coast Lawn Mower Racing Association, or to get involved in California’s racing mower groups, contact Bud Elmore.

The STA-BIL National Lawn Mower Racing Series returns to the Gopher State, for another Double Header Race Day, Saturday, July 31, 2010 at the Anoka County Fair.

The Anoka County Fair is staffed by racing and tractor pull people, so they know how to build a good course for us.  We expect a big field of racers, as Anoka is the 2^nd to last STA-BIL Series Weekend of the 2010 season before STA-BIL Nationals Weekend (Englewood, TN is August 14-15).

For more information, including a schedule, map, and hotel deals, click here.