Entertainment

Here’s a taste of the action from this weekends STA-BIL National Lawn & Garden Mower Racing Series action in Michigan! To celebrate the May 24th release of Gnomeo and Juliet on Blu-ray™ Disc and DVD, presented the Gnomeo & Juliet “Mow-down Showdown!”

Riders dressed as the film’s iconic red & blue feuding gnome families and raced for the right to present The Berrien County Michigan Farm Bureau Young Farmers with a $5000 dollar donation earmarked for agricultural education in Berrien County schools.

Stay tuned for MOW from Michigan!!!

The U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association marks its’ 19th Birthday on April Fool’s Day by announcing a strategic partnership with GnomeFrenzy.com and hosting a grass kicking party at the Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek, Maryland for Opening Weekend of the 2011 STA-BIL Lawn & Garden Mower Racing Series.

“No foolin’! Racing lawn mowers and garden gnomes is a perfect partnership,” said Bruce Kaufman, “Mr. Mow It All,” U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association President. “Lawn mower racers have always competed for trophies, glory and bragging rights. Now they will also compete for garden gnomes.”

Established on April 1, 1992, the U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association is the nations’ oldest and largest national lawn mower racing sanctioning body gaining mowmentum each year for its’ 21-race STA-BIL Lawn & Garden Mower Racing Series and network of 50 Local Clubs hosting more than 140 sanctioned races in 37 states.

GnomeFrenzy.com makes it their business to provide the perfect lawn gnome for home or garden, whether it is a traditional garden gnome, or an NCAA, NFL or MLB-themed lawn statue. They also offer custom garden gnomes for Breast Cancer Awareness.

To mark its’ April 1 birthday, Potomac Speedway will host two days of STA-BIL Series races, Saturday-Sunday, April 2-3, and will celebrate April Fools’ Day with free surprise foolishness at 7:00 PM, Friday April 1 at the track, 27963 Budds Creek Road, Budds Creek, MD 20659. Race admission is $8.00, free for kids eight and under. Racing begins on Saturday, April 2 at 7:00PM with gates open at 4:00PM and Sunday, April 3 at 1:00PM with gates open at 11:00AM.

“What better way to celebrate April Fool’s Day than at the racetrack with some  racing mowers and lawn gnomes?” added Kaufman. “It’s Opening Weekend so bring it – the mow the merrier!”

Back in the summer of 2009, Season One of Discovery Channel’s Wreckreation Nation was was released with the DVD box cover featuring racing lawn mowers on the cover – and show host Dave Mordal wearing our STA-BIL racing suit. That episode is now avilable FREE to all Netflix subscribers via their Instant Streaming service! Netflix says:

Dave travels to Ohio for the U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Championships, proving that all you need for a race is a couple of guys and any kind of engine. Then he enrolls in alligator wrestling school, despite his mortal fear of alligators.

Click here to watch Discovery Channel’s Wreckreation Nation Season One Episode One

Way back in 1993, the U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association hooked up with the folks at Disney / ABC to be featured on the famous Home Improvement lawn mower racing episode featuring Tim Allen and Bob Vila.

From Wikepedia.org:

The series centered on the Taylor family, which consists of father Tim (Tim Allen), his spouse Jill (Patricia Richardson) and their three children: the oldest, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), the middle child Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and youngest, Mark (Taran Noah Smith). The Taylors live in suburban Detroit, Michigan and have a neighbor named Wilson (Earl Hindman) who is often the go-to guy for solving Tim and Jill’s problems.

Each episode included Tim’s own home improvement show, called Tool Time, a “meta-program,” or show-within-a-show. In hosting this show, Tim was joined by his friend and mild-mannered assistant Al Borland (Richard Karn), and a “Tool Time girl” — first Lisa (Pamela Anderson) and later Heidi (Debbe Dunning) — whose main duty was to introduce the pair at the beginning of the show with the line “Does everybody know what time it is?” They would also assist Tim and Al during the show by bringing them tools.

During a whirlwind trip to Los Angles, we met Tim, Bob and the entire cast. Then, we went to a city park in Los Angeles where the Dixie Chopper Jet powered Lawn Mower was driven by Tim Allen against Bob Vila in “Turfinator,” the race mower owned by Lawn Mower Racing Hall of Fame Member Ken “Turfinator” Smolecki.

And what a race it was. Here are some exclusive photos taken on the set, and of course, the race itself!

Reminder: this week we kicked off our new Monday Morning MOWtivation series by giving away a Hot Wheels Home Improvement Action Pack that Mattel Hot Wheels put out way back in 1996 to commemorate the famous Home Improvement Racing Mower episode with Tim Allen and Bob Vila. This set features the famous Dixie Chopper Jet Mower and a 1933 Ford Convertible along with a Binford tool chest and characters of Tim and Al.

Leave a comment on the contest on our Facebook Page by tomorrow (February 28th) at 10AM Central and you could win this highly collectible prize!

Click here to enter on Facebook!

Give this clip of USLMRA President Bruce Kaufman talking about On Your Mark, Get Set, MOW! a look.

You can learn more about the documentary film, about lawn mower racing and Huntington’s disease, at mowermovie.com.