Mark Armijo
The Arizona Republic
June 9, 2001
Gentlemen, start your Snappers.
And your John Deeres, Murrays, Dynamarks, MTDs and anything else designed to cut the grass in your back yard.
The U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association, created on April Fools' Day in 1992, is proving America's infatuation with racing is not confined to fast cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles and bicycles.
"I had never heard of this sport until four years ago when I went to a race in Maine," said Michael Bonville of Peoria. "I thought it was a rip. I told myself I had to get me a riding lawn mower so I could go racing."
Bonville has been addicted ever since and now travels a national circuit that includes 17 races in 10 states, none west of Texas.
"I just got back from a race in Mendota, Ill.," said Bonville, who works at a recreational vehicle and auto repair shop. "I always drive by myself. It was 1,742 miles one way, but it's worth it, even though I didn't get paid for (the four days) I took off from work. You can't beat the experience."
Bonville, 43, competes in souped-up riding lawn mowers (blades removed, thank you very much) that mimic the throaty roars of NASCAR engines being fired up on pit road.
Bonville's Tecumseh-powered machine is capable of reaching 65 mph, but races in his class - B Prepared - average about 40 mph on dirt and grass road courses measuring about an eighth of a mile.
The slowest class is stock, whose drivers cruise along at a snail's pace (6 mph), and the fastest is factory experimental, where speeds routinely reach 60 mph.
"I've seen some factory experimentals that look pretty wild," said Mike Linderman, who twice annually stages exhibition lawn mower races in Buckeye. "The first mower I raced was an 8-horsepower Huffy donated by a farmer. He said, 'Take it, fix it up and if you can sell it, you can have it.' I didn't sell it, but I raced it.
"I built another one and put a (350cc) Honda motorcycle engine in it. I wrecked that one the first year. It was too hard to control."
Motorcycle engines are outlawed in the Glenview, Ill.-based USLMRA, but series president Bruce Kaufman, who likes to refer to himself as "Mr. Mow It All," said there are enough classes to satisfy most anyone interested in joining the circuit, which numbers about 160 active racers from 30 states.
"The mow the merrier," Kaufman said.
Although most of the riding lawn mowers have been modified and no longer are useful for yard chores, some stock drivers still load up their machines after a race, reapply the blades and return home to mow their lawns.
Unlike at home, however, helmeted drivers, some as young as 16 if they have parental consent, must be tethered to a kill switch on the engine in case of a spill during a race.
Injuries are few, which probably is good because, unlike NASCAR, there is no purse money in the USLMRA-sanctioned STA-BIL National Lawn Mower Racing Series to help drivers cope with hospital deductibles.
And although some drivers have secured endorsement deals, few, if any, are lucrative enough to offset racing costs.
"We race for trophies, lemonade and bragging rights," said Kaufman, whose circuit's Web site is www.letsmow.com. "Our sport has no strikes, no holdouts, no doping, although some people have called us dopey. Anyone, young or old, male or female, can do it."
And some, such as Bonville, take the sport seriously.
"When I race, I race to win," Bonville said. "When I introduce myself to people, I say I'm a professional lawn mower racer. They either roll their eyes or chuckle.
"But it's serious stuff to some of us. If I had to guess, I'd say it probably cost me $10,000 to go racing last season. Others get by with a couple hundred bucks. Where else could you go to get started in racing for that little amount of money? What a deal."
Bonville said the Mendota race attracted about a thousand fans, but the yearly national championships have drawn more than 5,000 fans.
Speedvision began televising some of the races last season, including the annual "Rider Cup," which pits U.S. drivers against European drivers.
Races have Le Mans-style starts, in which following the command, "On your mark, get set, get ready, mow!" they run to their machines and scoot off.
And all the lawn mowers have names such as Weedy Gonzales, Sodzilla, Turfinator, Lawn Ranger and Geronimow.
Bonville's two logo-splattered machines are called Blades of Thunder and Mowertician.
And like most racing circuits, there's a Michael Jordan-type presence. In this case, it's Bobby Cleveland, whom Sports Illustrated dubbed the "Jeff Garden" of the series.
"I got a chuckle out of that," said Cleveland, a four-time national champion and a Snapper design engineer from Locust Grove, Ga. "I like winning, but I have more fun getting beat."
Cleveland labeled Bonville as one of the circuit's better drivers.
"He drives different than I do," Cleveland said. "He's kind of on the edge all the time."
Bonville agreed.
"I've been known to shut the door on drivers," Bonville said. "We've done some things with our mower that the rules committee hasn't caught on to yet.
"But I'm just crazy about this sport. We're just a bunch of normal guys out there having fun on a lawn mower."
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