The Exciting World of Lawn Mower Racing

Are you tired of putting along on that worn-out riding mower, clipping grass at a snail’s pace? It may be time to check out one of the fastest growing sports in recent years: mower racing. Some modifications make it possible to attain speeds of over sixty miles per hour on a mower. But it is advised that if you take it to that level, you should move your mower off of your green grass and to the local dirt track or drag strip, where lawn mower racing is becoming a popular and structured sport.

For example, there is even a national organization for lawn mower racing with over seven hundred members, known as the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association. They sponsor different kinds of races, from expert to amateur races, which are open to anyone who owns a lawn mower. However, unless you are an Olympic sprinter, you had better leave that push mower at home. These guys are serious.

Lawn mower racing apparently has its roots in a British pub called the Cricker’s Arms. In 1973 a group of buzzed chaps, sipping pints and bemoaning the financial costs of motor sports, realized that nearly all of them owned a mower and could use them to race; it had a motor, four wheels, and a steering wheel, they reasoned-the only necessary elements for racing. Thus, the British Lawn Mower Racing Association was born, and along with it, lawn mower racing as a whole.

If you are interested in mower racing there are some things you may want to do. For example, the rules of racing are different depending on where you are competing. Be sure to check with your local chapter for what is allowed and what is not. Go to a meeting and talk to those who are already involved; most racers are very welcoming and will do whatever they can to recruit new members, almost to the point of working on your mower for you!