Written By: Dan Shell
A recent link that popped up on the daily OPEI SmartBrief newsletter directed readers to a slate.com article and photo essay covering a lawnmower racing event in Menard, Tex. sponsored by the Lone Star Mower Racing Assn. The article offers some great photography from Jennifer Boomer, who photographed not only the race action but also the behind-the-scenes faces of the racers preparing and recovering from mower racing. It’s sort of fallen off the PET radar, but PET was a big supporter of the United States Lawn Mower Racing Assn. after its founding in 1992, covering a race or two and always reporting the championship results at the end of the season. While we at PET saw mower racing as a natural segment of the lawn and garden industry to build awareness and good PR, the OPEI powers that were at the time wanted nothing to do with it, citing safety concerns. Now, after I had heard a few years back USLMRA was having trouble, a visit to the web site (letsmow.com) shows a full slate of 2015 races. I still think mower racing has a place within the industry—could you imagine Briggs & Stratton, Honda and Kohler racing teams or what designers at Dixie Chopper, Exmark, Altoz or other mower OEMs would come up with? I can’t remember where I heard it, but also a few years back someone told me OPEI might not be as adamantly against mower racing as 20+ years ago. I’m sure with the right motivation industry could find a time and place for a showcase race, maybe late October in Louisville? Oh well, one can dream…
Here’s the link to the Slate article: https://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2015/01/30/jennifer_boomer_photographs_lawn_mower_races_in_texas.html
