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100 km/h on a lawn tractor?
JIL MCINTOSH FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Lawn tractor racers duke it out at last weekend’s Shelburne Fall Fair.
To you, a mower means slow, boring circles around your yard. But to devotees of lawn tractor racing, it's a mean machine that can reach 100 km/h or more on a track.
It was a prime draw at last weekend's Shelburne Fall Fair, where the Western Ontario Outlaws racing club met with the Ontario Extreme Lawn Tractor Racing Association (OELTRA) on a card that included everything from stock machines to super modified.
"We race just about every weekend, from May 24 to Thanksgiving," says Garry Kerr, a 65-year-old retired mechanic from Petrolia who's president of the Outlaws. "It's big in England and Australia, and in the States."
"My son Ryan makes his living building lawn tractors and engines. Last week I got by his house at 9:30 in the morning and he was on his fifth call, to Florida and Arizona, and he'd already sent two engines to Oregon."
There are four major tractor racing clubs in Ontario, with an estimated 400 members between them; in total, some 60 races are held each year, mostly at county fairs. In the U.S., where racing goes on all year in some states, serious competitors can follow a circuit and rack up points for national championships; there are 21 clubs in the national association, and countless smaller ones across the country.
At the Shelburne Fair, fans filled the bleachers, along with picnic tables hastily brought in to handle the crowds. It quickly became obvious who'd wandered over from the midway, and who'd come for the racing: while the former wandered away after the first couple of heats, the rest packed the stands by the finish line, many cheering for favourite drivers.
This type of racing is as grassroots (sorry) as it comes. At the entry level is the stock class, for machines that have simply had their grass-cutting blades removed. The slower speed makes it somewhat boring for spectators, but great fun for the participants.
Modifications move up with each class, and at the top level – called Outlaw in Kerr's club, or Super Modified with OELTRA – are machines such as Ryan Kerr's, which he says can hit 160 km/h on a drag strip.
The Shelburne track, carved out of soft dirt and bumpier than most, wasn't a prime surface, but on specially built tracks, the top classes reach about 95 km/h on the oval.
At first glance, some look like go-karts, but utter that word and you're met with icy glares. "It must be 100 per cent lawnmower," Garry Kerr says. "Only the seats are off a go-kart."
No matter how modified it is, the engine has to retain its stock crankshaft, block and heads. Changes to the chassis, axles and gearing depend on the class – and on how much the owner wants to spend.
"We used to drag race, and for an eight-second drag car, there was $120,000 in it," Kerr says. "Here, you can spend $15,000 to $20,000 on it."
What's surprising is that no matter how sophisticated or expensive the machine, these drivers are just in it for fun. There's no prize money involved, and often no trophies. Even in the U.S., racers pay an entry fee, but receive no purses for winning.
Women are relatively rare in the sport, but a number of young girls are now following their fathers into racing. There are classes for children, along with exhibition races for toddlers on battery-powered toy mowers.
Kerr's grandson Zander, 5, raced his gas-powered mower, a miniature copy of his father's machine. Both took the checkered flag on their respective first heats.
It was a rare match-up between the clubs, but there's no rivalry, says OELTRA member Don Simmons. It's common for people from one club to race with another if the venue is more convenient.
Simmons, 64, says his super-modified racer's appeal is in its low cost. "I saw them (racing) in Ingersoll and thought, `I can do that.' I have $1,500 into my mower, which I built in 2000. I've had it doing 80 km/h. I won the Southwestern Ontario Championship in 2001, 2002 and 2004."
Like many of the racers at Shelburne, he built his own machine, which he takes to events in his pickup truck. Before racing, he dons the mandatory safety equipment. In his first heat, he finished second out of eight racers.
The green tractor has held up quite well over nearly a decade of racing. Simmons rattles off its specs in detail.
So what tractor does he use to cut his grass at home?
"A red one," he says. "I'm not even sure what it is. It starts and runs and cuts grass, and that's all."
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