by Jessica Pope
June 28, 2007 12:23 pm
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On your mark!
Get set!
Mow!
These six words are music to the ears of Ted Ames, a 42-year-old lawn mower racer from Valdosta who became affiliated with the “grass”roots motor sport after watching it on television one weekend. He can be found nearly every third Saturday of each month on the Georgia Lawn Mower Racing Association track in Berlin, a small town some 30 miles northwest.
“I just liked it,” said the Waller Heating & Air man.
Ted joined the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association, which sanctions the state chapter and boasts some 700 members, in November 2005. And with the help of the World Wide Web, as well as his 36-year-old brother Mark Ames, he located the track in Berlin. It was there that he watched his first live race, listened to the sounds of the modified engines, felt the excitement in the air and witnessed firsthand the enthusiasm of the racers.
“After that I knew it was something I had to try for myself,” he said.
Using a ready-to-race lawn mower he inherited, Ted entered the IMOW class — one highly regulated thus putting emphasis on how fast the driver gets on his or her lawn mower and driving ability — of a United States Lawn Mower Racing Association event to be held in Berlin. He finished very close to dead last but with a huge grin across his face. He had felt the rush of being a part of something outside the norm and only wanted to race more and more. He figured if the other men — and women — could do it, he could do it too. The competition proved seductive.
“I was very slow that day simply because it was my first race and it was a national race with people from all over the country competing,” he said. “With so many mowers on the track, it was intimidating. I was trying not to mess up, mess someone else up or get myself hurt. I thought about sitting it out, but many of the other racers encouraged me to take advantage of the seat time. It was so much fun.”
Ted and Mark briefly discussed the idea of forming a racing team, with the younger brother, a technician at the Langdale Ford Company, building the racing machines and the older brother driving them. In the end, however, they both decided to work together on every aspect of the sport, both of them building and both of them driving. Ted’s wife, Gail Ames, 42, and son, Shawn Ames, 21, were also pulled in, giving rise to Ames Brothers Racing about a year ago.
Ted still races in the IMOW class with his original lawn mower but also races in the SP class — one that allows a few specific modifications. Mark, who has been known to participate in motocross events from time to time, races in the IMOW class and CP class, another one that allows for specific modifications.
Money being no object, Mark admitted he would be living the life of a stock car racer out at Cecil’s South Georgia Motorsports Park. Racing lawn mowers costs a fraction of that. And with its limitless possibilities in some classes and surprising speed, lawn mower racing has proven a perfect venue for the adrenaline-rich and mechanically inclined husband and father.
“The big draw for me was building a lawn mower just for racing and finding ways to make it better,” he said. “I have always liked working with engines and making things go faster and faster. I enjoy the speed and the competition.”
Like his older brother Ted, Mark has won, or, at the very least, placed in, several races. However, he has never received any prize money. Lawn mower racers don’t do it for the opportunity to win cash. They are simply racing enthusiasts who compete for nothing more than trophies, points and bragging rights.
“We’re like one big family of good natured racers,” he said. “We have a lot of fun on racing weekends.”
Gail only races in the stock class, driving basically a lawn mower with its blades removed at speeds of about seven miles an hour. She initially worked to convince her husband not to participate in the sport for fear he might get hurt as lawn mower racing can be quite dangerous. She had seen the wrecks during the televised events for herself.
“There’s some risk in pushing a machine beyond its limits,” said Ted, who has wrecked once, on a track in North Carolina. He recalled being more worried about getting his lawn mower back in the race than whether or not he was injured, although he felt the effects the following day.
After watching Ted race, Gail thought the sport was just plain silly and the racers were just plain nuts for riding a lawn mower around and around a dirt circle. But she figured she would give it a try anyway.
“Now, look at me,” said the Lowndes Middle School cafeteria cashier. “I’m out there racing with them.”
Gail wants to move up to one of the faster classes, maybe IMOW. Her husband, brother-in-law and son think it might prove to be too dangerous. She doesn’t have “mow fear” and hopes they will soon change their minds. Until then, she’s in wait-and-see mode.
Ted’s and Gail’s son Shawn, who also works for Waller Heating & Air, proved the apple does indeed not fall far from the tree. All he had to do was watch a live race and take in all that was happening around him to become hooked on the idea of being a lawn mower racer. He races in the IMOW class and AP class, another one that allows for a few specific modifications, and cannot wait for the day that he captures first place and the coveted checkered flag.
“These lawn mowers are fun to drive,” he said.
Anyone who’s already cutting grass at home with a riding lawn mower can become a lawn mower racer — a member of “The Grassed and the Furious” — turning a weekend chore into a competitive sport. All he or she has to do is join the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association; remove the blades from and secure the cutting deck on a self-propelled rotary or reel type lawn mower originally designed and sold commercially to mow residential lawns; and show up at the track in Berlin on race day.
Because lawn mower racing, while a lot of fun, can prove to be somewhat dangerous, mandatory safety equipment includes an automobile racing or motorcycle-type helmet, goggles or a face shield, long pants, long-sleeved shirt or jacket, full-finger length gloves and leather over-the-ankle footwear. Motorcycle leathers or anti-abrasion karting suits are highly recommended.
The United States Lawn Mower Racing Association was born on April Fool’s Day 1992 after executives of Chicago-based Gold Eagle Company, the makers of STA-BIL fuel stabilizer, returned home following a visit with the British Lawn Mower Racing Association in England. They wanted to use the motor sport as a tongue-in-cheek public relations gimmick for their product. However, it ended up “spreading like untreated crabgrass,” as Bruce Kaufman, president of the 700-plus-member group likes to say.
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