Racers get mowed down
CLEARFIELD TWP — Gentlemen, start your mowers!
It's almost that time of year again, but not just for mowing lawns.
Racing season begins April 15 at Shadetree Speedway for lawn tractors, karts and quads.
Legend has it, the sport has its roots in an English tavern, the Cricketers Arms in Sussex, where in 1973 a group of men were wishing they could race cars, but complaining about the expense.
"Whilst downing their pints in the local pub, they looked across the village green to see the green keeper mowing the cricket pitch," according to the British Lawn Mower Racing Association's Web site.
"They realised that everyone had a lawn mower in their garden shed and it was then that Lawn Mower racing was born. A Championship was held in a local farmer's field and up to 80 competitors turned up for what turned out to be a very successful event."
Word of the new sport spread and in 1992 the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association was formed.
In 2002, the sport gained a foothold in Butler County when Jerry and Shirley Garing opened Shadetree Speedway, with its clay, 1/8-mile oval track.
Jerry Garing said before he opened the speedway, he had a track on the family's property where he used to practice in his 1985 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which a friend raced at Lernerville Speedway.
"My nephew (Ron Ehrman) called and said, 'Why don't you take this track and use it for lawn mowers?"
The Garings liked the idea, built a track for smaller vehicles, and opened Shadetree.
Every Sunday between mid-April and the end of September, weather permitting, the speedway has races for tractors, quads and go-karts.
This year's classes include stock lawn tractor, open modified tractor, stock karts, youth karts, and two and four stroke quads.
Because of a lack participation of eight horsepower modified tractors, that category has been combined with the 12 horsepower supermodified class to form the modified class this year, Jerry Garing said.
"A lot of people just aren't aware lawn mowers are raced like that," he said. "I think more people would get involved if they knew."
He said stock tractors suitable for racing are available for $500 or less, used.
"This is one of the cheapest forms of racing that I know of," he said. "Sometimes you can get one for a few hundred dollars."
The blades are removed for safety, and to increase power.
In the modified division, "We allow them to do anything they want to the tractor," he said. "I'd say they double the horsepower, which, of course, increases the speed."
Steve Ace of Parker, the supermodified champion at Shadetree the past two years, said his early 1970s model Montgomery Ward tractor has a "bigger cam, oversize valves, heads shaved, modified carburetor, and a fuel pump added."
"It's an oldie, but a goodie," he said.
Ace said he has been racing since Shadetree opened in 2002. His wife, Jessica, races a go-cart at the track, and won a championship her first year in 2005.Ace said his father-in-law, Ed Deal of Boyers, "called me up one day and said he bought a racing tractor and wanted me to drive it for him.""Ibought it off of him last summer," he said.Deal also races a quad at Shadetree."It's a lot of fun," Ace said. It's a rush. Just imagine taking a lawn mower out and doing 45 miles per hour in a circle."He said when a tractor crashes, "you crash hard.""You don't worry about hitting the ground, you worry about getting hit by the guy behind you."I wrecked one Sunday. The tractor flipped nine times before it hit the tires and stopped."He said the tractor still ran."Oh yeah, it just bent the axle," Ace said. "If something like that broke or bent, we just knew we had to make it stronger for next week."He said Deal does most of the mechanical work."It's hard on the tractor," Garing said. "They're not made for racing. It's amazing how much punishment these little engines take."Mike Miller of Chicora said he became interested in racing while he was growing up. His father and uncle both raced stock cars."My grandfather used to take me to Cooper's Lake to tractor races," he said.Miller himself began racing his stock 1980 Malibu at Lernerville, but made the transition to tractors in the late 1990s."I got involved in it through Dave Thompson, a small engine mechanic," Miller said. "Dave asked me if I was interested in driving. He asked me to give it a shot. I did pretty good with it."The 12 horsepower Montgomery Ward tractor is now owned by Dave Thompson's son, Ron Thompson, of Bessemer."We ran until they stopped running them at Slippery Rock (Speedway)," he said. "There was no where to race for a few years 'till Shadetree opened."I've won three championships out there in a super (modified) and two in the eight horse modified. One year I was a dual champion."Last year, he said the 12 horsepower tractor developed engine problems, so he finished the year with the eight horsepower modified tractor."I did manage to win a feature" in the supermodified class before the engine problem, he said.Miller said in lawn mower racing, "the same basic rules of racing apply.""With just one cylinder to get them moving, they just don't have the gitty-up and go a car has. They kind of gradually speed up. Momentum is important. They're still faster than a normal lawn mower."The day starts with a "heat race" for each division to determine the drivers' starting positions in the feature."Normally, we have eight laps for a heat race and 10 laps for a feature," Garing said."Special races have more laps," he said.The number of laps can vary, he said, because of the hot weather in summer."We ask them what they want to do," when the weather is extremely hot, Garing said.Winners get a $20 prize, and their points build up throughout the season. In October there is a banquet at which champions in each division are awarded trophies."Sometimes it gets very close," Garing said. "They get pretty serious at the end of the year."Garing said between races this year, the track will have special entertainment, including bike races for children, push mower races and wheel barrow races.The track at 535 Carbon Center Road opens on April 15 for practice day. Regular points races begin April 29 and run each Sunday, weather permitting, through Sept. 30.For information, call Shadetree at 724 287-1111, or check its Web site at www.shadetreespeedway.com.
