Friday Fun: Not your daddy’s lawnmower

[KQ]

You guys should like this:

Bling! Bang! Not your daddy’s lawnmower at All Wheels Weekend (Dayton WA)

Outlaw Lawn Dragsters





A lot of people will come for the rigs at this weekend’s All Wheels Weekend in Dayton, when the town’s historic Main Street becomes a playground for classic vintage cars and a profusion of family activities.

The annual event started 24 years ago, said founder Bette Lou Crothers, who still heads the weekend of shiny cars, the Men’s Drag Races — guys in dresses riding oversized tricycles — a golf tournament, live music shows and more.

In the beginning, All Wheels Weekend was an answer to outside consultants hired to help Dayton revitalize its primary thoroughfare under Washington state’s Main Street Program

“They told us we needed to have some events,” recalled Crothers. “They said it gives ownership to your locals and gives people a reason to come to town.”

So Crothers, as a Dayton Chamber of Commerce and development task force member, started the engine on All Wheels. Cars, she knew from neighboring community events, are a popular draw.

Coupled with Dayton’s spot on the map — 60 miles from Lewiston, same from Tri-Cities and 30 miles from Walla Walla — makes it an easy drive for car aficionados and fans alike.

And, about a decade ago, along came lawn mower races, known as the Outlaw Lawn Dragster Race — basically, riding lawn mowers on steroids, usually wearing some bling and with more than a little bang in the motor.

During All Wheels Weekend, one can see these mutant rigs roaring along Main Street while driven by folks who have put plenty of work and more than pocket change into making a lawn mower a lot zippier than a yard tool should be.

The crowd, Crothers said, eats these races up. “They just love them.”

Dayton is the first stop in this year’s circuit of the Outlaw Lawn Dragsters club, which tours the region with six exhibitions of mower power. Two of the club’s members are Dayton natives, and one is the baby of the group, said club secretary Lisa Olson.

That would be Alex Jenkins, 16, who competes in the dragster runs along with dad Jeff Jenkins.

A Dayton High School sophomore, Alex has been around the sport since 2011 but is just starting his second year of the circuit.

His peers laugh when they hear he races a lawn mower, Alex said with a laugh of his own.

“They think it’s kind of dorky until I tell them it’s basically racing motorcycles.”

Unlike the mower puttering around in achingly slow motion in a yard, race mowers are equipped with motorcycle or snowmobile engines under those original utilitarian bodies, or “tin” in dragster talk.

“When they start out, they are broken down lawn mowers,” Olson said. “You find someone with a junker, but all you use is the shell. You have to build a custom frame.”

By the time those babies hit the streets, the racers have invested from $1,000 to $2,000 in the mowers. After that, costs are mostly related to maintenance although some racers go for the fancy paint jobs, she noted.

“My machine has changed colors many times. Right now it’s pink. I’m the only girl on the team, so pink just stuck.”

Olson echoed Alex, noting people laugh at first sight of lawn mowers lined up and engines revving.

“But when they actually see them run, then it’s a whole new ballgame. We race 100 feet, in an average of 1.8 to 2.3 seconds. You turn your head and you’re going to miss that round.”

The fastest time on record is 100 feet in 1.4 seconds, Jeff Jenkins said.

“It sounds fast but it’s only about 50 mph. And that’s on a lawn mower … you’re low to the ground.”

The club brings in professional timing lights, street barricades and safety netting.

Communities pay the insurance needed for the race, and pay to get the equipment to the race, Olson said.

“We are a nonprofit organization. We just do it for fun.”

That attitude is just right for All Wheels Weekend, Crothers said.

“People like to come here because the town loves (the event), and the visitors feel it. Our Main Street is wide and we have the trees. I say it feels like you’re at a backyard barbecue, and people agree.”

[Game Over]

50 mph on a lawn mower! Lol. That's awesome.


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[Aldo]

All in!!

[irul&ublo]

Isn't about once a year some white trash dipstick gets a DUI on a riding mower?

[swissiphic]

Just gotta figure out a nitrous system for my new trippple mower array. I wanna enter this Ghettowerx special if and when the event runs again...is there a special category for 'classic' self propelled push mowers?

[Aldo]

Speaking of classic self propelled push mowers I just picked up this nice little piece of equipment.....


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[wooley12]

Mmmmm. Lawnmower porn

[Core Shot]

KQ original post is a cool idea. But they need to mow grass.
Cut quality is a key metric. 50mph is fine. But not if the Bush is shaggy

[t-the-east]

Speaking of classic self propelled push mowers I just picked up this nice little piece of equipment.....


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That right there is a score! I used to have a 36” & 48” Bobcat Ransomes. They don’t make em like that anymore I tell ya what