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Some lawnmower racers prove to be cut above the rest

Janet Witt has racked up loads of mileage riding lawnmowers, but she has yet to cut a blade of grass with one of the mini-tractors.

She and her husband, Jim, are among a growing number of lawnmower racing enthusiasts. It's a quirky sport heavy on fun and puns -- a sticker on Janet's mower reads "Girls Kick Grass" -- until the ladies and gentlemen start their engines.

"All the funny stuff stops when the green flag goes down," Jim Witt said. "It's serious then."

The Pensacola couple are among America's elite. Each has won a national series championship, and Janet Witt was voted the 2003 driver of the year after she kept running -- and winning -- while fighting cancer.

"It's just a hoot," said the 41-year Witt, a secretary at Pensacola Junior College. "When you are out there it's just you, just like you're one of the NASCAR drivers. It's you and your equipment."

That equipment ranges from stock mowers putt-putting around at up to 16kph to souped up machines capable of 112kph. Some were rescued from junk yards while others are new and have never cut grass. The blades are removed for safety.

The drivers wear helmets, neck collars, gloves, boots and heavy pants. While most are men, a few women also compete.

"It's cheap fun," said eight-time national champion Bob Cleveland of Locust Grove, Georgia, a 46-year-old customer service representative for mower-maker Snapper.

"We just use the event for an excuse to socialize," Cleveland said at a race last month in the Florida Panhandle town of Chipley. "We don't race for money. It's for trophies and bragging rights."

Cleveland and the Witts belong to the US Lawn Mower Racing Association, which was launched by the Chicago-based Gold Eagle Co in 1992 to promote one of its products, an additive to keep stored gasoline fresh.

The association's president, Bruce Kaufman, at first thought the gimmick might last a couple of years.

"The thing just took off," he said.

Kaufman, who calls himself "Mr. Mow it All," said company officials went to England to consult with Jim Gavin, who founded the British Lawn Mower Racing Association in 1973, before a tongue-in-cheek announcement of their plans on April Fool's Day 1992.

The organization claims about 370 members, including 250 active racers running on the national circuit, in local chapter races or both. Races mostly are held in smaller towns, including Athens, Alabama; Mendota, Illinois, Jonesboro, Arkansas, and East Durham, New York. The season-ending race on Sept. 4 in Mansfield, Ohio, is scheduled to be broadcast by ESPN.

A few pockets of mower racing existed earlier, including the North American Society of Grass Racers and Sod Slingers, or NASGRASS, founded 19 years ago.

Janet Witt began racing in 2000 in the International Mower of Weeds (IMOW) class, which is essentially made up of stock mowers with a higher gear ratio that gets them to nearly 40kph.

The next year, she was diagnosed with cancer. She underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

"I missed one race in 2001 after major surgery, but other than that I raced," she said. After one victory, she gave her doctor her photo with the checkered flag and inscribed it, "Live to mow. Mow to live."

She credits the tight-knit mower racing fraternity with helping her beat the disease. "They were always looking out for me," she said.
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