Lawn Mower Racing!

In The United States.

The Twelve Mile 500 is a lawn mower race held in the small town of Twelve Mile, Indiana, organized by the Twelve Mile Lions Club and occurring annually on Independence Day. The tradition began in 1963 as a race for factory-built mowers with their mowing decks removed but in 1996 split into a two-race event with one for four-cycle Briggs lawn mowers and another for modified mowers. The race adopted the "Grand Prix" style in 1970 and has been held in Plank Hill Park ever since. The race structure has once again changed with the addition of another race. The 2010 race included a superstock race inadditon to the briggs ad modified races. The Twelve Mile 500 consists of a 15-mile, 60-lap course run on a quarter-mile track in the park, with a maximum of 33 entrants per race. Each participating team consists of a driver, a two-person pit crew and a lap judge, and must meet a speed of approximately 30 mph to qualify. The sport was taken to the United States by the makers of a petrol stabiliser called Sta-bil, who had visited the UK and witnessed a race meeting. It has since grown to have multiple national organizations, including the U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association and the American Racing Mower Association.

Lawnmower racing should not be confused with go-karting, wherein lawn mower engines have often been used, especially amongst the amateur participants in go-karting. Lawn mower racing is based firmly around the use of both engines and chassis from regular model mowers. Also, where go-karts are exclusively raced on relatively flat surfaces, lawn mowers can be raced off-road.