Ready, Set, Mow?

On his command the drivers run to their mowers and start them with a racket that sounds like exactly what it is — a field full of souped-up riding lawn mowers tearing around a dirt track outside Max Blob's Bavarian Biergarten.

It's another day at the lawn mower races at Blob's Park, where driveway mechanics, gear heads and speed freaks of all description dedicate themselves to the proposition that anything with an engine can, and should, be made to go faster than it was intended to go.

One race has to be restarted after the No. 44 mower pulls a wheelie off the line that ends with the driver on his back and front wheels pointed to the sky. The drivers don't seem to mind, though, as they help to right it. The crashes and spills are just part of the sport's rebellious fun.

Not everyone sees it that way.

The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, an industry group representing the companies who manufacture mowers, has consistently taken a position against the races.

"We don't think it is in the spirit of our association, which is to promote safety," said Bill Harley, president and CEO of OPEI. "They're made to cut lawns."

So far, at least, that's kept some major potential sponsors away from the races. U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association President Bruce Kaufman would love to have the money. He says it wouldn't change the sport.

"We don't race for money," he said. "We race for trophies, we race for glory and we race for bragging rights. For 15 years it's been rock and mow."

For some reason "Hey Ya'll, watch this" just doesn't cut it anymore. :P