| History of the WILMRA |
fire fighter in Prentice and was interested in racing. The decision was made for Prentice to host a race fire fighter in Prentice and was interested in racing. The decision was made for Prentice to host a race and have Troy Larson run the race with help from others. and have Troy Larson run the race with help from others. made for Prentice to host a race and have Troy Larson run the race with help from others. The Labor Day weekend Prentice, WI race of 2001 was a huge success with an estimated 600 spectators and 8 lawn mower racers. Things went great and everyone had fun and the Prentice Fire Depart/Lions Club had a great fundraiser. Over the winter 2001-2002 Dave Wagner and Troy Larson were discussing the lawn mower races and asked Kennan, WI and Catawba, WI if they would be interested in hosting a race. They’re reply was “Yes.” So the 2002 season consisted of three races. Early June – Kennan, WI 4th of July – Fifield, WI Labor Day weekend – Prentice, WI All was going well, and by this time we had 20 + drivers. We had drivers traveling 50 + miles to race with us. Over the winter 2002/2003 the three towns met to discuss how to better promote the lawn mower races. We came up with the Northwoods Challenge Lawn Mower Series – Points Challenge. The idea behind this was to get competitors to go to all races, since the races were held as fundraisers for the American Legion/Fire Departments and Lions Clubs in the various communities. This is when we first learned about the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association, (USLMRA)-so we adapted some of their rules to our rulebook, and added a fourth race to our challenger series. During that winter Troy Larson got very interested in the USLMRA and heard of other fellow lawn mower racers in Wisconsin. He made contact with some of them, Steve Bertrand, of Green Bay, WI a USLMRA racer since 1990, along with Steve’s son Mike Bertrand and their friend Dave Hertel, Crivitz, WI. Troy drove over and visited with them plus spoke to them numerous times over the winter; they were very excited hearing about more lawn mower races in Wisconsin. Troy asked Dave Wagner if he minded if a few USLMRA members would put on an expedition for the spring race in Fifield Memorial Day weekend of 2003. He replied, “Go for it.” Steve and Mike Bertrand brought up their BP’s along with Dave Hertel and his SP. They put on one heck of a good show for all of us. They further explained to us more information about the USLMRA. By now the 2003 season was well on the way with TV stations and newspaper reporters appearing at most of the events. Fan support was growing and racers were getting more interested. As the year went on there were a lot of questions, with the most famous one being, “Is he legal?” Rules needed to be changed and refined, so the committee, which was one representation from each town being Dave Wagner of Fifield, WI, Ken Parpart of Kennan, WI and Troy Larson of Prentice, WI realized our rules needed major refining. During the 03’ season Rhinelander, WI held a race. The last point’s race of the year, which was held in Prentice on Labor Day weekend, had 27 lawn mowers and approximately 1000 fans. Not bad for a town’s population just over 600. By this time racers were attending from all over the Northern half of the State. The race committee decided to call a meeting to discuss the 2004 season. Everyone interested in Lawn Mower Racing was invited. This meeting was held in the fall of 2003. Results of the meeting were numerous people reading between the lines in the rulebook, not necessarily cheating, just interpreting things differently from our rulebook. At a later date the Committee met to write the rules with the decision being to go to two classes; one being the modified SP class, which follows the USLMRA’s SP class rules…with the exception of body panels and the other class we called “Hobby Stock” which was the same chassis rules as the SP class just with stock engines, but a removed governor was allowed. In this class there was a tear down rule to try to avoid cheating. The 2004 season opener at Fifield was rained out. We even had USLMRA racers such as Don Gienger & Joe Gartner from N.D. and others from MN that showed up to race. Fifield rescheduled for August 8th and Kennan’s race was held in early June all went fairly well. Fifield held a second race the 4th of July weekend. That’s when the controversy began… racers were tore down…one racer didn’t pass (he had altered the engine) another racer didn’t pass tech. Throughout the summer other communities hosted races following Northwood’s Challenge rulebook such as Ladysmith, Jump River, Neillsville, Medford, Rhinelander and Nokomis (Tomahawk). The final point’s race held in Prentice, WI – Labor Day weekend went over well, and again had an attendance of well over 1000 spectators and over 30 racers– ending our 2004 season. We even had a racer from Iowa and two from the Mpls/St. Paul area show up. Now that the 2004 season was complete, we all knew major changes needed to be made for the future of lawn mower racing in northern Wisconsin. In the winter of 2004-05 a meeting was held where anyone interested in lawn mower racing could attend. Once again Dave Hertel made his way to our neck of the woods. He informed us how we really need to consider becoming a Local Chapter of the USLMRA. Our rules would be easy, follow USLMRA rules. We will have 6 classes instead of the 2. By now we also realized how lucky we’ve been as far as no lawsuits and no major injuries. The USLMRA offers anyone in the race area insurance. We knew this wouldn’t be an easy thing to start, but we knew it needed to be done. We formed a committee, with a president, VP, secretary and even a board. We had the support of many USLMRA members as well as other LC presidents. Just as we got the ball rolling a tragedy struck the lawn mower racing community on January 11th of 2005. Dave Hertel passed away. We would no longer get the help and support that a 6-year racing veteran could give us. Even though most of us from northern WI only met him a few times, we all knew that the time spent with him was worth every minute. Not only did he try to help us grow to a USLMRA LC but he also wanted to know us as people instead of fellow racers. Dave Hertel you will never be forgotten. Without your push and guidance towards the USLMRA there may never have been a WILMRA. We thank you. We are now preparing for WILMRA events for the 2005 season. As you can see by the schedule things are filling up fast. We hope many of you will be able to travel and race with us or even be a lawn mower racing fan! God Bless and safe mowing From the WILMRA |
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WILMRA WISCONSIN LAWN MOWER RACING ASSOCIATION
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