Not your grandpa’s lawn tractor: Club hosts races at Petrolia track

Lawn mowers kicked up clouds of dust Saturday evening at the edge of Petrolia.

It was race night for the Western Ontario Outlaws Lawn Tractor Racing Club.

Spectators, who parked on the edge of an earthen bowl overlooking an eighth of a mile dirt track next to the Petrolia Landfill, sat on lawn chairs, benches, tailgates and blankets to watch drivers compete.

The evening’s racing was in memory of the late Garry Kerr, one of the club’s founders who had also raced cars and was a talented mechanic, said his son, Ryan Kerr.

“He was the guy that when mechanics couldn’t figure it out, they’d call him for help,” he said.

Kerr said he, his father and Tim Inchley formed the club in 2006. Initially, another Ontario club “kind of took us under their wing” before the Petrolia-based club set out on its own, he said.

Kerr, who had completed in drag racing, said he saw lawn mower racing for the first on television years ago but didn’t know at that point races were held in Canada.

And then he was at a Petro-Canada in Sarnia one day where Inchley worked when he saw a lawn mower racing photo on the wall, and asked about it.

“It’s just a competitive as any other motorsport,” but “a little more affordable,” Kerr said.

Club president Corey LaPointe said there are currently nearly 50 members from around southwestern Ontario.

“This is my seventh year in it,” he said.

“I came out and watched it and got hooked on it, and I’ve been involved ever since.”

As well as completing, LaPointe led Saturday’s driver’s meeting and helped spray the track with water to control the dust.

The sport started out with lawn tractors that also cut grass and the connection remains, Kerr said.

“Even the fastest class, they do have lawn mower frames, lawn mower bodies and lawn mower engines,” he said. “They are pretty low and altered a lot, but they all are lawn mowers. They all did cut grass at one time.”

Some of them have been modified to move very fast.

“On this particular track, I think they can get as much as like 60 miles per hour (95.5 km/h,)” he said.

“In the top classes, they only take a couple of seconds to get there,” Kerr said.

“It would take a pretty good race because to set you back as hard as some of the upper classes. Believe it or not – it sets you back real good.”

The club has several classes from junior up to outlaw. “Outlaw is the fastest you’ll ever see around here,” LaPointe said.

Men and women compete in the classes and drivers range in age from four to 75, LaPointe said.

Saturday evening races begin at 6 pm at 4120 Oil Heritage Rd. and run spring to fall. Kerr said the club also appears at fall fairs around southwestern Ontario.

“It’s a ton of fun. . . the adrenaline is unreal,” he said.

LaPointe said the club would like to see the sport grow in Canada. Along with the Petrolia club, there are currently a few others in Ontario, as well as in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, he said.

“We’re not racing for money,” he said. “It’s more for bragging rights. You can get serious as you want.”

Club members can spend from $500 to $5,000 on their machines, according to the club’s website.

LaPointe said “half the fun” is working on the machines. “You work on them – you go out and break them and then you work on them again.”

Kerr said he and his father had a lot of fun with lawn mower racing. “It’s something the whole family can get involved in.”

Saturday’s racing included the junior class for ages 4 to 10. “They’re not as fast but they’re still a lot of fun to watch,” Kerr said.

“We try to do things safe,” he said. “So lower, wider- it’s safer.” Drivers also wear helmets, neck braces and other safety equipment.

“Anyone’s welcome, if they want to join up, or even just to come and watch,” Kerr said.

At one time, Kerr was racing in the US where the sport is much bigger.

“It’s really serious there” with some drivers “as close as you can get” to professional lawn mower racing, Kerr said.

“I was in a different state every weekend,” he said.

“In 2012, that’s pretty well all I did,” Kerr said. Sponsors covered his expenses as he traveled from state to state to compete and he won a US national and an All-American championship that year.

“That was the last year I was really serious about it, and then I kind of had a break after that.”

Kerr said his 19-year-old son, Zander, “has taken over the driver’s seat . . . he’s a good driver.”

The site on Oil Heritage Road had been a motorcycle track that was sitting unused before the club arranged to move in, Kerr said.

“It’s the perfect set up.”

Club members are scheduled to complete Friday, July 28, at the Jansen Homestead Summer Hoedown running 4 pm to 8 pm at Jansen Homestead and Highlands, 1627 Brigden Rd.

The hoedown also includes face painting, balloon twisting, a bounce house, bake sale, selfies with highland cows, an ice cream shack and a barbecue in support of the Kidney Foundation of Canada. Admission is $15 per car.

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