Lawn mower races ‘good fun’

INGLESIDE – Chuck Bojniewicz pulled off his cap and shook his head after climbing off his racer near the pit area.

“Phew,” he said. “You can build a new toy, but you can’t fix him, you know?”

Bojniewicz had just narrowly maneuvered around another participant whose mower flipped on its side during Saturday’s lawn mower races at Dwight House in Ingleside.

Hundreds of people turned out for the fall tradition, and about 10 racers tore up the 130-foot track with machines that were far better at ripping the grass from the dirt than trimming it.

Bojniewicz, of Gages Lake, was a first-time racer and brought a machine that was part snowmobile, part lawn tractor, and all fun. He built it with friends Darrin Schultz, also of Gages Lake, and Bill Barclay of Ingleside.

“It’s good fun,” said Schultz, who explained that their red machine contained 670 SS Ski-Doo parts, as well as Massey Ferguson lawn tractor parts. “It’s an exciting time, and a beautiful day.”

Al Bitterman, who operates a lawn mower repair shop on the Dwight House property at 35366 N. Route 12, coordinates the races, with a top prize of bragging rights. The races are in their second year under new Dwight House owner Zyg Stutz, who brought them back last year after the previous owner halted them.

“I think we ran them for 14 years with the old owner,” Bitterman said, adding he used to race lawn mowers professionally for 10 years as part of the STA-BIL Lawnmower Racing Series.

While the series racers follow strict rules regarding the composition of their machines, at Dwight House anything goes, Bitterman said. Builders typically change out pistons and camshafts and tweak gears to make the mowers zip across the lawn at speeds exceeding 60 mph, engines blaring.

Jacinta Maciel and her daughters, Gianna and Jaida Jones, came all the way from Janesville, Wisconsin, to see the races.

Jaida, 11, stood near the snow fence and hay bales lining the track and took it all in.

“Watching this is really fun,” she said. “I like the noise, and how fast they go, and that they get to make them themselves.”

While the crowd was entertained, the racers and builders were in their glory.

Jim Ebel of Wonder Lake was there to race for his first time, but he’s been attending the races for years, he said.

“It’s fun,” he said. “I’m glad the new owner brought it back.”

He drove a 1979 AMF tractor powered with a 1991 Harley Davidson engine.

“It’s the coolest one here,” said James Van Hoose, who built it in Lakemoor in 1999 with his friend Jeff Stockert.

Marissa Oztekin of Hoffman Estates and Van Hoose enjoyed burgers and fries, employing the AMF tractor’s hood as a temporary picnic table between races.

“I like seeing all of the tractors ripping up the dirt and doing wheelies,” she said. “It’s pretty cool.”