VOL. 66 NO. 07
The Paper That ’s Going Places!
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013
LMFAO comes to Veg on Father’s Day
Michael Simpson Staff Writer It’s something dads would understand. Lawnmower racing, by way of the Lawn Mower Fanatics Alberta Organization (LMFAO), is coming to Vegreville. The 2013 Father’s Day Show n’ Shine event on June 16 will feature racing from the Lawnmower Fanatics, headed up by Derek Vogel and fellow Fanatic BlaineO. While visions of guys rolling slowly around a track on stock John Deere lawn tractors comes to mind, the reality is quite the opposite, said Vogel. “Virtually everyone builds their own machines. Most everyone
has a different idea or way of doing things. Even my kids help out on the building of their mowers. The one that’s getting the most work right now is my daughters’ new build. She’d been sharing driving duties with her brother last year, and wanted her own machine.” With core members of the Alberta-based chapter hailing from Wainwright, Rimbey and Provost, the farthest traveling members taking part in the races will be coming from Saskatoon, Taber and Bow Island, Vogel said. While the Fanatics are also going to be spread between the Provost Kinsmen Splash and Smash
and the Show n’ Shine on the same weekend, Vogel suggested the race is open to locals that want to build and race with them. He said they’ll be bringing two or three modified class mowers and four or five stockclass mowers as well. Not an exclusive sport, Vogel’s own 12-year-old son has been racing with him for two years, and his 13-year-old daughter started racing last year. “They’re the youngest mower racers I know if in Western Canada, and I’ll go out on a limb and throw down the challenge that they’re the fastest.” Vogel said the fanatics get lots of comments about Tim
“The Tool Man” Taylor and his mower. “Someday if he wants to bring his mower out to a race we would happily feed him some dust.” Vogel said people will be amazed at how fast a racer can travel with a stock mower, and that many of them exceed speeds of 50 km/h. “Mods will do twice that speed or more. In our group we have an electric powered mod and a 4-cylinder turbo diesel out of a Volkswagon among others… those are always attention getters.” Vogel said the urge to launch the Lawnmower Fanatics group stems from the fact that Provost had been doing lawnmower rac-
ing for several years, and that’s where the group got their start. “My home town of Weyburn Saskatchewan was also doing some mower racing, so I knew there was more around, and surprisingly, there were lots. The whole purpose of LMFAO was to pull these shows together and get it more mainstream. It is a cheap and easy, safe, and overwhelmingly fun form of motor sports and we try to keep minimal rules to keep it fun for all. “It is also easily family oriented. My kids are big into it now- you can teach them, help them build, unlike most other expensive or complicated motorsports, with some guidance and advice, a kid could build and campaign their own mower on funds from a paper route, after school job, or even mowing lawns. In fact, my son is doing a lot of the welding on the builds and rebuilds this winter.” LMFAO has around 10 confirmed events this summer, which includes Provost, Burdett, Taber, Rimbey, Plamondon, Ardmore, Vegreville, and Wainwright in Alberta. In Saskatchewan they’ll race in Nipawin, Regina and Weyburn. “Weyburn is over 700 kilo-
meters from Wainwright, but is also my home town so it makes the trip worthwhile,” Vogel said. With a summer booked travelling abroad to shows, it begs one to ask just who cuts the grass at home? “There are some trade secrets we just cannot give away,” Vogel said.
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