blog

Long time no type!

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:24:55 +0100

It has been awhile, I know. Life has been getting busy lately but alot of things have been happening!
    Cool Rides On Line, Carters Automotive and Small Engine Cams will return as sponsors next year. I cannot stress enough how critical sponsor help is to the operation of any race team. Great big thanks go out to all of them!
    Larry is about to finish up his new S/P, quite the mowchine. I look for him to be quite competitive in the SP class this season and fully expect he will finish near if not top of the class! More engine is going into the well proven Teddy Bear designed MTD chassis set-up. Look out USLMRA, the Teddy Bear is hungry!
    I am turning out the Opposition Stage IV as I type. Big cubes and lots of torque is the end of the equation here. More stroke, more bore and an EC Carburator should hopefully put me in the hunt for the C/P class top 5. Last year both the stage III and IV engines me and Tommy Hawley of Hawley Racing proved to be strong. With the new Tim Isky grind this year I believe this will be the strongest Opposition engine yet! You half motor C/P racers better have them things wound for sound!
    The Oppy will have a new chassis as well, a late 60'ds model B111 Wheelhorse will be toting tires and grass!

To be continued....

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:54:00 +0100

    Safety is goal #1 in racing now days. It used to be winning is everything and how fast can we go, but like the world around it racing has become more socially responsible and so it is if you cannot do it safely you cannot do it at all? Not quite! In an inherently dangerous sport only so much can be done to improve safety, we do not race in protective bubbles though some would have it that way.
    The racing community has just lost one of it's champions, by now everyone knows of the loss of Indy Car Champion Dan Weldon. Like his father ' Clive' commented, and what all racers of any sort think: He left us doing what he loves.
    Rick Huesman, an off road racer, died on the same day along with his brother Jeff and their pilot in a plane crash. Another tragic loss to the racing community, another talented young man left the world way too early.
    So how do we console ourselves in the wake of such tragedies? The rumors and "facts" have been flying; 'It was the tracks fault...' I don't think so? With the advent of safety fences and safer barriers, surface preparation and maintenance , race tracks today are the "safest" any body has ever run on and they continue to improve! I am not even going to go into all the other thoughts, theories and plain ignorant rants that have been thrown out there. The fact is every man or woman that straps on a helmet knows that they are engaging in a life threatening activity, yet we do it any way. Why do we do it, because , Like Rick Huesman, we never know when our time will come. We can spend every day of our life wrapped in security only to have a tornado, or earthquake or fire or any number of other life ending occurrences happen and without notice we are gone.We can strap ourselves into these "machines of speed, performance and agility and defy death 5 days a week only to trip on a child's toy and be snuffed out by the corner of that Coffee table your mother -in-law bought for you! (I told you she was evil!) It matters not how long or short our lives are nor how or where they end, it matters only how we lived them when given the chance. Dan Wheldon, Jeff & Rick Huesman.....Sam Rogers....they were men who left the party early, but that is ok, they had their share of laughs and helped us to have ours while they were here!
    Yes, we will continue to work to improve safety in what ever version of motor-sports we choose to participate. We will continue to protect the spectators, the crews, the drivers and the track officials to the best of our abilities. We will continue to get faster and faster until we are melting paint off of the doors, then we will make better paint and continue on faster yet. . We will also continue to loose great people in this world, regardless of the life they lead or the games they play. Most importantly, we will continue! For in continuing we Honor those that have gone before us, we live for ourselves, and we prepare for those that will come after us.

Sam's race!

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:37:07 +0100

Cut Loose Racing will once again be in attendance at the Sam Rogers US All American Open Championships. Rooster will be going down to run with the best in the country from any and all organizations.

"When your on my track your part of my Family, I love ya, care about ya and want ya to go home safe..." George Herrin

The All American is a yearly race that began in 2006 with mostly Alabama and Tennessee racers. The first year was successful , but since then the race has grown to become the largest Lawnmower race in the United States, with upwards of 150 mowers known to attend piloted by the best and brightest stars of the Mower racing world.
I have always said, your not an American Champion until you are an All American Champion!
The 2010 ALL American was not only the Race of the year, it also became the final play ground of a dear friend to the Mower racing world. Tennessee's Sam Rogers passed from a Heart Attack on the track. Sam had just finished a race, drove half way around the track ,parked his mower and went home. the race is now named in Honor of Sam, as he was the epitome of what The All American is about. Sam did not care who you were, where you were from or who you raced with, on that day you were racing with him and that was what mattered! From here on, we will all race with him once a year, at Sam's Race!

Roosters on TV!

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 22:08:28 +0100

Earlier this year, racers from the U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association's STA-BIL Lawn & Garden Mower Racing Series travelled top Midway Truck Plaza in Columbia, Missouri to meet with owner Joe Bechtold about lawn mower racing. Racers from the Arkansas Lawn Mower Racing Association, Iowa Lawn Mower Racing Association, Illinois Lawn Mower Racing Association and American Heartland Mower Racers are featured in this episode of Truck Stop Missouri!

Blog post:

http://www.letsmow.com/2011/09/mow-money-mow-problems-truck-stop-missouri-episode-featuring-lawn-mower-racing-to-air-on-the-travel-channel/

Here is the web site for the Truck Stop Missouri on Travel Channel
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Truck_Stop_Missouri

Promo Clips:
http://www.travelchannel.com/Video/bingo-players-never-quit-15895

Slide show:
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Truck_Stop_Missouri/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Mow_Money_Mow_Problems

Truck Stop Missouri “Mow Money, Mow Problems” Air Dates

Sunday, September 11, 7:00 PM E/P
Monday, September 12, 2:00 PM E/P
Thursday, September 15, 8:00 PM E/P
Thursday, September 15, 11:00 PM E/P
Sunday, September 18, 7:30 PM E/P
Monday, September 19, 2:30 PM E/P
Thursday, September 22, 8:30 PM E/P
Thursday, September 22, 11:30 PM E/P

Stop doing that!

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:13:12 +0100

    Time and time again I see several things happen in Lawn Mower racing that frankly just bug me! ALot of people talk about how we need to help promote the sport, get more racers involved, etc etc. A new guy comes along and is all interested and the first thing these people do is tell them they are doing it all wrong. They tell them no you cannot build it that way, this won't work, you have to spend money to race, that'll never be fast, do it my way or I won't help you!
    The fact of the matter is, it is really hard to do this "wrong".There are only a few requirements that I feel you "must have" to race lawnmowers; A Safe place to race, a safe mower to race, proper personal safety gear & someone to race against (seriously...the hay bales are pretty easy to beat!) Now granted there are some things that are just plain and simple bad things to do. Though most of us will tell you the best chassis to use for your first build is any free one, that is not always the case. Some mowers just do not have the right starting point and you will be hard pressed to outrun a wheel barrow with them.
    I have seen guys build some stuff that the rest of us think won't even make it around the track....HEY WAIT...the first time I traveled to a race a couple of well known racers told us after wards that was the first impressions of our mowers!

    Yup "Old Blue and the Original Rooster Cruiser were those mowers. After the races everyone commented on how well they ran. "Dang boy's, I gotta say I have never seen stock engine stuff handle and run like yours do."....George Herrin
It was not a fluke they were that good, if it was we would not have been able to build two of them that both ran well! Though the Cruiser is gone, Old Blue is still a force to be reckoned with at our local races!
    Look at us now, just a few short years later and we have top notch Mowchines, 3 mowers sitting stoutly amongst the top 10 in the nation! This is my first point: Let a guy build his cheap mower, help him build it! Too often we tell new guys things such as "Your wasting your time with that, your just going to have to do it over later!" My answer for that...so what! Old Blue ran it's first season with the dreadful Foote 5 speed trans-axle that we all call a worthless piece for racing, and it won races with it. The next winter, Larry pulled it out, tossed it and slapped a peerless up in there and kept on Racing! Pushing guys into buying parts they don't have, and don't have the money for puts them off the sport! Ourt #1 goal should be, get them on the track! Of course we have to do that safely but they do not have to be on $5000 mowchines their first lap. We all know that once your out there you want to go faster and make your stuff break less often, everyone will upgrade! So what if they have to "do it over" later, at least then they will have first hand knowledge of why it has to be done, and they did not miss a week of racing looking for a better transaxle!
    There are some limits however, and part of the burden does belong to the newbie. Time and Time again guys have been told "You do not want to start off on a V-Twin, or "A V-twin does not belong in a budget racer." V-twins are flat expensive and there is no way around that. I can rebuild 4 flat head singles for the cost of the kit on some V-twins! They are harder on the rest of the mower, the weight and power stresses everything else and less than top notch parts end up worn out quickly! But when the new racer won't listen to that there could be a reason. If we have told him "No that won't work" to everything, the important stuff gets lost!
    Alot of racing is done around the country in stock engine classes. Mowers with spray bomb, or even brushed on paint. Trans-axles and steel wheels. Those guys are having alot of fun doing it! We all started some where, and most of us were not lucky enough to strep straight into a champion ride! Next time you decide to dis the newbies ride, make sure you remember what Momma taught you: "If you don't have something nice to say, shut the hell up!

Can it get too fast?

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:44:03 +0100

As many know there has been talk in the USLMRA of losing the LeMans starting format. SOmething that it has been said for years would not happen! This season also saw some modifications to the rule books which allowed more modification than ever before to the body of the mowers.Rear bumpers are now allowed in almost every association including
the Oldest National sanctioning body. For years the USLMRA said no to bumpers, bumpers are for bumping and we do not bump! But now we suddenly need them?
I fear for the future of mower racing. When we look at the state of things, whats happening and current trends what do we see? More and more mower races are run at "speedways" with high banked, hard packed clay ovals instead of the grass and loose dirt flat tracks that lawnmower racing has grown up on. With these types of tracks come several things, speed speed speed and ....injury! Even if speeds are only increased by 10 mph injuries are much worse at 40 mph than at 30. Now we are seeing speeds in excess of 50 and 60 mph at some tracks. That kind of speed gets down right out of control! This past weekend a drivers racing days came to a screeching hault when he had an incident at just such a race.
So we allow more modifications to the body, allowing lower, more stable and faster chassis. I will admit that I was for the USLMRA's fender modifications rule. It actually made amot more mowers become more viable race chassis and made building a racer easier.....however...it leads to the same problem!
More and more mower racing moves away from it's grass roots. Mower racing is supposed to be good family fun. An inexpensive and slightly less competitive form of motor sports. Now I know that statement will upset some of the racers, but it is true. Stock car racers when "stuck" behind a slower car will give that guy a nudge, or more, which lets him know that he needs to get out of the way. they have been known to get upset with those who do not "deserve" to be on the track with them. At a mower race it is not uncommon to see one of the front runners "thank" a slower driver for showing up at the race and invite them to come back anytime.
Every year mower racing moves more towards the top performance and strong competition side of motors ports. More refined chassis and bigger and bigger horsepower are what every racer wants. I can not help but believe that this could be the detrimental to the sport. For years the LeMans start has kept some what of a lid on engine building. The start keeps timing from getting to radical and compression from getting too high. The USLMRA has been known for putting Chicanes into the layouts of their tracks. These road course turns coupled with the irregular grass surface helped to keep speeds in check and allow for good racing.
I am not against running in circles all together. The Savannah Vallley Mower Speedway in Tennessee is a great little oval track that allows for plenty of speed without getting too out of hand. At one time it would be considered a super speedway for mowers, but by today's rising standards it is actually pretty tame.
So I know everything changes in time, evolution happens. Do we have to let it get to the point that we start killing drivers? How far away from that are we really? At the same track I just mentioned last year we had a "pile up" wreck, one mower had an issue at the head of the pack and mowers were tangled across the track. Me and at least one other driver were thrown to the ground and several mowers were damaged. This wreck happend at I would guess 30 mph, everyone got up and walked away! What is going to happen when that wreck happens at 60 mph? Serious injury would not be possible but likely!
The faster we get the more frequent and more serious injury will become. Are we going to have to kill a driver before someone decides that maybe we are getting out of hand?
Big tracks, big engines, big fields equal big wrecks and big time hurt!

Teddy Bear gets a New Ride

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:55:14 +0100

Well he finally done it. Larry went and got himself the ride of a lifetime!

Yup It's Super Mod Time! This thing has a Horizontal Vanny that runs on Race Fuel and flat puts out some P O W E R!

Another Great Race Weekend

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:37:47 +0100

    July 15th, 16th & 17th found the Cut Loose Racing Crew in Sparta, Michigan for The Great Lakes Summer Nationals Race for Huntington's Disease Research.
    The Mikula family of the Michigan Lawn Mower Racing Association Champions the race for 9 years now and has raised over $150,000 for Huntington's Disease Research. We arrived Friday evening and helped finish setting up for the race. Jayson and Jodi Mikula were gracious enough to allow us to stay with them for the weekend. For those that don't know, Jayson is a 5 time National BP class champion in the Sta-Bil Lawn and Garden Mower Racing Series. He had spent so much time preparing the track that Friday night his mower was still not ready to race. After setting up and visiting with some friends at the track, we went to the Mikula's where we found Jayson in the basement finishing assembly on his latest Kawasaki V-Twin race engine, needless to say I wasted no time when the Champ started handing me custom machined parts to look at. Then it was off to the garage where we poured over his half built mower. That's right, I got to see the Mighty Mowzilla undressed!
    Saturday Morning we were asked to take part in the Parade down town. I have always shied away from things like parades as they can be detrimental to a race mowchine. Too much idling and nothing is as hard on tires and equipment like pavement. But this was for a great cause and that is why we were all there in the first place. Teddy Bear brought a ton of smile from little faces handing out what else but Teddy Bears to the little ones, I tried to set a new record for fastest reverse donut, and the verified nutcase of the USLMRA, Dale Becker, did some of the sweetest Pavement donuts I have ever seen!
    Allen "Lawn Monkey" Minaker was busy all weekend with his announcer duties and asked me to step in as the adult "handler" of his son Matt as he entered the JP class for his first ever USLMRA event. Me and "Matty Monkey" had a blast and Matt did an excellent job of driving. Al and Nicole( Mrs. Monkey) awarded me with a Spirit and Spark award for helping, but truth be known I was honored to do it. Matt is a nice, respectful young man and deserves to race.
    Larry bought a outlaw mowchine out of Canada and had alot of fun running with Ryan Kerr and Dennis Lefebvre from the Western Ontario Outlaws. Cant wait to see him wheeling it around Urbana! Look for pics to be up soon.
    I ran a 3rd on Saturday but not so well Sunday, I caused an early caution when my tether came loose. Though I tore right up through the back of the 15 mower field after the restart a late race caution left me stacked behind alot of lapped traffic with 4 to go. The third was enough to move me to 5th in points nationally. Larry managed to hold onto to 5th in BP but slipped to 8th in SP.
    The weekend was a great time at a great venue. I cannot wait to head back next year.

Roll on Oppy!

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 05:16:55 +0100

Had a great weekend in Zion, Ill at the Land of Lincoln Stabil Lawn and Garden National Points race. Once again the Opposed was strong. My chasis let me down, however and Dr Art Neavil, one of the greatest Men on the face of the earth, let me drive his Briggs OHV powered C/P to a 2nd place finish. What a ride that was, after a bad start I tore through the feild from worst to beating on first, in the end Nate Mesalk got the better of me and took the checkered. nate is a good friend and a great driver I was happy to see him win it!
I wanted to clear some apparent confusion. More and more often now I get comments about how "great" I think my engine is. I do think my little Oppy is a power house, but I know its not the baddest thing on the turf. Since adding the Isky cam it is getting close though! I love the Opposed twins and I think If anyone ever completely built one they wold be pretty un-beatable. The OHV singles are good engines too, and can be built into great engines, I know this as I have been beat by alot of them! I have my reasons why I prefer the Opposed Twins but that doesn't mean I think they are the only viable race engine for the class. Bot configurations of engines in the C/P class can win races if built right, put on a winning chassis with a winning driver.
Build you a good chassis and the best engine you can and lets swap dirt and quit worrying about who thinks they got what, we have a flag that tells us about that!

Happy Fathers Day

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 06:19:57 +0100

    Had a great steak and a great lunch with my kids and grandson today. Pretty much spent the rest of the day doing my favorite thing...NOTHING! Takin Gram-pa naps and staring at the tube, a little on-line poker followed by more TV!
    Once a year we remember our dads, maybe buy them something or even just a phone call to wish them a happy day. My father, like most, taught me many things growing up. Being a mechanic alot of what he taught me was how things work and how to fix them. The best lessons I think we learn are the ones they don't even know they are teaching us.
    My dad is not just a mechanic, he owns a auto repair shop. Over the years you can guess he has seen alot of things. Oddly enough I believe the biggest part of my character that I got from my dad I learned in that shop and it had nothing to do with working on cars. I watched and learned as Doctors or business owners brought their vehicles to Dad. Men with money that whether they did or didn't have any working knowledge of the mechanical workings of an automobile Dad never talked down to them. Educated men who sometimes made the most obviously ignorant comments Dad just listen to them, maybe a nod or two, then assure them it would all be taken care of. OK so maybe there was a shaking of the head and a chuckle when they left...but he never talked down to a man.
    The very next customer might be someone of little means, and those were the customers I learned even more from. I have seen bailing wire and duct tape, twist ties and gum wrappers used places you'd never dream. I would make some comment about what a piece of junk it was and why would anyone even drive that thing? "Poor folks have poor ways" dad would comment. Then commence to undoing they're mis-doing and fixing it up.
    "Poor folks have Poor ways" Seems like a simple enough comment. What did he really teach me? People are what they are. Sometimes I don't even think we have a choice in who we are. Maybe its in our DNA, maybe its in our up-bringing or experiences? I don't think the people who do all that studying on what makes us who we are really even know. What I do know is that no matter what we try to be, we will always be who we are. You have a choice, how you treat people.
    I do not let many people get under my skin very badly. I learn who they are and accept that about them. If they are some one I would rather not spend time with, I don't! "Poor folks have poor ways" was a lesson in acceptance. Accept the fact that people are who they are and let them be who they are. The only control we have is how we react to who they are.
Happy fathers day!