Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 5, 1993 TAG: 9309050046
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-17 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID SILVERMAN CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: GRAYSLAKE, ILL. LENGTH: Medium
As those dream cars sat idle, Tischer was driving the off-road racing machine he affectionately calls the Red Baron.
The Baron is a sleek ride, fire-engine red streaked with black, and it carries a gleaming new engine block under its molded-steel cowling. Tischer, a 76-year-old Road America racing veteran, has spent the summer tweaking the new power plant until it roars under his feet.
"I asked the police if they'd use the [radar] gun on me," said Tischer, a Wheeling, Ill., resident. "They told me to stay off the highway."
Banished from the highway, Tischer and the Baron had to be content on a fairway, or anywhere else the grass is always greener.
The Baron is a lawn mower. A tractor, actually. An 18-horsepower, two-cycle, 1976 International Harvester Cub Cadet, to be precise.
And when Tischer climbed into the saddle Saturday, he was the oldest racer in the national lawn mower racing championships at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake, Ill.
The event began last year as an oddity, a publicity stunt to promote a fuel additive that keeps mowers from choking on their gas during the winter. Yet more than 2,000 spectators showed up to watch the best of the back yard speedsters reach speeds of up to 30 mph as they wound around the half-mile oval.
Lawn mower racing has since become a phenomenon of sorts, with races now being held in five states, from Oregon to Indiana. This year's national championships attracted racers from as far away as Florida.
"We're the Indy of lawn mowers," said Kevin Miller, a spokesman for the Glenview, Ill.-based U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association.
There is talk, serious talk, of a nationwide racing circuit - a Winston Cup for mulchers.
"It's real motor sports without the expense," said Bruce Kaufman, a race organizer. "There's real competition, but with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek fun."
More than 30 racers entered the second running of the nationals in Grayslake. They include the winners of the first Midwest regional races held recently in Downstate White Hall.
Among the attractions was the 70 mph, jet-powered Dixie Chopper, which its owners claim is the fastest lawn mower on the planet. "They say it can cut a football field in 14.2 minutes," Miller said.
The 115-horsepower jet mower did not race but merely acted as the pace mower for the start of the races, said Miller. For those who lined up for the Le Mans-style start, there were three classes of competition: stock, for those showroom-floor models; prepared, for those who add modifications; and factory, experimental class for the outlandishly rigged machines.
The rules are simple. No blades allowed. Only one engine per rig. No push mowers.
But for the septagenerian racer from Wheeling, there was only one goal: Finish the race.
"Then," said Tischer,"it's back to the back yard."
by CNB