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HOW WE GOT STARTED
In 1985, Jim Gebbie of Naples, Florida was mowing his lawn and tinkering around with his brand new, old used mower. His neighbor Ralph Niles came over and kidded Jim about his mower being faster than Jim’s. Well, they went out to the dirt road that separated their homes and drew a line in the sand. They both went home, got their mowers, lines up side by side, looked at each other, nodded and had what may be the first lawn mower drag race ever.
Jim and Ralph kept tinkering with their mowers trying to make them go faster than each others. Soon a few more friends got involved and they would all get together on the weekends and race their mowers against each other just for fun, with a Bar-B-Q to follow.
As more and more people became involved, they decided to become organized and race for a cause. NASGRASS was born. The “North American Society of Grass Racers and Sod Slingers” has raised funds for accident and disaster victims in the Collier, Lee and Hendry county areas.
We believe in the American way of giving back to the communities in which we live. Help has also gone to civic organizations with fundraisers, while we enjoy the sport we love, Lawn Mower Racing. We have approximately 100 members and about 50 that race at events.
HOW WE RACE
NASGRASS races on grass or dirt surfaces. Our tracks are laid out with driver safety in mind, in large areas with plenty of racing and passing room. This allows us to mark the track with mower friendly cones, and use hay bales to separate the mowers from the spectators. We offer the most laps and track time per racer per event than anyone else.
Our race events consist of 100 Yard Drags, Short Oval, and Big Road Course Enduro. All in the same day. Our first event of the day is the 100 yard drag races with a traffic light start and double elimination. The next events are the short course oval heat races. The Ladies, Stock, and Seniors use this track for their events also. The heat races determine the starting lineup for the heat finals.
We then run what may be the toughest event in mower racing. The 30-Lap Enduro. The Enduro tracks are roughly a 1/4 mile +/- long road course. With the soft ground we have in Southwest Florida, the tracks can get really chewed up and rough. It is not uncommon to build up berms in the corners. If you can survive 30 pounding laps of the Enduro race, you can be a proud racer and probably finish in the top five.
WHEN WE RACE
Our season usually starts up in September or October and runs to May or June, when the weather cools off a bit. Florida summers are just a bit too hot to race. We run a 10 - 12 sanctioned points series, and many charity exhibition races a year in the South Central- Southwest Florida areas from Naples, Ft. Myers , Labelle, Muse, Palmdale, Punta Gorda, and other Florida areas.
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