Racing Green (Audio Story)

The lawn. It’s not just a grassy expanse or an environmental challenge. It’s a place of leisure and play that has spawned all manner of cultural phenomena, from lawn flamingos and backyard badminton to the sport of lawn mower racing.

On April 1, 1992, the U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association (USLMRA) held it’s first organized event in Grays Lake, Illinois. Today the sport boasts more than 150 annual races in more than twenty states.

Here radio producer Blue Chevigny investigates the sport’s broad appeal and its distant connections to weekend yard work.

 

About the artist:

Blue Chevigny is a writer and former This American Life radio producer living in New York City.