BruceKaufman

A Note From USLMRA President Bruce “Mr. MowItAll” Kaufman

Each race in this year’s STA-BIL National Lawn Mower Racing Series will be covered by one of our own members, a designated “Pit Reporter” who’ll report back on the weekend’s happenings, the racing action, and mow!

The 2015 STA-BIL 360° Performance Lawn Mower Racing Nationals were held on Sunday, Sept. 27 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC, and the weekend was covered by our Pit Reporter Angeline Hartness Robinson.

The 2015 STA-BIL National Lawn Mower Racing Series season came to an end On Sunday, Sept. 27 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans in mind for our STA-BIL 360 Performance Nationals race.

The staff at both Charlotte Motor Speedway and USLMRA tried everything in their power to make this race happen, but the rain never stopped all weekend. It seems as though the word rain could sum this season up perfectly. Many of our races were cut short, extended, or just never happened this season due to rain. We still had a blast everywhere we went though, rain or not!

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On Thursday with the pending threat of rain in weekend forecast, the staff members of USLMRA and TerraCross met with the Charlotte Motor Speedway staff to concoct a plan. The plan was brilliant, but it solely depended on the rain stopping like the previous forecasts had called for.

Unfortunately, the rain never stopped throughout the entire weekend. Everyone was bummed, but I think the crew that had worked tirelessly for weeks on our track were the most bummed about it. Those guys worked very long hours to create for us what would have been an outstanding racetrack. It was wide, with sweeping turns. It was hard as a rock, cured all the way down, and simply beautiful. Those guys did an outstanding job on it, and I really hate that they never were able to witness a race on their track.

I would like to tell each and every member of the Charlotte Motor Speedway staff that had a part in this thank you; Matt, Shaun, Whitney, Dennis, Ed, Scott, Steve, and anyone else that worked on this for us! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything that you all did to make this perfect for us! We would also like to thank Mr. Joe Duncan with TerraCross for being so accommodating to us, he offered up his time slots for us in the event that it was raining during our times and not during his times. He was wonderful to us! We hope to be able to work together with him in the future.

With the races cancelled that, left our 2015 points ending where they were heading into Nationals weekend. I know that many of you have asked about those that were tied for points. The tie was already broken before this race to provide us with an accurate starting line up. The tie is broken by factoring in amount of wins, amount of 2nd’s, and races attended during the season.

Each year after all of the racing ends, we have an Awards Banquet as well as our now annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. I think everyone should participate in at least one Banquet during their racing careers – they’re great! Since we were at the Charlotte Motor Speedway this year, our Banquet was held on the 5th floor of Smith Tower. It was beautiful; everything was just perfect from arrival until departure. We had a catered breakfast, which was amazing!

All of the awards are my favorite part. We had many special ones this year. Bruce did something amazing for Manny and Kerry. Our very own racer Ivy Stella is an amazing artist. She has been posting her work for all of us to see and even purchase. Bruce found original pieces of her art for both Manny and Kerry, they were beautiful! Little did Bruce know though, Ivy had been working on a plan for him for quite sometime. She enlisted some help from some of us in the racing world to execute her plan. She asked many of us to write thank you notes to Bruce or our favorite memory of him for an awesome book that she put together. She had also ordered him a custom, one of a kind bobble head! He looked just like the Grass Hole, it even had that on it!!! It was perfect! Thank you Ivy for planning such an amazing gift for Bruce and including us in on it!

During the awards there were many tears, both happy and sad. We laughed, we smiled, we had a great time! We had a beautiful tribute to the late Mrs. Jackie Andrews who lost her fight earlier this month. We also had the yearly privilege of acknowledging those in the lawn mower racing world that we lost too soon by awarding the most deserving racers an award named after them. These awards are the best, they are voted on by the drivers. I would like to congratulate everyone who received one. Drivers were also given awards such as Rookie of the Year (kids & adults), Most Improved Driver, and Driver of the Year. If you were lucky enough to receive any of these awards, cherish them! It is a true honor to receive any one of them!

USLMRA also handed out a couple of National Staff Awards. One going to Mr. Eric Corner for his dedication this racing season. He made it to every race that was held in the series, that was an amazing accomplishment. I was also the recipient of one of these amazing awards for all of my hard work and dedication this year. It was a true honor for me, and I know that it was for Mr. Eric too.

Another highlight of the Banquet was the indication of Jim Witt and his late wife Janet and the entire Mikula family into the United States Lawn Mower Racing Hall of Fame. The indication speeches were read by Mr. Manny Torres and were eloquent and moving. Well done, Mr. Manny! I’d be remiss if I also didn’t congratulation my husband, Mr. Derrick Robison for being voted Driver of the Year by his fellow racers. Congratulations, dear!

I hate to close this, only because I hate to see this season end! It has been a fantastic season from the beginning down in Florida, until the end at Charlotte MOWer Speedway. Thank you to each and every person who races with the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association, thank you to our amazing staff members (not just the ones that we see at the race tracks, but all of those behind the scenes too), and most importantly, thank you to each and every venue that has hosted us this year! You all are truly amazing; I am so excited to see where 2016 will take us all. See y’all soon!

Our 2015 Racer Banquet and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was held on the morning of September 27 on the 6th Floor of Bruton Smith Tower at Charlotte Motor Speedway!Mow photos soon…

Posted by United States Lawn Mower Racing Association on Sunday, September 27, 2015

See a full list of our our 2015 STA-BIL National Series US Points Champions, as well as our 2015 USLMRA Special Award Winners, here.


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