Our friend Marcel Manzano from Cool Rides Online stopped by the STA-BIL Land of Lincoln Nationals at Nostalgia Days in Zion, IL and put together a great recap!

The races were a lot more exciting than I expected.  I was also surprised by the size of the crowd that the races drew, it was a big crowd! At first I was a little skeptical because they seemed to just be cruising very leisurely but then I realized they were only warming up the engines and getting a “feel” for the track. Once the qualifiers started it got good and the points races were incredible. Not only did they go fast, but you could see the strategy behind every turn and I started noticing who my favorite racers were based on their racing styles. I mostly like the aggressive racers that constantly challenged the folks in front of them.

We met Jon “Rooster” Lewman (on the Cool Rides Online mower) in the pits working under the mower. He was trying to fix a bent pulley and the transmission belt kept getting loose. It was great to see that the same people he was competing against were helping him trying to fix the mower and even giving him spare parts. That drove the point home that this is a family sport above all and all of the racers genuinely look out for one another.

It was good to see the local media come out with with a reporter from Chicago Channel 7 (ABC) interviewing Bobby Cleveland and a few other racers. At the end of the night, Rooster was kind-enough (or dumb enough lol) to let me take the CRO Mower out for a few laps. I only rode it in 2nd gear (has 3 speeds) but IT SCARED THE HECK out of me! I loved it for the three laps I did… until I slammed on the clutch instead of the brakes and popped the tranny belt (sorry Jon)!

To read Marcel’s entire recap at CoolRidesOnline.net, click here!


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