This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue with our American Stories.

The Lone Star Mower Racing Association, and that's L-S-M-R-A for you fans, started in

1998, but the sport of lawnmower racing goes back to 1973 when an Irishman named Jim Gavin

and a few of his mates were fed up with the hefty price tag that came with most motorsports

and wanted to create a sport that was cheap and accessible to everyone.

As the pints flowed, they looked out the window and there was the groundsman mowing the grass.

It was then that they realized, hey, everyone has a lawnmower.

That's when they decided to have a race.

80 mowers showed up for the very first contest.

Here's Julie Tinman with her story about the greatest show on turf.

Well, I think I'm pretty much a unique unicorn.

I don't know anybody in my family who is into

lawnmower racing. I grew up in San Antonio, Texas, on the southwest side of town. My parents

each worked two full-time jobs, so they were hardly at home because they were always working,

you know, trying to provide for us. And I didn't know it at the time, but we were poor, which was the best kind of poor, right?

You didn't know you were poor when you were a kid, you only figured it out when you got older,

and you're like, oh, yeah, I didn't get to do all those things.

But I kept so active that I didn't let any of that really bother me very much. You know, and after high school, I did go off to college.

Unfortunately, I found myself in the same position my parents were in.

I had to work two jobs just to take care of myself and pay for my apartment and where I lived and food and all that stuff.

I think what minimum wage was four bucks an hour at the time.

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