Lawns need fear no trimming at Salt Spring Island’s premier motorsports competition as registration opened last week for the third annual Sweetwater 500 Lawn Mower Racing event taking place Sunday, July 27.
Salt Spring Island Lawn Mower Racing Association (SSILMRA) founder Bradley Damsgaard said the growing popularity of race day was drawing an all-star lineup of local drivers and visiting competitors — and, he said, the event had reached a tipping point where SSILMRA will be selling tickets and limiting attendance this year.
“Last year and the year before, people came and had a lot of fun — and then told 20 of their friends,” said Damsgaard. “There’s only so much parking; tickets are the best way to keep a handle on the numbers.”
This year’s Sweetwater 500 will feature multiple mower classes, including stock machines — basically “rolled out of the store,” said Damsgaard, with the mower’s cutting deck removed — and a new-for-2025 class that allows driver-mechanics to squeeze a little extra out of their hardware.
“With the new modified class you can do a live axle,” said Damsgaard, “and that means you can run a chain drive and have positraction; you can run torque converters, centrifugal clutches, things like that — to get more ‘pep,’ more torque off the hop, so to speak.”
The SSILMRA began as a small group of like-minded enthusiasts, Damsgaard said, and with the help of willing neighbours put together a hay-bale track and had some fun.
This year’s sponsors so far include stalwarts Mid Isle Marine and Sweetwater Farm, as well as new support from Country Grocer. Damsgaard said others interested in sponsorship opportunities — or in joining the association — should reach out to him at contact@ssilmra.ca.
Damsgaard said he’d just finished a mower build for the modified class himself, with a six-and-a-half-horsepower engine taken from a gravel packer — creating what he said enthusiasts like to refer to as a “Chariot of the Proletariat.”
“It’s a whole new mower! Well, I mean, it’s an old mower,” he chuckled, “but a new setup. I think we can all expect some excitement and faster action this year.”
Racing begins at 10 a.m. July 27. Tickets are available through ssilmra.ca.