1998 OMR SEASON:

The Dewberry Mudboggers and Ohio Mower Racers attended the Funder Alley Car Show hosted by ARC Industries Inc., on March 28, 1998. This featured dragsters, outlaws, legends, and then us lawnmower racers! This was a VERY exciting day for us. The Ohio Mower Racers were asked to put on two more lawnmower races -- one in Pickaway County (Circleville, Ohio) at the Fair on June 28th, and another race at Northeast School in Gahanna, Ohio, as a fund raiser. We were also offered a monthly section in an Ohio Wheels racing magazine (featuring every type of racing in Ohio). Our first stories were published April, 1998!

GREAT LAKE REGIONALS:

The 1998 season was off to a great start! On May 2, 1998, Greg Honchell of Urbana, Ohio, represented the Ohio Mower Racers at the STA-BIL Great Lakes Regional (St. Joseph, Michigan) in two classes: BP and Factory Experimental. Even though the track was not prepared as was promised, Greg still managed to pull off 1st PLACE in both classes! Congratulations Greg and good luck repairing all of the broken parts from the rough track!!

CENTRAL ILLINOIS REGIONAL AND LAND OF LINCOLN REGIONAL:

Greg Honchell and Chuck Miller (Marion, Ohio) represented the Ohio Mower Racers at these two USLMRA regionals in Mendota, Illinois, on June 7, 1998. During practice on Saturday, Greg did some major damage to his mower and scrambled to get it ready for the double-header. At the Central Illinois Regional, Greg became Champion of the B Prepared Class. Chuck became Champion in the Factory Experimental Class.

At the Land of Lincoln Regional, Greg placed fourth in the B Prepared Class and fourth in the Factory Experimental Class. Chuck also became the Champion at this regional in the Factory Experimental Class. WAY TO GO!! This race presented 5 foot trophies for First Place, and Chuck had to do some dismantling to get them into his truck for the ride home!!

COLUMBUS MOTOR SPEEDWAY RESULTS:

This was a really cool place for us to race because we go there to watch the cars race and had always hoped and dreamed that we could race there, in front of a crowd of race fans but didn't think they would be interested in our sport. We must admit, though, that people didn't know what to think when they heard we were racing lawnmowers, but the spectators really got into it. We got swarmed by lawnmower racing enthusiasts afterwards. Our oval track in the infield at the Speedway was approximately .8 mile in the grass. This was a fairly smooth course (except for the back straight-away which was actually rough and got rougher as the day went on). Click the link below for pictures of the Columbus Motor Speedway race day!! There are a quite a few of them, so we thought we'd better put them on a separate page......Here are the race results:

CLASS 1
1st Place - Trisha "Iron Maiden" Potenza
2nd Place - Mark "Lawnbourghini Diabmow" Beckett

CLASS 2
1st Place - Larry "Grave Digger" Potenza
2nd Place - Jim "Rainbow Warrior" Miller
3rd Place - Rodney "Blue Bye You" Day

CLASS 3
1st Place - Chuck "Boogie Woogie" Miller
2nd Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell
3rd Place - Tim "Bullet" Matheny

Click here for COLUMBUS MOTOR SPEEDWAY RACE PICTURES

PICKAWAY COUNTY FAIR RESULTS:

This was a HOT HOT HOT race day!!! We had a short, oval, dirt track in front of the grandstands (part on the horse track). During practice it was more like a mudbog day since we had the course watered down! We had a new racer (Class 1) this time, Sally Honchell, for her first race!! After race day was over, while loading up we saw 5-6 golf carts screaming around our track!!! Apparently we stirred up some racing ambitions!!! Below are the final results (Click the link below for the pictures of Pickaway race day):

CLASS 1
1st Place - Nate Hendricks
2nd Place - Trisha "Iron Maiden" Potenza
3rd Place - Sally "Crash" Honchell

CLASS 2
1st Place - Jim "Rainbow Warrior" Miller
2nd Place - Richard Dunlavy
3rd Place - Larry "Grave Digger" Potenza

CLASS 3
1st Place - Nate Hendricks
2nd Place - Chuck "Boogie Woogie" Miller
3rd Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell

Click here for PICKAWAY COUNTY FAIR RACE PICTURES

GAHANNA GRAND PRIX RESULTS:

This was a GREAT race track!! We had about 1/8th mile on grass, with a straight-away in front of the start/finish line, and an "S" curve in the back stretch. Lots of action-packed racing going on -- with the changing of leaders happening often. We had more action than we had anticipated. Sally Honchell was practicing before the race happened and her mower flipped over on a turn. She wasn't hurt, mostly just bruised her ego. Then during the Class 2 Heat Race, Richard Dunlavy started to spin out (losing his tire) and Larry Potenza couldn't get the "GRAVE DIGGER" slowed down quick enough and hit Richard's mower -- landing his front end on top of Richard's side panel. Click the link below to see the pictures from this race day. Here are the race results:

CLASS 1
1st Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell
2nd Place - Trisha "Iron Maiden" Potenza
3rd Place - Mark "Lawnbourghini Diabmow" Beckett
4th Place - Richard Dunlavy
5th Place - Dan Shaw

CLASS 2
1st Place - Larry "Grave Digger" Potenza
2nd Place - Jim "Rainbow Warrior" Miller
3rd Place - Rodney "Blue Bye You" Day
4th Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell
5th Place - Richard Dunlavy (Did not finish)

CLASS 3
1st Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell
2nd Place - Larry "Grave Digger" Potenza
3rd Place - Richard Dunlavy 4th Place - Jim "Rainbow Warrior" Miller
5th Place - Rodney "Blue Bye You" Day
6th Place - Dan Shaw (Did not finish)

CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY EXHIBITION:

The USLMRA held an exhibition race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina in July, 1998. This lawnmower race was actually held on BLACK TOP!! About 20 lawnmower racers showed up. One racer (from Georgia) actually flipped over (OUCH)!! Chuck Miller from Marion, Ohio, won overall, with Nate Hendricks (Vanlue, Ohio) coming in a close second!! Third place overall was Bob Cleveland from Georgia. It was pretty cool!! It aired on Fox Sports. Pictures will be here soon!!

STA-BIL MOTOR CITY REGIONAL RESULTS:

A bunch of us Ohio Mower Racers attended the STA-BIL Motor City Regional at the County Fairgrounds in Belleville, Michigan on 7/29/98. This track was a very small, dirt/sand, kidney shaped track. There were lots of caution flags thrown on this race day because of all of the spin outs because of sand in the corners. There were about 20 mowers there from Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Texas. Out of the 9 trophies available for classes A Prepared, B Prepared, and Factory Experimental, the Ohio Mower Racers ended up walking away with 7 of them! In addition to those 7 trophies, our Pit Crew Member Sally Honchell served as Chief Flagger for the race and received the Spirit and Spark Award trophy for good sportsmanship. We almost needed a U-Haul to bring all the trophies back to the Buckeye State! Here are the race results:

A PREPARED:
1st Place - Nate Hendricks, Vanlue, Ohio
2nd Place - Kurt Schwangel, Rome, Wisconsin
3rd Place - Trisha "Iron Maiden" Potenza, Grove City, Ohio
4th Place - Mike Smothers, Jefferson, Wisconsin
5th Place - Bob Crawford, South Haven, Michigan
6th Place - Jason Roberts, Bridgman, Michigan
7th Place - Bob Frennesson, Katy, Texas
8th Place - Mike Hohenstein, Janesville, Wisconsin

B PREPARED:
1st Place - Nate Hendricks, Vanlue, Ohio
2nd Place - Al Bitterman, Lake Zurich, Illinois
3rd Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell, Urbana, Ohio
4th Place - Larry "Grave Digger" Potenza, Grove City, Ohio
Random Finish - Ben Quigley, New Boston, Michigan
Random Finish - Jason Roberts, Bridgman, Michigan
Random Finish - Ron Davis, Battle Creek, Michigan
DNF - Mike Bonville, Mukwonago, Wisconsin

FACTORY EXPERIMENTAL:
1st Place - Chuck "Boogie Woogie" Miller, Marion, Ohio
2nd Place - Nate Hendricks, Vanlue, Ohio
3rd Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell, Urbana, Ohio

Click here for STA-BIL MOTOR CITY REGIONAL RACE PICTURES

MARYSVILLE ALL OHIO BALLOON FESTIVAL RESULTS:

This lawnmower race was USLMRA sanctioned. There were about 10 mowers each in the A Prepared, B Prepared, and Factory Experimental Classes. In A Prepared, Ohio Mower Racer Trish Potenza did have 3rd place until Jim Poden of Illinois was trying to "slam the door" (in Jim's own words) on Trish and cut into her line (while she was in it) and wrecked them both. It was 1, 2, 3 for the Ohioans until this happened. Another Ohio Mower Racer, Steve Sergent, had trouble during the 2nd heat race. A tire come off and he didn't realize it until he took his only right turn on the track, his spindle dug in and flipped him. Steve was ok and fixed it in time for the feature. Finished first and second were Ohioans Nate Hendricks and Greg Honchell, respectively. In B Prepared, 1st Place finisher, Bob Cleveland of Georgia, lapped the field. Ohio Mower Racer, Larry Potenza, got a good start, but dropped his kill switch and ended up finishing fourth. In the Factory Experimental Class, Ohioan Greg Honchell lead the field most of the race. Chuck Miller (another Ohioan) had problems at the start, taking about 7 laps to catch up to the leader and then spun out! Chuck did a quick donut and about 2 laps later took over the lead! Chuck was smoking! Here's the final results:

AP CLASS
1st Place - Nate Hendricks, Vanlue, Ohio
2nd Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell, Urbana, Ohio
3rd Place - Mark "Red Snapper" Boyce, McDonough, Georgia
4th Place - Steve Sergent, Marion, Ohio
5th Place - Mike Boris, Hanover, Maryland
6th Place - Mark "Lawnbourghini Diabmow" Beckett, Ashtabula, Ohio
7th Place - Aaron Wood, Lincolnton, North Carolina
8th Place - Bob Crawford, South Haven, Michigan
DNF - Trish "Iron Maiden" Potenza, Grove City, Ohio
DNF - Jim Poden, Carpentersville, Illinois

BP CLASS
1st Place - Bob "Snapperizer" Cleveland, Locust Grove, Georgia
2nd Place - Al Bitterman, Lake Zurich, Illinois
3rd Place - Mike Bonville, Mukwonago, Wisconsin
4th Place - Larry "Grave Digger" Potenza, Grove City, Ohio
5th Place - Richard Dunlavy, Cable, Ohio
6th Place - Mark Boyce, McDonough, Georgia
7th Place - Steve Barber, Greenfield, Indiana
8th Place - Ron Davis, Battle Creek, Michigan
DNS - Sam Mitchell, Statesville, North Carolina
DNS - Jeff Bash, Marion, Ohio

FX CLASS
1st Place - Chuck "Boogie Woogie" Miller, Marion, Ohio
2nd Place - Mike Miller, Kenosha, Wisconsin
3rd Place - Greg "Gates Belt Special" Honchell, Urbana, Ohio
4th Place - Nate Hendricks, Vanlue, Ohio
5th Place - Bob Cleveland, Lucust Grove, Georgia
6th Place - Erik Olep, Kenosha, Wisconsin
7th Place - Mark Boyce, McDonough, Georgia

Click here for MARYSVILLE ALL OHIO BALLOON FESTIVAL RACE PICTURES

STA-BIL NATIONALS AND ROCKFORD REGIONAL RESULTS:

There were easily 60-70 lawnmowers that showed up for these two races (held on September 5, 1998). This was held at the Rockford MetroCenter in Rockford, Illinois. This track has changed shapes over the years (from kidney shaped to having two in-turns on the "straight-aways"), and this year was set up as an oval, clay track. From the Ohio Mower Racers attending were: Larry Potenza, Trisha Potenza, Jim Miller, Rodney Day, Steve Sergent, Greg Honchell, and Chuck Miller. The Ohio Mower Racers kicked some major butt this year!! Out of the 6 First Place trophies that were available for the three classes (two races), the Ohio Mower Racers took home 5 of them!! In the Factory Experimental Class, Chuck Miller (Marion, Ohio) dominated by winning First Place in both races!! In the BP Class, Greg Honchell (Urbana, Ohio) cleaned house by winning Second Place in the Nationals race and First Place in the Regional race, and took home Third Place in the Factory Experimental Class!! In the AP Class, Steve Sergent dominated by winning the First Place trophies in both the Nationals and Regional races! Way to go guys!! On an unfortunate note, Jim Miller was injured when his rim broke during the Rockford Regional. Jim had a separated collar/shoulder, as well as cracked ribs. Here's the Nationals' final results:

Click here for 1998 STA-BIL NATIONALS RACE PICTURES

1996 AND 1997 SEASON:

As you can tell by the above picture, the Dewberry Mudboggers "cleaned house" on the trophies in May, 1996 at the Blossomtime Festival in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

At the May, 1996 Great Lakes Regional, Tim, (#02) took home the 1st place trophy driving "BULLET" in the B Prepared class (8.5 HP and up); Larry (#77), took home the 2nd Place trophy driving "GRAVE DIGGER" in B Prepared; and Jim (#24) took home the 3rd Place trophy driving the "RAINBOW WARRIOR" in B Prepared. Rodney (#43), experienced mechanical problems with the "BLUE MAX" during the race (while running up front), and couldn't finish the race. Greg (#52) finished 6th in Factory Experimental class. Trish (#27) took home a 3rd Place trophy on the "IRON MAIDEN" in the A Prepared class (8.0 HP and under).

The little green battery-powered lawnmower in the front is driven by 3-year-old Jimmy. Jimmy always comes in 1st place because he is the only one who shows up in his class!!

On May 3, 1997, The Dewberry Mudboggers competed at the STA-BIL Great Lakes Regional (St. Joseph, Michigan) in three classes: AP, BP, and Factory Experimental. Greg (#52) won 1st place in BP Class and 2nd place in the Factory Experimental Class driving the "GATES BELTS SPECIAL." Rodney (#43) won 3rd place in the BP Class driving the "BLUE MAX." Larry (#77) won 4th place in the BP Class driving "GRAVE DIGGER." Trisha (#27) won 3rd place in AP Class driving the "IRON MAIDEN." This was a sand/grass short-track course.

We competed at the Marion County Fair Lawnmower Race (hosted by Chuck Miller of Miller Lawn & Power Equipment 614-382-9162) on July 5th, 1997. The Dewberry Mudboggers were kicking butt once again. Trish Potenza (#27) took 2nd Place in the A Prepared Class driving the "IRON MAIDEN." In the B Prepared class, Larry Potenza (#77) won 2nd place driving the "GRAVE DIGGER" (and narrowly missed 1st place -- it was a PHOTO FINISH!!). Jim Miller (#24) placed 3rd driving the "RAINBOW WARRIOR" and Rodney Day finished 4th on the "BLUE MAX." In the Factory Experimental Class, Greg Honchell (#52) won 3rd Place driving the "GATES BELT SPECIAL." This was a short, grass track with one particular turn being a hair-pin.

On July 26, 1997, Trish Potenza, Larry Potenza, Jim Miller, and Greg Honchell met up with Nate Hendricks (of Hendrick's Small Engines 419-387-7451), Steve Sergent, and Archie Gruber at the Solt's Go-Cart Track in Findley, Ohio, for an exhibition race. The Go-Carts race on an oval track, and the lawnmowers were made a special side road off of the oval track to make a pretty wild road course. This road course had areas of clay, sand, and what us Dewberry's love best -- MUD!!! We all had a great time!

Chuck Miller hosted another lawnmower race on August 23rd, 1997 at the Marysville All Ohio Balloon Festival. The Dewberry Mudboggers brought home three trophies!! (Out of four drivers, that is pretty good!) Larry Potenza placed Third in BP class driving the "GRAVE DIGGER" and Jim Miller finished Fourth. Larry and Jim battled it out for third and it was an exciting race! Trish Potenza placed Third in AP class driving the "IRON MAIDEN." Greg Honchell placed Third in FX driving the "GATES BELT SPECIAL." Steve Sergent (who's talking of becoming a Dewberry Mudbogger), placed Second in AP Class. Nate Hendricks won First Place in both BP and FX classes. Chuck Miller placed Second in the FX class driving "BOOGIE WOOGIE." We've raced here three years in a row and it is always a great time! It was a grass track and the Hot Air Balloons were spectacular!

The Dewberry Mudboggers attended the 1997 STA-BIL Nationals on August 30, 1997, in Rockford, Illinois. This was a very short, clay track (indoors at the Rockford MetroCenter), which made it difficult to pass. Larry Potenza (#77 - "GRAVE DIGGER") placed Third in the BP Heat Race and Fifth in the Feature. Rodney Day (#43 - "BLUE MAX") took Fourth Place in a separate BP Heat Race and Sixth in the Feature. Larry and Rodney were battling it out in the Feature and had some "incidental contact" and Rodney bumped Larry into some hay bails (while hitting some himself) and then Larry wheelied the "GRAVE DIGGER" down the straight-away!!! (See the picture below!!!) Trish Potenza (#27 - "IRON MAIDEN") placed Third in the AP Heat Race and Fourth in the Trophy Dash. In the Factory Experimental Class, Chuck Miller of Marion, Ohio ("BOOGIE WOOGIE") is the 1997 National Champion!! Way to go Chuck! He drove a flawless race! Other Ohioans in the FX Class were Nate Hendricks of Vanlue, Ohio, who placed Fourth, and Greg Honchell of Urbana, Ohio ("GATES BELT SPECIAL"), placed Fifth. This race day was taped for TNN's Friday Night Motor Madness and aired DECEMBER 26, 1997!!. Below are pictures from TNN Motor Madness. Parts of this race were also shown on DECEMBER 29, 1997 on CNBC "GREAT STUFF" when they interviewed Bruce Kaufman, Executive Director of the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association. This also went out over satellite to FOX TV for two days after the race.

Here is a picture of Dewberry Mudboggers Larry Potenza (driving #77 "GRAVE DIGGER") and Rodney Day (driving #43 "BLUE BYE YOU") at the 1997 Nationals. Also in this shot is Tim Ryan from BAR's Racing Page (he's from Maine).

This shot shows Larry after a hay bail rolled underneath his lawnmower during the race after being rearended!!

This shot is of two Ohioans -- Chuck Miller (#28 - BOOGIE WOOGIE) and Greg Honchell, a fellow Dewberry Mudbogger (#52 - GATES BELT SPECIAL) at the 1997 Nationals.

Want to know more about the drivers? Then go to..... DRIVERS PROFILE PAGES