My Name is George Herrin. I am 51 years old, married to Stacey for 15 years and is the best thing to ever happen to me. I have 5 children and 6 grand children. We live on a small farm in Hohenwald Tn out in the middle of nowhere. In 1999 I raced a lawnmower of all things for the first time. It was on a dare.. I had no clue what or how to do anything with a mower other than cut grass. I was a mower mechanic by trade yet no clue on how to make em go fast. But I had two weeks to learn, and with the help of a couple friends and internet I was ready. I won that first race. and its been full bore wide open ever since.
The next year I built two more mowers for a total of three. I went to my first National event a USLMRA race. I did ok but my SP class mower I finished third in both races so I was hooked even more. I started racing the NAtional Circut the very next year and started a locla club also. In 2003 I won the SP National Champiosnships and was 5th in the BP class, in 04 I become sponsored by the Gold Eagle Company and I was voted driver of the year, finshed second in SP and built the winning SP machine. I won the biggest of em all to me I won the BP championship also in 04. I did it again in 05. Then in 06 I finshed 2nd and the driver of my second BP was third. After several years as head tech and many other duties on the National Level, I stepped back to just race. It wasn't as fun as it used to be and I wanted that fun back. So in 07 I went a different route. I started racing in the ARMA. I finsihed first winning the Super Sportsman Championship. Also in 07 my son Jacob was running J/P which is a restricted class. He right out of the box won his class Championship in 08. In 09 the fun was back. I enjoyed just racing. I enjoyed the road trips with Jacob. I missed the whole family going like they did in previous years but me and Jake was having a ball. ARMA pays 30.00 tow money per mower at National events. So to help with the fuel costs I started driving more classes. We got a very late start due to unexpected surgery I had in Feb. didn't go as intended and we got a late start. BUT we made up lost ground very quickly and in 2009 Jake won his J/P class championships I won the Championships in Sportsman, Super Sportsman, Pro-X and Super Stock which is the adult class of Jakes J/P class. I finished in Second in the new Super Modified Twin ARMA class. That was 5 Championships out of the 6 classes we ran that we ran in 09. Not only were we having fun but we were being successful while doing it.
2010 started slowly. With the biggest flood in recrded history in our area and some other setbacks we just havn't been able to make the National Events we wanted to so far. They count your 5 best going into finals. We are only looking at 5 total this season. No room for mistakes no room for errors. We gotta be on our game at each and everyone of em. That being said 2010 was a bitter sweet year, I personall running 7 classes and Jake running J/P. I won the ARMA southern Regional Championships in all 7 classes and Jake won the J/P class. Going to the ARMA Finals we were competing for the national Championship in 8 classes total. Talk about hectic. Final results I won the National Championship in 3 of my seven classes Super Stock, Super Sportsman, and Super Modified Twin. I finished in the top 5 in the rest of my classes. Jake had a rough go of it crashing hard in his heat race not once but twice, the second time breaking his collar bone. He was done for the day and did not repeat as National Champion. Thus a bitter sweet end to 2010. We decided to step back a bit after that slow down a lil not push so hard so to speak. 2011 we are racing for fun taking a year to enjoy the sport and get ready for jake to step up into the faster classes. We will spend 2011 picking big races to attend not concentrating on the national points but testing ourselelves and equipment for 2012. So stay tuned for 2011 it promises to be tons of fun and many wins as usual.
Somewhere in all this I/we my BTMRA club started an event. THE idea was to have a race that anyone could attend regardless of build regardless of affiliation. We just wanted a come one come all event that everyone could have a great time and just race. The idea was obviously something that the racers wanted and showed in attendance of this event. In 2009 we had 155 mowers making this event the largest stand alone mower race in the US and Canada. We call this the All American Mower Championships. Check it out. Its an event you will never forget.
2011 was a good year a FUN year. We were not so serious about National racing taking time to get Jake seat time in his new racer. A very fast and different ride than what he was been used to. We raced a few US events, promoted the sport and our sponsors. And in doing this I won a BP feature and did well in a couple others. We finished the year well going to the US finals. Jake won the FXS US open event and also was seventh in JP points. His final year in J/P. I was second in the FXT US OPEN and 10th in BP National points.
2012 so far has abeen a great year. started out slowly with some DNFs but got it all straightened out and come on strong. Jake has been doing very well placing top 3 in every event he has entered. End results for the USLMRA year Jake won the US OPEN FXS National Championship, and Second in FXS USLMRA National Points. I Finished 10th in USLMRA FXT National points and 2nd in the US OPEN FXT NaTional Points and won the BP US Open National championship. I finished 2nd in the All American and Jake won his class which this by the way being the Biggest race in the country!! In winning the BP class I have officially retired from this class to devote my time to my FXT and Jakes racing.
2013 brings a big change for the Herrin Mower Sports Team. We as a family moved from our home where 3 of our 5 kids grew up. never knowing anything else. We have bought our own place finally at my ripe old age of 50!! Now 51 LOL but in doing this making this big jump took alot of our savings to do so. But it was a once in a life time chance and to do this we have had to cut back on our National racing this season. We did however race our local BTMRA series with me finishing 2nd in super mod twin and Jake winning his Super Mod Single class. We are still hosting the All American the largest mower race in the country!! We will try to win this event against the best drivers in the country. What does the future hold!!! We are hitting the national scene again in 2014 with better equipment and new desire to prove we are still one of the best teams out there. Course I think most know we are!!! See ya on a track near you in 2014!!!
