Photographer Discovers a Subculture of Lawn Mower Racers in Small-Town Texas

Alpine, Texas-based photographer Jennifer Boomer’s colorful photographs of Texas’s small subculture of lawn mower races happened by chance. On a road trip five years ago, she came across a lawn mower racer and made a portrait of him. Last year, when she was pregnant with her son and looking for a more local project, she did some research and found the Texas Lawn Mower Association, Texas being the only state that has one. Races are taken seriously, with racers sinking considerable money into their custom-built mowers, some of which can go as fast as 50 mph. Trophies are awarded, but the races are all in good fun and more a way for the largely retiree crowd to socialize and cheer each other on.

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