DOWAGIAC — For the first time ever, a fleet of lawn tractors will be present at historic downtown Dowagiac’s Summer in the City, but it will not be focused on lawn maintenance.

Instead, the 10 lawn tractors will be competing in a series of races from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday in the parking lot of James E. Snow Professional Building.

Dowagiac native Ron Galbreath is a member of the Modified Lawn Tractor Racing Association, which was created by Stan Suski. Suski built Granger Raceway Park, 51105 Birch Road, Granger and raced for more than 34 years.

When Suski died a few years ago. His son, Stacy, decided to take over, Galbreath said.

Galbreath’s introduction to the sport happened while he was working at the Dowagiac Union Schools bus garage. Stacy was selling oil at the time. He mentioned the races to Galbreath and invited him to come over to the track. That was six years ago, Galbreath said, who now helps the sport compete in new locations.

At the end of last year’s season, MLTR got invited to the old antique tractor show in Hartford. The group decided to attend and set up their own track there in a parking lot.

“We had a lot of people that enjoyed it,” Galbreath said. “In fact, some of them started coming over to our race track. We decided we might want to venture out, and so I mentioned it to Vicki Phillipson and she said, ‘yes.’”

Phillipson, the chamber of commerce program director, recognized the popularity among racing events, such as when festivals hosted bed-racing events in the late 1980’s. Phillipson said the parking lot of James E. Snow Professional Building would be the perfect place to transform into a race track.

These tractors will not have standard parts. They are called modified lawn tractors for a reason, Galbreath said.

Most lawn tractors are custom built and can take about six months to build. Competitors run a lawnmower transition and keep the lawnmower’s hood and fender attached. Running a nine-horsepower engine is required.

Galbreath, who was initially attracted to the sport for the competitive nature, said people from all over will be traveling to Dowagiac for Summer in the City.

“There will be people coming from Indiana and Michigan,” he said. “Some people will be driving over an hour away or farther.”

The association is hoping to spark some interest and encourage people to start building their own modified lawn tractors, Galbreath said.

Currently, the MLTR has 10 members who actively race once a month on Sundays in Granger at 1:30 p.m. This year, the 2019 season schedule listed 11 races, according to the MLTR website.

MLTR will run three, 20-lap races and a single 5- lap race at Summer in the City.

“I hope everyone just starts and finishes,” Galbreath said. “It’s a very tight open wheel racing.”