SPIRIT LAKE — Mowdusa, Mow Heat Oh, Turfinator, Hopgrasser, Grass Copper, Hardly Ableson, El Mow.

Those are just a few of the creative names participants of the Big Back-In Lawnmower Drags in Spirit Lake gave their mowers — and most were decorated or had bodywork done to match the names.

"That's part of the thing is it's for show," said drag racer Mike Cover, of Spirit Lake. "We have fun. Whether you win or lose you come out here and people enjoy it."

And it was quite a show for the hundreds of people who crowded Maine Street in Spirit Lake for the traditional Father's Day drag races.

Marc Kroetch, president of the Spirit Lake Chamber of Commerce and one of the originators of the event, said it brings about 2,500 to 3,000 people to town each year. Sunday marked the 16th year of the event, with an interesting story of how it all got started.

Kroetch said it didn't start out as a drag race, but rather as a little bit of fun on Sundays. Spirit Lake is a popular stop along the Harley Davidson motorcycle circuit, and every Sunday the bikers would pull up on Maine Street and park, backing up to the curb.

"We decided among a bunch of us that we would get out lawnmowers and park them in all the Harley spots before they got there," Kroetch said. "It was fun. And some guys dressed them up and other guys didn't, and we had some golf carts."

He said they lined up 13 of them, backing up to the curb as the motorcycles did, which is how it got its name — Big Back-In. It graduated into a parade and fundraising, then the racing began in 2004. The first year of fundraising generated $374 for the Parks and Recreation department. This year's money will again go to charity, with some going toward the Spirit Lake Fourth of July fireworks display and a couple of stand-up paddleboards for rentals at city beach.

Cover and his wife Marsha, owners of Grass Copper and Turfinator, have been racing lawnmowers for three years and said it is something they enjoy doing together.

"We're both really competitive, which makes it a lot of fun," Cover said.

"We like to race each other too," Marsha added. "For bragging rights."

Although Mike is a former police officer of 24 years, Marsha ended up racing Grass Copper because her mower, painted in pink camouflage, broke down during the time trials. So it was a good thing they had an extra.

Mike raced Turfinator, which had been remodeled to include a Terminator face on the front, with a skull on the back and the words "I'll be back" painted across the rear. Both mowers had colored, flashing lights to add some flare — red and blue for Grass Copper and green for Turfinator.

Kymberly Bowlby of Spirit Lake, owner of Mowdusa, has participated in the lawnmower drag races for 10 years, since she was 14 years old. She hits all five of the races on the circuit each year, including Spirit Lake, Post Falls, Priest River, Oldtown and Ponderay.

"I had an exhibition mower, but we sold it last year," Bowlby said, adding that her former mower could do about 60 miles per hour.

This year, her Craftsman mower does about 38 miles per hour, about the top speed for any of the mowers in Sunday's race.

While Bowlby's mower was one of the fastest, Mike Barham of Spirit Lake rode a brand new Husqvarna mower that was one of the slowest at about six miles per hour.

"It's a nice mower, it's not a very good racer though," Barham said. "It's OK. I've never done this before so I figured 'why not?'"

Kroetch said some people spend a couple thousand dollars on their mowers, but most are $300 to $500 "wonder machines they dragged out from underneath a tree in the backyard."

"It doesn't take a lot to race with us," Kroetch said. "It just takes a desire to show up."