Belt Sander Racing

Belt Sander Racing
Date: 4/13/2002

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Two by two they come screaming down the 85-foot long, waist-high wooden track, trailing rooster tails of sawdust and long yellow extension cords that power them to the finish line.

Twenty-one contestants are racing their belt sanders in this event, to the delight of hundreds of spectators crowded into a dusty workshop at Kenyon Woodworking in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

At the end of the day, 11 of them will walk away with trophies: three in the stock class for machines raced right out of the box, three in the modified class for souped-up sanders and five consolation prizes including "best-dressed" belt sander.

Our Belt Sander Racing story was produced by WBUR's Sean Cole.

National Belt Sander Racing Association International Belt Sander Drag Racing Association

More photos of belt sander racing. (Sean Cole)