Troyers

Konrad Marshall: TWELVE MILE, Ind. — When the Troyer boys get to talking about racing lawn mowers — and they talk about racing lawn mowers a lot — they talk about riding down the back roads of Cass County by moonlight, puffing on cigars.

They talk about engines belching smoke, and absurd little two-stroke machines tearing up white gravel driveways on their way down to the plank bridge over Eel Creek, where they take in the darkness and lawn mower fumes.

And they talk about the Twelve Mile 500, held every Fourth of July for 45 years. The Troyer family has dominated the race for so long that to think of themselves as anything but a dynasty would be, well, unthinkable.