Corbin Hanna, 14, of Andover, admits it can be hard to explain what he does.

“I’m interested in anything mechanical or motorized,” said the eighth grader at The Eddy School, a small, independent middle school in Newry. “People ask, ‘You make lawn mowers go fast?’ They’re really not a lawn mower by the time I’m done with them.”

Broken lawn mowers, he said, are easy to find. He has collected about 16 so far, most pulled from the side of the road.

“I cut the frame out, lower it to an inch off the ground, and swap the pulleys to make them go 35 to 40 miles per hour,” Hanna said.

After rebuilding his first lawn mower, he was hooked.

“I just drove around the yard all day, every day,” he said.

Hanna has wanted to compete in the Andover Olde Home Days lawn mower race since he was 5. At 14, he thought he was close — until he learned the minimum age was being raised to 18.

So he built his own track in his family’s cow pasture, banking the turns and using fencing along the Ellis River. About 10 people showed up for the first race in 2024. More came last summer.

“It was just a great turnout,” Hanna said.

Single and V-twin classes raced separately in heats of four. A beginner stock class, running at regular lawn mower speeds, included his younger brothers, Edward, 8, and Malaki, 10. The races last three to five hours, with hamburgers, hot dogs and brownies for sale.

Hanna learned to drive a miniature snowmobile at age 3 or 4 and said early experience matters.

“If you lose control on an icy road, it helps if you know how to auto-steer and correct it,” he said.

The appeal goes beyond driving.

“I just love being under a machine, seeing what it’s built out of and how complex it is,” Hanna said.

He does all maintenance on his machines, as well as his father’s vehicles. His father, Adam, is a machine tool repair technician.

Hanna also has his own Ford F-150 truck, which he is learning to drive on his father’s private dirt road.

He already owns his own welder and is cutting, welding and building, learning from his grandfather, a professional welder, and his uncle.

Younger students at The Eddy School often text him with mechanical questions. He also trades repair advice with his friend, Isaac Glover.

Hanna plans to attend the Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico to learn metal trades next year.

Wyatte Thompson

On a cleared trail behind his family’s West Bethel home, Wyatte Thompson, 11, practices driving while his dog, Chevy, runs alongside. The vehicles change — ATVs, snowmobiles, dirt bikes — but the lesson stays the same.

The student at Telstar Middle School in Bethel said he likes “everything about driving.”

His mother, Angie Lovejoy, listed the vehicles her son owns and has learned to drive: ATVs, a Wonderbike, two dirt bikes, a mountain bike, a snowmobile and a motorcycle.

“He also practices in my Honda CR-V in the dooryard — forward, reverse, backing out of the garage, basic parking,” Lovejoy said. “He loves doing it, and I think it’s very beneficial. In 3½ years he’ll be taking driver’s ed, and it won’t be completely foreign to him. He’ll be more skilled and comfortable behind the wheel.”

Wyatte’s father, Mico Thompson, said he started driving a Chevrolet Chevette at age 10 or 11. He said his brother David was 4 when he learned to ride a dirt bike.

Lovejoy remembers early driving as well, including nearly rolling a three-wheeler called Big Red. Her brother’s on-the-column shift Chevrolet truck was the first vehicle she drove, at age 13. From her home, she can point to her grandparents’ farmhouse — in the family for 60 years — where much of that learning took place.

“When you learn something and you’re very young, it’s engraved in your memory and nervous system,” Lovejoy said. “Wyatte is learning acceleration, braking and steering. It’s going to be second nature when he goes for his driver’s license.”

Chase Brooks

Chase Brooks, 11, became interested in lawn mower racing after attending Corbin Hanna’s race in Andover last year. He repaired an old mower pulled from the weeds at his Bethel home, made modifications and now talks about little else. He is saving to buy a racing-specific mower.

He added light bars, built a plow with handles and constructed a wooden trailer for the mower.

His mother, Justine Carver-Brooks, said the philosophy she and her husband, Travis, adopted began years ago when her father, Barry Carver, put Chase behind the wheel.

His grandfather’s tractor, she said, “is a big, expensive thing — super complicated — and he’s using the backhoe. Ever since he was little.”

“They are never going to learn unless you give them the opportunity,” she said, describing her father’s approach. “And they are learning these things in a controlled environment.”

Their response has been, “OK, let’s go for it,” she said.

Since then, Chase has accumulated a side-by-side, a dirt bike, a snowmobile and multiple lawn mowers.

Carver-Brooks said Chase drives his grandfather’s 4×4 mule. “He couldn’t reach the pedals, so his grandfather modified it with blocks. He drives our motorboat better than I do,” she said.

Carver-Brooks said engineering runs in the family.

“That’s definitely how his brain works,” she said of her son. “He’s very creative. He’s always rethinking how something could be done better,” she said. “Anything with an engine or motor, he wants to take apart to see how it works.”

She said Chase brought home a discarded chain saw from the dump last fall and had it running that night.

“I would much rather have him doing productive things than playing video games,” she said, adding that Chase is largely self-directed, relying on manuals and YouTube videos.

The family limits what he is allowed to take apart, restricting him to lawn mowers for now.

He has a network of like-minded friends at The Eddy School and beyond to share his hobby.

“He cannot wait to go to high school at Region 9 so he can take everything they offer,” Carver-Brooks said.