Chasing History: Rehlko's Official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Mowing Attempt

Summary

Green Industry Podcast

Episode Title: Chasing History: Rehlko's Official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Mowing Attempt
Air Date: May 20, 2026
Host: Paul Jamison
Location: Turf Mutt Great Lawn, Louisville, Kentucky

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Episode Overview

This special episode of the Green Industry Podcast comes live from Louisville, Kentucky, where Paul Jamison and a cast of green industry leaders gather for a historic Guinness World Records™ attempt. In partnership with Relco (formerly Kohler Engines), the record-chase is for the fastest time to mow an American football field using their new Command Pro 999cc, 41-horsepower engine on a ride-on mower. Listeners are treated to real-time reactions, insightful interviews, and an inside look at the people and technology behind this epic moment in lawn care history.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: What Is Happening in Louisville?

• The podcast is recorded live during Relco's Guinness World Records attempt at the famous Turf Mutt Great Lawn, a central Louisville community park.
• The event drew industry leaders, media, and enthusiasts, all witnessing the challenge of mowing a tall, wet Kentucky bluegrass football field under official adjudication.

Paul Jamison:
"What we're doing here today is relco is attempting to set a Guinness World Records for the fastest time to mow an area of an American football field using a ride-on mower." (01:17)

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2. Interviews with Industry Leaders

Chris Kaiser – President, Outdoor Power Equipment Institute

• Discusses the significance of the venue and the event’s impact on the community.
• Highlights the event as a showcase not only of Relco's new engine, but also of the lawn care industry’s innovation.

Chris Kaiser:
"We provide monies for the Great Lawn...this is a gathering spot for the city. But today, Relco is going to set a Guinness record in mowing this." (03:02)

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Mike Garvey – Industry Pro & Co-Host

• Shares excitement about witnessing a world record attempt for the first time.
• Notes the seriousness of the adjudication process and the challenge presented by the wet, tall turf.

Mike Garvey:
"I've never been at a Guinness World Record breaking attempt, but this is exciting stuff...The adjudicator...he's here. He's got the uniform on." (03:54)

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Haley Ryman – Record-Breaking Mower Operator

• Selected via a competitive process; submitted a video, voted through by the community.
• Describes her nerves, the challenge, and the thrill of breaking the record.

Haley Ryman:
"It is very exciting and I had the best group of people to do it with, so it's pretty incredible." (07:43)
"We just cut history with Relco's new Command Pro 41hp engine. And we did it in 14 minutes and 51 seconds." (07:51)

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Relco Representative

• Details the transparent, open selection process for the mower operator.
• Emphasizes community engagement through voting and content submissions.

Relco Rep:
"We opened a specific web platform...they were selected and at the end...we selected the top seven and we asked people to vote on our social media and she was the most voted." (08:25)

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Cornell Mack – Green Industry Podcaster and Emcee

• Shares reactions from the field, notes the mower's outstanding performance in real-life (wet, tall) conditions.
• Tries out the mower himself, gaining even more respect for Haley’s performance.

Cornell Mack:
"The grass really was over 6 inches in some places. And they brought it down to under 2 inches with 1 pass. No double cutting. And Haley did a great job." (10:37)
"Me personally, I've only used a sit down mower one time ever. I'm a stand on guy...she was zipping around on that thing." (11:49)

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Larry Del Sante – Fertilization & Lawn Expert

• Affirms the engine’s impressive power, notes 10-foot grass dispersal from the mower.
• Reflects on the significance of achieving such a clean, quick cut in wet grass.

Larry Del Sante:
"That Relco engine had some kick to it, man. It's 999cc's, 41 horsepower. It was throwing the grass like 10ft out of it. It was amazing." (14:22)
"She did it fast. I mean, I think it was like 14 minutes and 51 seconds...She was flying up and down the field." (14:40)

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Eric Fontaine – President, Relco

• Praises the turnout and excitement.
• Shares satisfaction with the engine’s unbeatable performance under difficult, real-world mowing conditions.

Eric Fontaine:
"Challenging...the wet grass, the length of the grass, all the things that I think our mower or engine delivered on. So yeah, I'm really, really pleased..." (23:26)
"We know we have a great mower in this 41 horsepower. We know that there's not another engine that touches it. I think you proved that today." (24:11)

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3. The Guinness World Record Attempt: The Details

• Date & Place: Turf Mutt Great Lawn, Louisville, Kentucky; performed before a live crowd and adjudicator.
• Machine: Relco Command Pro 999cc, 41 HP, 72-inch deck.
• Operator: Haley Ryman (selected via nationwide contest).
• Challenge: Mow a regulation American football field (120 yards x 53 yards) of wet, tall Kentucky bluegrass, in the fastest time possible.
• Result:
  • Time: 14 minutes and 51 seconds (07:22, 07:51, 10:01, 14:40, 20:33, 23:56)
  • Conditions: Grass over 6" tall, very wet, post-storm.

Paul Jamison:
"14 minutes, 51 seconds to mow an American football field. And I'm telling you folks, this grass was tall and it was very wet." (09:23)

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4. Key Moments & Memorable Quotes

• On the Adjudicator:
  "The adjudicator...he was intimidating. He was, he had all his measuring outfits. He's wearing a vest and had a tape measure and all kind of statistics. They don't play around with that Guinness World Records." – Paul Jamison & Cornell Mack (11:30–11:49)

• On the Contest Selection:
  "Some people are like, you know. Anyway, I was, I was hearing it up a conversation in the back. She did so good. She definitely, I mean, she would out mow most any. She was just excellent on the mower. Her turns, her lines were straight." – Paul Jamison (12:11)

• On Performance Under Tough Conditions:
  "Going back to the field, like, mowers don't really cut well in wet conditions and this field was definitely wet today. And Roko did want to have like natural conditions, like real life conditions, and they definitely had it today on this field." – Larry Del Sante (15:32)

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5. About Relco's Transformation

• Rebranding: Kohler Engines has rebranded as Relco, using the same letters but forging a distinct identity.
• Legacy: Still using the same components and manufacturing, but building a stand-alone, innovative engine company.

Paul Jamison:
"The engine division kind of went off in its own direction and they, they renamed it, rebranded it. They took the letters of Kohler and changed it to Relco." (19:23)

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6. Community & Camaraderie

• The event fostered networking and professional connection in a relaxed, enthusiastic environment.
• Multiple guests praise the collaborative spirit, the chance to reconnect outside of larger shows like Equip Expo, and the passion of the green industry.

Paul Jamison:
"This day I was able to just go and enjoy the day and it was awesome. I was just, it was, it was a relaxed environment and there's so many cool people there and I got so many good interviews." (15:50)

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Important Timestamps

• [01:09] — Paul welcomes listeners; lays out the day's challenge.
• [02:44] — Interview with Chris Kaiser begins.
• [03:50] — Mike Garvey shares first impressions.
• [07:22] — Record confirmed! Haley Ryman sets the new Guinness World Record.
• [07:43] — Haley Ryman shares her emotions and backstory.
• [08:25] — Relco representative explains the contest selection process.
• [09:58] — Cornell Mack joins for live reaction and technical insights.
• [14:22] — Larry Del Sante discusses mower performance and field conditions.
• [17:19] — Mike Garvey returns with post-event reflections.
• [23:26] — Eric Fontaine (Relco President) gives his take on the event.

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Notable Quotes

• “We just cut history with Relco's new Command Pro 41hp engine. And we did it in 14 minutes and 51 seconds.”
  – Haley Ryman (07:51)
• "The grass really was over 6 inches in some places. And they brought it down to under 2 inches with 1 pass. No double cutting."
  – Cornell Mack (10:37)
• "That Relco engine had some kick to it, man. It's 999cc's, 41 horsepower. It was throwing the grass like 10ft out of it. It was amazing."
  – Larry Del Sante (14:22)
• "It's the same letters but it's, it's a new, essentially like a new company now. Relco, but it's still the same components, power."
  – Paul Jamison (20:03)
• “You have to hit every single blade of grass or she missed the corner over here. Right. We had to get her back. It was really cool.”
  – Mike Garvey (18:07)

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Takeaways & Industry Impact

• Relco's new engine proved itself under real-world, demanding conditions, setting a high benchmark for commercial mowers.
• The community-driven selection for the mower operator fostered industry engagement and showed appreciation for the broad talent in lawn care.
• The event demonstrated both technological innovation and deep camaraderie within the green industry community.

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Closing

This episode captures the excitement, community, and technological excellence of a truly unique industry event. The spectacle of a Guinness World Record attempt showcases not only Relco's engineering but also the dedication and adventurous spirit of lawn care professionals coast-to-coast.

Subscribe for upcoming in-depth interviews with all featured guests and more cutting-edge green industry insights.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Eric Fontaine]

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[Paul Jamison]

Hello and welcome to the Green Industry podcast, your go to guide for building a more profitable and thriving lawn care and landscaping business. Your host Paul Jamison is the author of five best selling books including Cut that grass and make that Cash and his latest Level up your money, all available on Amazon and Audible. Now get ready for more expert insights and practical strategies to boost your business and level up your life. Here's Paul Jameson.

Welcome to Louisville, Kentucky.

Today I am here in the Bluegrass State to attempt a Guinness World Records with my friends from Railco. Mike Garvey's in the house as well, Larry Cornell, Mack is here, Haley Ryman and many others. I'm going to try to get all of them on the podcast. Chris Kaiser right around the corner. We're gonna see if we can get him on the show as well and many others. It's gonna be like an epic podcast today because I'm gonna try to include as many as my friends as we can as we are here. What we're doing here today is relco is attempting to set a Guinness World Records for the fastest time to mow an area of an American football field using a ride on mower. So this attempt's going to take place under official adjudication. We're here at Turf Mutt Great Lawn, Louisville, Kentucky and there's an adjudicator, I think he's from New York City, he's all fancy dressed up in a vest and he, he, you know, is representing the Guinness World Records here as we demonstrate how powerful this engine is under the load of this Kentucky Bluegrass. It looks like it's six inches or more and it's wet and it's tall and we're going to see how this engine does here. So again we have in attendance Chris Kaiser and many, many others. So I'm going to start the show off with an interview with Chris Kaiser and then I'll see who else I can snag and then we'll go out here and attempt a Guinness World Records. Folks, this is exciting. Glad to have you with us. Without further ado, let's kick the show off with the president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, Chris Kaiser.

Paul, nice to see you.

[Chris Kaiser]

Thanks for coming up. Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

We are in your neck of the woods today in Louisville.

[Chris Kaiser]

You are home. So equip home. My home turf. Mutts home.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah.

[Chris Kaiser]

And hopefully the home of a new Guinness record.

[Paul Jamison]

Absolutely. It's the Guinness World Records here. And what, what is our venue here?

[Chris Kaiser]

We are on the Turf Mount Great Lawn. The Turf Mount foundation sponsors this. We provide monies for the Great Lawn to the Waterfront park group. I'm on the Waterfront park board of directors and this is a gathering spot for the city. So lots of derby stuff. Thunder, the Glow up balloon race all happens here on the community park. But today, Relco is going to set a Guinness record in mowing this. It is sprayed out as a football field and it's regulation size. And we're going to set a speed record with their new engine product.

[Paul Jamison]

Always good catching up with Chris Kaiser. We'll have the full interview with Chris coming up on a future episode of the Green street podcast. But I want to keep things moving here and, and get Mike Garvey on the program who is in attendance at this Guinness World Records attempt. So without further ado, here's my friend Mike Garvey.

Today we're breaking a Guinness World Record with our friends areelco. What do you think, Mike?

[Mike Garvey]

Oh, this is exciting stuff. I've never been at a Guinness World Record breaking attempt, but this is exciting stuff. The adjudicator, Is that what he's called? He's here. He's got the uniform on.

[Paul Jamison]

The.

[Mike Garvey]

Very serious stuff here. It's going to be interesting.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah. We are here on the beautiful shores of the Ohio River. At one point, that was the number one riverwalk in America.

No kidding?

I think so. I, I, I don't take that to the bank, but okay. At least I saw. I think it was awesome. If not number one, number two, it's

[Mike Garvey]

a beautiful day and it's. We're not here for a quip. I've never been to Louisville. Louisville. You know what I mean?

[Paul Jamison]

Louisville, Louisville, Louisville.

[Mike Garvey]

Not at equip. So it's very, a different experience. It's very quiet, more intimate, very cool, very excited.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah. And what we're doing here today. So Roko's attempting to set the Guinness World Records fastest time to mow. Basically, we have a football field here, a real professional American football field. And they're going to mow it to show off their new engine and how it can handle real grass here at Tall Grass. We got wet grass.

[Mike Garvey]

Got a combination of everything. The weather was a little up in the air this morning, but this is, this is exciting stuff. I mean, it's got to be done under an hour, I believe. And it's. They got a, they got a big mower over there. A lot of, A lot of the staff is here, came in and they, they're ready to go. Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

And they're, they're showing off their new engine, the Command Pro 99. It's like Herman K. 999.

[Mike Garvey]

Correct.

[Paul Jamison]

Remember that politician was.

[Mike Garvey]

Yes.

[Paul Jamison]

It's like 9% taxes. I think it's 999. I just remember that.

999.

[Mike Garvey]

Did he. Did he lose. He lost 9% taxes.

[Paul Jamison]

Well, he didn't. Yeah, I think, I think the Donald got him. But The Command Pro 999cc, it's 41 horsepower engine. That's what they're working with today. Our friends at Railcoast. This is a lot of fun.

[Mike Garvey]

This is a lot of fun. They got everything all set up. We're just getting ready to go. It should be in a couple 20 minutes or so. Really looking forward to it. And then, you know, hanging with our friends at Roco, coming, you know, putting on a nice, nice show here.

[Paul Jamison]

Real quick before we move on. If you're tired of buying equipment blind or running your crew the same way, hoping something changes, get yourself to Equip exposition this October in Louisville. Test drive the best equipment from every major manufacturer in one place. Come see me, me at the morning show. Check out Equips education sessions built for guys actually running crews. Use my code Paul at registration to save 50% on your pass. The link is in today's show notes. All right, so after interviewing Chris and Mike, we went out there and the exciting news is we did successfully.

I say we.

Haley Ryman riding that mower, ended up breaking the Guinness World records. It was 14 minutes and 51 seconds, I believe. And so we're going to get her on the podcast here. This is right after breaking the world record. Hayley Ryman,

how does it feel to break a Guinness World Records?

[Haley Ryman]

It is very exciting and I had the best group of people to do it with, so it's pretty incredible.

[Paul Jamison]

So tell us what just happened in Louisville, Kentucky.

[Haley Ryman]

We just cut history with Relco's new Command Pro 41hp engine. And we did it in 14 minutes and 51 seconds.

[Paul Jamison]

And you went through a process to get selected, even be here today. What was that like?

[Haley Ryman]

It was an experience. I never thought I'D be able to experience. I heard about it at the Equip Expo and I immediately sent in a video and I was like, I'm not going to get it, but I'm still going to try. And I ended up getting it. So that was a really cool.

[Paul Jamison]

So you ended up being selected to be the one attempting the world record to the Guinness World Records.

[Relco Representative]

It was a real contest. It was a real contest because we open a specific web platform, people can really apply for sending a video, sending pictures. So they were selected and at the end of a period of time that was like a couple of months, we selected the top seven and we asked people to vote on our social media and she was the most voted.

[Paul Jamison]

What's it like mowing in front of the. You got the president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute here, the president of Relco. You have all, I mean, you know, mowing in front of all these people, what was that like?

[Haley Ryman]

It was nerve wracking, especially not knowing the conditions of the field, what they would be like. But it was incredible. I just blocked it all out and just did what I needed to do.

[Relco Representative]

We are setting a new standard. So this is the new standard for the tooth in the city's made my Ry and Red together.

[Paul Jamison]

Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

[Larry Del Sante]

Great job.

[Paul Jamison]

All right, that was Haley Ryman who

was actually riding that lawnmower. 14 minutes, 51 seconds to mow an American football field. And I'm telling you folks, this grass was tall and it was very wet. It had rained last night. It had rained right before I got here and the rain has been off and on all day. So I'm very thankful we're able to get out there and do this with this crazy weather and it looks like we've got more storms coming in later on in the day. But without further ado, I see Cornell Mack over here. We're going to see if I can snag him and get him on the

show where we just broke a Guinness World Records. Cornell Mack, my special guest today from Pennsylvania.

[Cornell Mack]

Hey, man, thanks for having me.

[Paul Jamison]

That was a lot of fun.

[Cornell Mack]

It was for sure. I guess I was the emcee to your laugh a little bit. You know, I know what I was doing.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah, you threw in a little Pittsburgh Steelers jab at me and yeah, you

[Cornell Mack]

came right back with the.

[Paul Jamison]

Well, I got no, I got much to work with. Sympathy but shout outs to Relco. So they wanted to showcase their engine against real life conditions and they couldn't have, they couldn't have picked a more epic Day because it rained. So you had wet grass, Tall wet grass. How did the engine do and what was the result?

[Cornell Mack]

It did amazing. I mean, I wish that the people watching could, or if you're listening, if you could see this, but the grass really was over 6 inches in some places. And they brought it down to under 2 inches with 1 pass. No double cutting. And Haley did a great job cutting that grass and making some cash, I guess. Well, cutting that grass and setting records. Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

Guinness World Records.

[Cornell Mack]

Yeah, for sure. In 14 minutes and 51 seconds.

[Paul Jamison]

And we're talking an American football field which is 120 yards because you got 100 yards end zone to end zone. But as we know, end zones are 10 yards.

[Cornell Mack]

Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

So what's that field? Purdue or one of them are painted weird where people like get confused.

[Cornell Mack]

Yeah. I don't know. But it's not the Canada one. Don't get it confused with the 30 or end zone.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah. So you got, you got 120 yards and how far is a football field across?

[Cornell Mack]

53 yards and I think 7 inches or something like that.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah. So she went, took about 31, 32 passes. She just went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And the adjudicator, that guy was intimidating. He was, he was, he had all his measuring outfits.

[Cornell Mack]

Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

He's wearing a vest and had a tape measure and all kind of statistics. They don't play around with that. Guinness World Records.

[Cornell Mack]

No. And I gotta give Haley her props, man. We got to try that lawnmower after the thing was over. And me personally, I've only used a sit down mower one time ever. I'm a stand on guy.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Cornell Mack]

And so when I did my three point turn using the mower, I was like, wow, she really did a great job. Based off of the crap job that I did, she was zipping around on that thing.

[Paul Jamison]

And how she got on the mower is Relco had a contest where hundreds of people applied to be the person who got to attempt this world record. So she just pitched her video of why they should choose her. And being a woman, I think there were. Some people are like, you know. Anyway, I was, I was hearing it up a conversation in the back. She did so good. She definitely, I mean, she would out mow most any. She was just excellent on the mower. Her turns, her lines were straight.

[Chris Kaiser]

She.

[Paul Jamison]

She can mow with the best of them.

[Cornell Mack]

Yeah. She was serious too. She had some guns on her triceps.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah.

[Cornell Mack]

She was out there ripping it for sure.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah. So the The Guinness World Record. After some suspense.

[Cornell Mack]

Yeah, that was crazy. We was wondering. I mean, the dude was like, you got to get the cameraman here. We was like, huh? And then he had to go around to different locations to check. He had this little, like, measuring stick to make sure that the grass was where he needed to be. Then he went into a tent, changed his clothes. He went from a vest to a blazer, and then he came out with a certificate and all of that. It was just cool to get to. I've seen that stuff on tv, Paul, and I've been, you know, when I was a kid looking at that Guinness World Book of World Records. But to get to see it happen in person was really cool.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah, fantastic.

Always a good time catching up with Cornell Mack.

We're going to do a full interview,

so that's going to be released very soon, so be on the lookout for that. And next up, it's Larry the Santee, who you probably know, works with Mike Garvey. They have a fertilization and weed control business over there in New Jersey. And then Larry has a separate business. He's been at this since, like, 1997. I think he's been around the industry for a very long time. Does lawn mowing, the landscape installs, like, stone patio pavers, and then does fertilization, weed control as well. But anyway, he was here to enjoy this historic record breaking day in Louisville. So without further ado, here's Larry.

Welcome to Louisville, Kentucky. It's raining. I'm here with Larry Del Sante and we just had a Guinness World Records with the Relco engine.

[Larry Del Sante]

Yeah, man, that Relco engine had some kick to it, man. It's 999cc's, 41 horsepower. It was throwing the grass like 10ft out of it. It was amazing.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah, so that was quite the experience watching Haley mow this football field and break that record. Yeah, world records.

[Larry Del Sante]

I mean. Yeah, she did it fast. I mean, I think it was like 14 minutes and 51 seconds. It was crazy. She was flying up and down the field, I think. How many passes was it?

[Paul Jamison]

It was like probably 32, 33. I wasn't counting. But yeah, it was amazing.

[Larry Del Sante]

It's like a very clean cut for

[Paul Jamison]

how high that grass was. Yeah, grass was looking at like six inches. Kentucky bluegrass. It's raining now. It was raining this morning. Thankfully, we got it in. That was a blessing that it didn't rain on us.

[Larry Del Sante]

Yeah, it was close. I mean, they're planning on changing the event to tomorrow, which wasn't going to

[Paul Jamison]

work out a lot of times for everybody.

Right, Right.

So I, I flew in and there was dark storm clouds and I was like, oh, no. And somehow it stayed nice. Chris Kaiser was here. The president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. Eric Fontaine was here. The president of Relco. Donald Trump was here. The President United States. Donald Trump was here.

[Larry Del Sante]

He didn't show up today.

[Paul Jamison]

It was, it was. This place was bumping.

[Larry Del Sante]

Yeah, there's a lot of people that showed up for it. Going back to the field, like, mowers don't really cut well in wet conditions and this field was definitely wet today. And Roko did want to have like natural conditions, like real life conditions, and they definitely had it today on this field.

[Paul Jamison]

Again, always a good time chatting with Larry. We're going to have the full interview with him dropping on an episode. Stay in tune, folks. We have some Fire Green industry podcast content coming your way. I've always enjoyed in person events the most and this one was so unique because I was back in Louisville, but it wasn't for Equip. It was such a more relaxed day because when you go to Equip Expo, from the time I get off the plane to the time I get back on the plane or back in the day, I used to drive my Ford F150 up when I lived in Atlanta, but nevertheless, it was just, just jam packed and I get, I got limited energy, as we all, you know, we all do. And it's, it's a full week at Equip and this day I was able to just go and enjoy the day and it was awesome. I was just, it was, it was a relaxed environment and there's so many cool people there and I got so many good interviews. So anyway, stay tuned because I've just been sharing snippets on today's unique program, but I have full interviews with Chris Kaiser, full interviews with Larry DeSanti, full interviews with Cornell Mack Mike Garvey, and the list goes on and on. So the next few weeks on the Green street podcast, as the kids say, is going to be fire. So let's keep it going though. This is going to be part two with Mike Garvey. We had him on before the attempt and now I'm going to get him on after the attempt. So here's Mike Garvey.

I mean, what happened to this chair?

[Mike Garvey]

We have the best moments from all the, our, our interviews at the morning show are great. You know, all of our interactions.

[Paul Jamison]

My chair is, is, is broken. So I'm holding on to our TV Studio in here. So welcome to Louisville, Kentucky. We just broke a Guinness World Records with Relco showing off their Command Pro 41 horsepower engine.

[Mike Garvey]

That was awesome. It was really cool to see. Haley did an awesome job. I mean you got a lot of eyes on you cutting with a big mower and he's tearing that thing up over there. But you know, you got a lot of pressure on you. You got to be a record to break. You have to hit every single blade

[Paul Jamison]

of grass or she missed the corner over here. Right.

[Mike Garvey]

We had to get, we had to get her back. It was really cool. And thanks to Relco for having us, having us cover the event. Very really awesome experience and great to be in, in, in Louisville. Not for equip, for, for, you know, a whole nother event. You know what I mean?

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah, this has just been absolutely wonderful. So what we just did, the Command Pro 41 horsepower, 99cc. That's the technical, technical name for Relco's Pro ECV941. It's their most powerful engine in their portfolio and they wanted to showcase it in real life. I mean this Kentucky bluegrass is tall. It was wet. The, the load of, you know, work it put on that engine was a lot and it came through and broke those. Yeah.

[Mike Garvey]

And I think, you know, world record. I think there's a misconception people are concerned with, oh, Kohler is. Where is Kohler? What is it? What happened to the engine and stuff like that. And this, this not. They didn't have to be re established but they have to like they're rebuilding a full brand. Right. So which takes a lot that goes into that. And nothing's, nothing's changed, nothing's gone away. This.

[Paul Jamison]

Right.

[Mike Garvey]

All of that stuff is still there.

[Paul Jamison]

And the way I understand it is that. So, so Kohler has been around for I think over like a hundred years. Yeah, good old Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Kohler, Wisconsin.

[Cornell Mack]

Right.

[Paul Jamison]

And they have their plumbing division, which we've all seen a toy. You've been in the bathroom and says Kohler. Right. And then they had their Kohler engines, which is, I've been to their plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi multiple times. They have a gigantic factory type place down in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

[Mike Garvey]

Right.

[Paul Jamison]

And then they do hospitality as well. Well, the engine division kind of went off in its own direction and they, they renamed it, rebranded it. They took the letters of Kohler and changed it to Relco.

[Mike Garvey]

Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

So it's the same letters but it's, it's a new, essentially like a new company now. Relco, but it's still the same components, power. It's still.

[Mike Garvey]

Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

So Kohler engines is basically now Relco, and they wanted to basically prove we're

[Mike Garvey]

still in the game and we're still a force and, you know, impressive. Clearly to be reckoned with. It is super strong. I mean, they cut a football field in 14 minutes, 51 seconds.

[Paul Jamison]

14 minutes, 51 seconds.

[Mike Garvey]

I'd be precise.

[Paul Jamison]

Just like I'm talking in American football field. So you got 100 yards and then you got. The end zones are 10 yards on each side. So that's 120 yards. I don't know how far.

[Mike Garvey]

I think I heard 53 yards wide. I never heard that number, but I heard it today. And that.

[Paul Jamison]

That would probably make sense.

[Mike Garvey]

Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

So this is a huge football field. And Haley from Ohio, she. They had a contest to see who would actually be the person actually attempting the world record. So she applied with hundreds of others. She won the contest. So she got. I don't know if it's a blessing or, you know, sounded. She was really nervous.

[Mike Garvey]

Yeah. And I don't blame her.

[Paul Jamison]

Again, I was nervous and I was just watching. I was.

[Mike Garvey]

I was ner, but I was a little nervous getting on it over in

[Paul Jamison]

the corner by myself, like by the Ohio River. By the Ohio River. There's a big drop off right into the Ohio River. If you would have dropped that thing in the Ohio river, that would have been my viral breakout video.

[Mike Garvey]

Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

You would have made millions just sliding down the river.

I was.

So we. Our river's over here, but the Ohio river is right over here.

[Mike Garvey]

Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

And it. And it just, like, dropped right into the river and Mike's just, like, mowing right next to the river. If that thing would have tipped into the.

[Mike Garvey]

Oh, that would be great.

[Paul Jamison]

This. How did it go?

[Mike Garvey]

It was good for a while and then. Well, we need a tow truck, so.

[Paul Jamison]

But Haley did a great job. She probably took about 30, 31 passes up and down with some obstacles to work around here. We had tents and Chris Kaiser was here. The president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. The president of Relco was here. Media. I. I haven't seen so many fancy lights and cameras.

[Mike Garvey]

Yeah, they pulled out all the stops. We got. You got everything. We have media tent. We have a.

[Paul Jamison]

A whole. This is very nice.

[Mike Garvey]

Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

Fancy chairs. They look nice. They ain't work right.

[Chris Kaiser]

This thing.

[Paul Jamison]

I'm gonna have to.

[Mike Garvey]

Hold on. Yeah.

[Paul Jamison]

No, no, but.

[Mike Garvey]

But this is good. So thank you to Rolko.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah. Big shout out. Shout out to Relco. Shout outs to Louisville, Kentucky. I love coming to this city.

Of course, fun times with Mike Garvey. We'll have that full interview with him. We chatted for quite a while. Many, many laughs. So we'll drop that entire episode coming up real soon on a future episode of the Green street podcast. So if you guys aren't already subscribed to the Green Industry podcast, you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify and then on YouTube. We put out video clips of these podcasts as well. So make sure you subscribe. If you want to watch the videos of these interviews on the YouTube, you can subscribe over there. Well, we're going to keep things rolling here. We have Eric Fontaine. I've had him on the program at Equip Expo last year. He's the actual president of Railco. So here's his thoughts on today's big day.

How do you think it went?

[Eric Fontaine]

Oh, fantastic. What a great, what a great event. What a great day. Turned out to be a great day, right? Challenging. We were looking at the weather, but what a great, what a great outdoor space here. Louisville's been fantastic. All the people that are here to support and watch the events. So to me, yeah, that was it built a really nice tension into mowing the event. The challenge of the wet grass, the length of the grass, all the things that I think are mower or engine delivered on. So yeah, I'm really, really pleased that they highly a great job.

[Paul Jamison]

Yeah. So Guinness world records here. 14 minutes 51 seconds of football fields, 100 yards plus the end zones, 120 yards. Kentucky bluegrass. It's wet. How did the engine do with this heavy load performance with tall wet grass?

[Eric Fontaine]

Yeah, fantastic, right? I mean, you're talking about a 72 inch deck, right? I mean you could even, I think it was really impressive. You could watch it on the sides and really get a feel for how much wet grass is getting pushed out of that mower in that deck. It's truly impressive. I think we know we have a great mower in this 41 horsepower. We know that there's not another engine that touches it. I think you proved that today.

[Paul Jamison]

Thank you.

Well, thanks again to Cornell Mac, Eric Fontaine there for joining the podcast today. Haley Reiman, Chris Kaiser, Larry Desanti, Mike Garvey, and hopefully I didn't miss anyone in that list there. But we had a lot of folks swing on by. Roko created a nice tent with underneath the tent, it's like a TV studio, podcast studio that looks all fancy schmancy here. So Beautiful, beautiful setup from Relco. And of course, they'll be back in Louisville at the Equip Expo this year. We are going to be the podcast collaborating with them again at this year's trade show. So you can swing on by and see this engine for yourself and visit the railcoat booth. Now, if you're planning on coming to Equip Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, October 20th through 23rd, I would encourage you to get everything prepared. Now, your ticket, you can save half off, that's 50% off your ticket by using the promo code, Paul, when you're registering and you're filling out your ticket, you know, registry, it asks for a promotional code. If you type in my name, Paul, P, A, U, L, Paul, your ticket price will drop by half. That's 50% off. So save big on your tickets and then encourage you to reserve your hotels. There's, there's not that. There's only a few nice hotels in Louisville and those fill up fast. And the last thing you want to do is wait too long to reserve your lodging because then you're going to

have to drive, excuse me, far away

to get a hotel or, you know, stay at a lesser nice hotel. So you can reserve your hotel. Right now on the Equip Expo website, they have a little button there that talks about booking your hotel and then they team up with the Louisville tourism to save you money and get you access to some of the nicer hotels in the area. But again, there's probably going to be over 30,000 people at this event this year. And a lot of these big companies bring a whole bunch of their team members and they don't, they don't put their teams up at the raggedy hotels, right? They put them up at the nicer hotels. So supply and demand. All I'm telling you is if you, if you wait too long, it's hard to get a nice hotel room. So get that reserved today and get your tickets at half the price by using the promo code, Paul, when you apply for your Equip Expo tickets. So I'm going to sign off from Louisville, Kentucky, here at the Turf Mutt Great Lawn. This is a beautiful, iconic public place because the Ohio river is off over here to our left. And that's a beautiful river. They call it a river, but it, I mean, it's, it's a pretty wide separating Kentucky here from Indiana. The Ohio River.

Go figure.

It's not the Indiana river, it's not

the Kentucky river, it's the, the Ohio

River, a beautiful waterfront park here. It's just a huge green space that Haley mode so beautifully today, breaking a Guinness World Records featuring the Command Pro 999cc 41 horsepower engine. So thanks again to Relco for creating this nice podcasting tent for us out here. Thanks to Mike Garvey and Larry and Cornell and Haley and Eric and Chris Kaiser and everybody who stop by for a quick interview. I appreciate it. Hopefully you enjoyed today's show. Thanks to our awesome audio engineer extraordinaire, Mr. Producer for putting it together so beautifully for your listening pleasure. We appreciate you listening and hope to catch you on the next episode. Peace.

Hey, it's Marty, producer of the Green Industry Podcast. This episode is over, but check the episode notes for links to products and services that you heard about during the episode. And thanks for listening.

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