Bloomfield Man Will Ride Lawnmower Across America

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield resident John Zack is about to embark on an intrepid, 3,000-mile race from Los Angeles to New York. The weird part? He’ll be doing it on a lawnmower.

On Friday, a six-team, three-month cross-country race will kick off, marking the debut of a reality show dubbed “The Great Grass Race.”

The contestants will be riding 5.5 mph Craftsman T110 lawnmowers, and in addition to Zack, include a hairstylist/pre-law student from Newark, a martial artist from San Francisco and a mother of three boys from Oklahoma. They’ll be forced to plot their own courses across the country while “wheeling and dealing” for food, shelter and gas.

Learn more about the new series here, which will stream on Menace Vision.

According to Menace Vision spokespeople, Zack, 39, moved from Allentown, Pennsylvania to Bloomfield when he was 12-years-old and has lived there ever since. Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2015, Zack has now been clear without any relapses for about two years.

A film aficionado, Zack went to the movies more than 400 times in 2018 and sat through the Marvel All-Movie Marathon two years in a row (almost 60 hours straight). His passion for movies began when, after graduating from Bloomfield High School, he got a part-time job at Blockbuster Video, where he was quickly promoted to general manager, and decided to stay with them until they closed their doors. He now works as the General Manager at Modell’s Sporting Goods.

Zack said he’s excited to be a contestant for The Great Grass Race because he wants to “get completely out of his comfort zone.”

He’ll likely get his wish. But even though he’s never actually mowed a lawn before, Zack’s knowledge of “outdoorsing” should give him enough of an advantage to make it far.

“I think my love of movies, more specifically horror movies, could end up both helping and somewhat hurting my strategies,” Zack said. “In movies, you can think of almost any scenario imaginable, which is where it would help.”

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