Michaela Sue

In the book The Backyard Lumberjack (by Frank Philbrick and Stephen Philbrick) there is a section on lumberjack competitions. It includes this wonderful bit:

Chain saws are powerful and loud to begin with, but competitors in the hot saw competition have clearly decided that their chain saws need to be much bigger and produce a noise somewhere between the Rolling Stones being electrocuted in a Quonset hut and a cat in a cyclotron.

These people run fuels like methanol-nitromethane, which is ideal for people who really, really want maximum power and don't mind doing a major engine overhaul after every few minutes of operation. "I was warned that the stuff was incredibly flammable and unstable by a guy pouring the fuel back out of the saw, which had a dangerously hot muffler. I asked why it had to come back out, and why some of the fuel was leaking rapidly out of the saw..."

"We run mainly this methanol he-urr, ahnd it c'rodes thuh enjuhn to let it set in there. We hata put the gas back in and run it fer a minute t'clean her owt. Reason it's pourin' owt is I drilled a buncha howles ta let in mower ayer."

These fellas were from the Canadian border of Vermont and loggers by trade. Their accents were so thick, and endearing, and hysterical that I forgot that a man was telling me of a strategy wherein he intentionally drilled holes through the top of his gas tank. One might call it devotion.

He also mentions, "Though I personally witnessed only four hot saw competitions, I saw two accidents."

There is, I understand, a women here in Wisconsin who is both a strong competitor in the hot saw competitions and a grandmother.