By Thomas Smith

I got into my car to head to the Fairgrounds around a quarter to nine. The jolt of cheap espresso rushes through my veins and the air is thin and crisp. The frigidness bites into my cheeks, something that I have not felt in Minden for many years. 

A good buddy of mine heard that I was doing a story on the ice races and travelled from Little Portugal in Toronto. He had listened to me talk about the ice races for months and finally, he gave into the allure and thrill of cars sliding around as fast as possible on ice. 

A unique sport, he thought. Something he knew he wanted to see happens at least once in his life. 

We pull up to the fairgrounds at nine, with my heart in my stomach as thick flurries fall from the sky. 

“Do you think that the ice races are cancelled?” asks my friend. The parking lot is empty, besides a snowed-in truck and an ice-covered Mazda in the far end of the parking lot. 

I check my schedule. I know that the ice races start at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings, but where is everybody? 

We hop out of my car to the distant roar of engines. Ripping down the straightaway, three cars fight for first. The leading car slides into the bank, with second place slamming into its bumper. Third place quickly joins them with an audible crack of second’s bumper splitting.

We rush over the snowbanks to get a better sight of the action. Third place spins its wheels in reverse to pull away from the carnage. 

“Did you see that?” asks my buddy. 

“First time I’ve seen that happen,” I tell him. 

“I think they are encouraged to avoid stuff like that.” 

“Today is going to be a good day,” says my friend. 

I began my search for Elaine Willis, my contact for the ice races. I figure the only way I can authentically write about the ice races is to get myself in a car. Feel the thrill, get thrown around a bit, and slide around the track. 

When I asked Willis about getting in a car, she asked when I could come out. The perfect insider to satiate this ice racing craving. 

I approach the first person I see with a clipboard in their hands. A clipboard’s gotta mean that they know what is going on. 

“I’m here for Elaine” I tell them and they point me in her general direction. 

Our search continues to the registration building, who tell me to search for 38 and 37, her and her son’s cars. 

Dredging east through the parking lot in the deep snow, I approach Elaine’s car, which starts as I approach. I notice that she is wearing a jacket that says Class 2 Champion. She says that she is off for a race and hands me off to her son, Craig, who walks me to the office to register. 

Craig tells me he has been driving ever since he got his driver’s license. It seems every member of the Willis family has the need for speed. Willis tells me that when they got their Paseo about 15 years ago, her husband didn’t want to leave the car red, to stand out from the Robson and Rashleigh cars. Both her and her son’s car are red with two distinct yellow stripes down the side. 

“He had some vinyl left from one of his race cars,” said Willis. “Boom, it ended up as a stripe on the car.” 

I am told to go find Dustin Brown, who sports the racing number 167. After Anne McCallum registers me at the registration trailer, I have the chance to speak with Brown before our race. Brown shares that the day’s snow is making the track tricky to maneuver. It is a blessing compared to the past two years’ weather, with the ice racing season being cut short due to a lack of snow. 

“It will be an interesting race, because they are flipping the grid on us,” said Brown. After maintaining his position in first this season, our race would involve Brown’s fight for first position. “Am I a hindrance to you in the race?” I ask Brown. 

“In this direction, in theory, you are actually helping,” said Brown. 

“We try to make this sport as easy as possible, so you can share a car, you don’t have to rent a truck and trailer because you can leave your car here,” said Brown. “You can rent a U-Haul, bring it here and it stays for the entire season.” 

Brown, a resident of Cannington, says that he has been racing in the ice races for twelve years. A friend took him to the ice races one year, that is how he got hooked. 

The excitement builds while we wait for Brown to return from his race with his primary car. Snow sprays off the car’s wheels into the breeze, covering my face. Our race would be next in his secondary car he could have a passenger in. 

Brown returns and hands me a helmet that I squeeze my skull into. I climb into the Brown’s 2002 Subaru Impreza. It is unlike any vehicle I have been into. A skeletal frame, tubes, and wires all lay bare before me. Seeing its guts and inner workings is unnatural, the act feels almost perverse. 

We roll up to wait in line. I am oddly calm. Perhaps I accepted whatever fate comes to me, or maybe the one-size-too-small helmet is squeezing my brain a bit tight, cutting off my ability to feel fear. 

The flag man guides us to our starting position. Back of the line. 

With a long lit cigarette dangling from his mouth, he brings us bumper to bumper to start the race. It wobbles while he speaks, yet never falls. 

I look over to Brown and ask “Do you ever have a strategy befo-” 

The flag is dropped and with an intense roar, my head is thrown back into my seat. Brown slams on the gas and steers to the left. We immediately launch into second place, leaving behind some front wheel drive vehicles in our slush. 

Reflecting on the race has my mind in a blur. Not from blunt force trauma, but from the sheer speed and angle in which Brown would sling the car around the track. With my long legs pushing against the dash and my door, I hold on to a leather strap on the door to make sure it won’t fling open during our race. 

After the first two laps, we became locked in head to head combat for first with a black Subaru. For three laps, we chased the Subaru’s tail. We take the inside line, but it angles itself to block us. Finally, the Subaru has to correct itself after taking a turn. 

Brown seizes the opportunity and slams on the gas while gliding us effortlessly around the bend past the pine tree. We stay in first for another couple laps, until a car in front of us hits the snowbank on the left side and spins out. 

Brown lets out a yelping scream as he cranks the wheel to the right. We miss slamming into the car’s passenger side door by a hair. 

“Are your pants wet yet?” yells Brown. 

“Not yet,” I yell back. 

Brown giggles in sheer excitement. By the final lap, I can feel the muscles in my back pulling due to the G-force of the car drifting around the turns. The sensation is completely alien as a regular driver. For most of the race, I am sideways. 

We lap other drivers and when it is our final lap, the flagman accidentally signals us to go for another lap. Why not, I figure, why stop the fun there. 

We finished the race in first place. 

Well, Brown got first, but as valuable “centralized weight” I was an integral part of the team. After getting out of the car and talking with the other drivers, it is clear that there is a unique community of drivers that participate in the ice races. Drivers from all over come to Minden to race on the weekends. 

It doesn’t matter who you are, as long as you love the thrill of speed. 

The ice races are a special community that supports each other, whether that is by pulling each other out of the snowbank, taping your bumper back on, or jumping your car whose battery died in the cold. In addition to keeping their fees lower compared to other racing options, the ice racing community is warm and welcoming to anyone that is interested in participating. Every driver I met was excited to hear about how the race had been and asked when I would come out with my own car. 

It is clear that the drivers want the sport to grow. They want to encourage more racers to come out and join in on the fun. Whether you are a seasoned racer, or someone that is new to the sport, the ice racers encourage everyone to come out. 

They are willing to bet that you know someone with the perfect car just waiting to have its guts ripped out and made into an ice racing car. 

This year’s sponsors for the ice races include Minden’s Carquest Auto Parts, Syntheia.ai, RSR Racing, and Ken Shaw Lexus. 

The final race weekend for the ice races will be on March 1 and 2. Admission is free and the chance to find a racer willing to take you out as your passenger are high. Races begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.