THUNDER BAY - When racing on sheer ice with bare rubber tires through a cloud of snow that makes seeing even the hood of the car next to impossible, you have to be quick, and not just with the gas pedal.
“You gotta have fast hands,” said driver, Amber Kelly.
“You have to have fast reaction time and know how to keep your car under control and just try to keep an eye on other cars that are coming past you or behind you,” added driver, Chelsea Sacek. “It can throw you off if you are focusing too much on it and then you lose track of where you’re driving.”
Kelly, 18, has been participating in ice racing for the last three years, and Sacek for six, and on Sunday, they were out in the cold and ready to take to the track on Mission Bay for the start of the 2018 Thunder Bay Autosports Club ice racing season.
Last year, the season got off to a late start and several races had to be cancelled because warm weather caused delays in preparing the track. Gary Adomko, president of the Thunder Bay Autosports Club, said he is very pleased to be kicking off this year’s season on time.
“Mother nature being kind of back to normal, we did get the cold we normally get, which allowed us time to plow and get the track set up and start on our normal schedule of the second weekend in January,” he said.
There were more than 20 cars out on Sunday in the rubber tire class and the studded tire class. And while the season is kicking off on time thanks to some very cold weather, the -15C temperatures can cause some problems for drivers.
“The cold weather does give us a little bit of a problem with ice dust, so it hinders a little bit of the visibility out there,” Adomko said.
Kelly said being on the track in those conditions can be really challenging, and even though every car is fitted with a bright light on the back, sometimes it’s difficult to even see five feet ahead.
But it’s all part of the excitement, which is why Kelly and Sacek got involved in the sport to begin with.
“It’s a lot of fun and you never know what to expect,” Kelly said. “Every race is different and a lot of emotions start going. Either you’re happy because you’re winning or your car doesn’t start. It’s an adventure.”
“It’s mostly the adrenaline and it’s a lot of fun competing against other cars,” Sacek added. “We go to the dirt track in the summer time. It’s a totally different setting, but it helps with normal driving skills out on the road.”
And the skills picked up out on the track can really come in handy, Kelly added, who has only been driving for the last three years.
“In the winter in Thunder Bay, the roads start ending up like our track, so I can control my car pretty well when I start slipping,” she said.
With drivers hitting the track right on time, Adomko expects a full season this year, unless Mother Nature has other plans.
“You never know what Mother Nature will do to you, but the long term forecast that we’ve been into it seems we should be able to get our full 10 race dates in this year,” he said.
And for anyone interested in trying out a truly winter sport, Kelly and Sacek said there is always room in the passenger seat, and you never know, you may just ended up loving it.
“We can always get people to come in and be a passenger and see what it’s like and if they fall in love with it and love that adrenaline, then they should definitely try it out,” Sacek said.
