Ice and snow racing events just make me smile, but probably not for the reason you think. As awesome as these events are, and as cool as the race cars and trucks can be, it’s the people that are racing in the snow and ice all winter that really set these events apart. If you asked the average sand drags or traditional drag racing competitor if they would change a few things on their ride and then go race it on the ice or in the snow, most are going to say NO. But when you live in the ice and snow and can’t race your car or truck for several months because of it, your attitude changes a bit.
These folks love to go racing on the ice and snow and think nothing of it. This is just what you do in the winter.
I met some folks from Wisconsin and Minnesota several years ago while announcing at Optima’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car series, and one of them had an S2000 that was fast on both the autocross and the road course. While interviewing the driver for the tv show I asked about some road rash that was on the front fender lips. When he told me that was from the screws in his front tires for ice racing it took me a minute to comprehend what he was saying.
I asked if the car used to be an ice racer, and he said it still was, and proceeded to tell me about a whole bunch of the racers and their cars that not only do road course and autocross duty during the sunny months, but also are thrown around on the frozen lake for ice racing season. It was awesome, and let me know that these guys were a bit more hard core than some of the others out there racing.
So let’s see what 2000 horsepower trucks look like, hauling ass up a ski slope. This should be fun.
Video Description:
We made the trip up to Florence, Wisconsin for the Keyes Peak Uphill Truck Drags – one of the wildest winter races we’ve ever seen. Trucks line up at the bottom of a snowy hill and race uphill through deep snow, with builds ranging from mostly stock rigs all the way up to 2,000+ horsepower monsters that normally race dirt the rest of the year. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Temperatures barely touched 15°F with heavy winds, making it the coldest shoot we’ve done.. ever?
