It's flat track mixed with hockey.
May 16, 2024 in 8:03 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
2 minute read
It never ceases to amaze me how many niche race series are held all over the world at any given time. Every car always seems to have someone racing it. From farm tillers to tuk-tuks to pit bikes, people can go fast if they have a motor.
But the term indoor ATV ice racing would never have occurred to me. Let alone doing it at a hockey rink. Still, it exists, and from the looks of it, indoor ATV ice racing looks completely insane.
It's right up my alley.
One day while mindlessly scrolling, I came across this series from racer Blaine Stegenga's Instagram. A clip of Stegenga doing a wheelie, slamming his Honda 450 ATV into the ice, and immediately going into a drift caught my eye. But this is an ice race, his tires are equipped with spikes, and the whole line looks like something out of a flat track or sprint car.
The latter is appropriate as Stegenga also competes in those races.
Either the course itself is small, or Stegenga makes the course look small, so when a racer exits a corner and enters a straight, he pops his ATV into a wheelie, quickly snaps it back into position, enters the corner, and uses the spiked rear must be allowed to drift. Tires all the way.
And he has enough grip on the outside spiked wheel that he can even pop off the inside wheel during turns.
This event is hosted by International Championship Ice Racing, which hosts both motorcycle and ATV races. And this year, Stegenga has won all five races. The race itself is fast, intense and full of heart-stopping moments.
It's so fast that you begin to wonder if the racer is thinking at all, or if he's just reacting to the blurry world around him.
Either way, you'll have to watch one of these races in person next year. Because they look completely insane. And that's totally my type of insanity.
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