I'm constantly surprised by the amount of niche race series going on at any given time throughout the world. It does seem that, for every machine, there's always someone racing it. From farm tillers to tuktuks to pit bikes, if it has a motor, folks are going fast head-to-head
But indoor ATV ice racing is a set of words I never could've dreamt up myself. Let alone doing it on a hockey rink. And yet, it exists and from the looks of it, indoor ATV ice racing looks properly insane.
Right up my alley.
I came across the series from racer Blaine Stegenga's Instagram one day while I was mindlessly scrolling. The clip immediately caught my eye as Stegenga pops a wheelie, slams his Honda 450 ATV back into the ice, and immediately goes into a drift. But this being ice racing, his tires are equipped with spikes, and the whole line looks like something out of flat track or sprint cars.
The latter of which is apt, as Stegenga also races those.
The track itself is small, or Stegenga makes it look small, as the racer exits the corner and gets onto the straight, he pops the ATV into a wheelie, then immediately has to get it back down and into a corner, drifting the spiked rear tires the whole way through.
And he has enough grip on those outside spiked wheels that he's even able to pop the inside wheel up through the turn.
As for the event, it's put on by International Championship Ice Racing, which holds both motorcycle and ATV races. And this year, Stegenga won the whole thing out a total of five rounds. The racing itself is fast, furious, and full of heart-stopping moments.
It's so fast, you begin to wonder if any of the racers are even thinking or if they're just reacting to the world's blurring around them.
Whatever the case may be, I have to see one of these races in person next year, as they look absolutely bonkers. And that's absolutely my sort of bonkers.
