STANDARD TRANSMISSIONS
Me on ice!
By Rik Davie/The Scugog Standard

There’s that old saying ... “the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”
_Well, last weekend I had the most fun you can have with a whole bunch of clothes on!
_For a while now, our part-time Mosport photographer Paul has been telling me about one of the best kept secrets in the Canadian racing scene happening on a little fairground in Minden, Ontario.
_In this quiet little tourist town a little over an hour from North Durham, a whole bunch of guys and girls get together under the flag of the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) and go racing on ice! Yep, you heard me, racing cars on ice.
_Not on a lake but on a small road course built on the fairgrounds that includes a great front straight and some corners that could, for the novice driver (or passenger) require Depends as the base for a warm set of clothes, a helmet and some good driving gloves.
_There are three classes of cars ranging from simple winter tires roughed up a bit for added traction, to small studs to longer studs, faster cars and crazier drivers in the top class.
_If you want more details watch our next WHEELS section for a full feature piece on this grassroots style of racing that I can only describe as “Canadian Dirt Racing.”
_We arrived to find a pit area where the first thing the crews have to do is shovel out the cars. It is a real family affair with second and sometimes third generation drivers and volunteers crewing to ready the cars, trading stories and generally having a heck of a time. Paul ... who ice raced seriously for many years back in the days when you pulled the muffler off the family car and raced it on the weekends ... introduced me around. As soon as the racers realized that the ‘press’ was actually doing a story on them, they welcomed me with open arms, a flood of history and information on the sport and ... the thing I craved the most ... a ride-along if I was nervy enough.
_Bryan Rashleigh is a 30-plus year veteran of the sport and fields a four-car team with limited dealership sponsorship. When I climbed into his ice racer, pulled down my belts and slipped on my ‘brain bucket,’ he began answering ‘dumb reporter’ questions with the glee of a person who truly loves what he does.
_Once on the track, it becomes readily apparent that this is real, beat and bag, stock car racing! Speeds on the straight waver in around 80 to 90 klicks ... on ice ... and cornering shows an incredible amount of car control, with drivers pushing it to the limit ... and beyond!!! Bryan dove into a corner in the final laps looking for that small amount of grip that would catapult us onto the straight and past a car that had plagued us throughout the race. It was a bit too much exuberance. We drove nearly straight into the hard snow banking of the track wall and an explosion of precipitation left us with about one foot of snow on the windscreen and hood. We limped to the drive-off, cleared the snow, and raced back on to the track because for a veteran like him DNFs (did not finish) are simply not an option.
_Later I had a chance to climb into the cockpit with Bryan’s son Jonathan in a pro-style car and another veteran, Steve, gave me a lesson in racing mid-pack I will not soon forget.
_Great people, true racers, a great day and the most fun you can have with long underwear and a four-point harness.
_Canadian racers? They don’t need no stinking pavement!!!
_Watch this month’s WHEELS for photos and the full story on BARC ice racers!