The fastest snowmobiles in the U.S. will reach record speeds in Oconto Falls this week, as the World Series of Ice Drags returns for a third year in a row.
This time, the sleds will look even faster, according to local racer Tim Magnin, because they’ll be screaming past at over 100 mph in the dark.
For the first time in Oconto Falls, the International Snowmobile Racing’s event will include races under the lights. Magnin said the snowmobile seems to run faster in the dark, for both the driver and the spectators.
“It’s totally different at night,” he said.
“When you go down the track, the ice looks different,” Magnin said. “Everything looks a little different at night. Your path of vision narrows because it’s darker, and you don’t see things around you.”
Spectators may even see flames coming out of the pipes, he said.
The speed of the sleds is impressive, as is their quick take-off — from 0 to 60 mph in the first second off the starting line. Racers compete on a straight, 1/8-mile track, with speeds reaching 130 mph for the largest sleds. Race times are calculated to the hundredth of a second, with the fastest runs at 5 seconds or under.
The drags will take place Friday and Saturday on the Oconto River, with four lanes of shaved ice for racing and one lane for testing. The Oconto Falls Sno-Jokers snowmobile club will host the event at the Westside Beach, with entrance to the ice at Flatley Avenue.
Ice conditions will be be excellent, predicted race organizer Andy Mercier.
“They’re beautiful right now,” he said.
The cold winter has created at least two feet of ice, and the extended forecast calls for cloudy skies, with temperatures in the teens and 20s.
A full line-up of vintage, stock, modified and specialty classes will begin Friday afternoon. Test runs will take place in the morning and early afternoon, and races are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. and end at 7:30 p.m. Races continue at noon Saturday, with finals under the lights Saturday night.
Live music begins at 8 p.m. in a heated tent both nights, with fireworks on Saturday. Food and beverages will be available.
Unlike past years, no races are scheduled on Sunday. Mercier said the schedule was changed at the request of the racers, who wanted to get an earlier start for home because many travel a long distance. Past events have attracted racers from as far away as Ontario, Canada.
Magnin said the race is the top contest in all of snowmobiling, comparable to the Daytona 500 for NASCAR and the Super Bowl for football.
“When you win any of the classes at this event, it’s the World Series event,” he said. “It’s pretty neat to have that in our own home town.”
Magnin has been racing since he was 16 and rode a 1973 Polaris at his first competition in the 1980s. He is a world record holder in the Open Mod 800 and Heavy Mod 800.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, 750-plus competitors raced in the World Series, but numbers dropped after that. Mercier predicted a field of under 200 racers for this week’s event.
Mercier said the event will be a boon to local businesses.
“I hope everybody in this town comes and supports it. If they support it, we can keep doing it every year,” he said.
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