SUPERIOR — As shadows started descending across the snow drifts on Allouez Bay, 14 stock cars raced around a makeshift race track atop the ice.
When the (snow) dust settled, a 1984 Pontiac Grand Prix “G-body” pulled into the winner’s circle and out popped driver Fritz Myers of Longville, Minnesota.
Almost every car had a passenger, and Myers’ wingman was none other than Jonathan Cuevas, one of the four NASCAR drivers on hand for the inaugural “NASCAR on Ice” ice racing event.
In the end, it was drivers such as Myers who ended up looking like the pros as the NASCAR guys learned the ropes. Call it home-ice advantage.
“He did it a lot better than I could,” Cuevas said, laughing. “I got to drive earlier in the day, but these guys … they’re tough, and very competitive, too.”
Myers started on the inside of the second row of the 15-lap feature and quickly seized the lead. It looked like he might run away with it but cautions and the like led to a hard-fought finish.
Myers, 34, has raced up here a handful of times and while he’s not a dirt track guy in the summer he knows what he’s doing on ice in the winter. He won the “Souptown Showdown” special a couple years ago.
“This guy’s a friggin’ wheelman,” Cuevas said of Myers. “You should have seen him. He was in there driving with one hand like this (Cuevas rotated his hand rapidly to simulate Myers’ cornering prowess).”
In a race like this, when it starts to get just a little darker, with no track lights (of course), and 14 cars going at it, it pays to be in front.
“We got into lapped traffic prior to the restart, and it was tough,” Myers said. “The problem is you start to follow people into the corner a little deeper than you want to, and next thing you know, you’re pushing a corner. It’s kind of fun to come out here. It’s the real deal.”
Cuevas was joined by NASCAR drivers David Starr, Stephen Leicht and Josh Reaume.
Hosted by the Lake Superior Ice Racing Association, they were treated to some of the usual grassroots racing shenanigans.
There was an old Dodge pickup truck, painted red white and blue, with twin exhaust pipes and the engine moved to the back. For the record, that pickup almost always ran in the back, too.
Then there was a four-door sport utility vehicle, probably a Chevy Blazer, painted pink and black and sporting a rear spoiler, presumably to provide enough downforce to keep the vehicle on the track. It needed it. The cornering suspension on that vehicle appeared so out of whack it looked like it could fall over at any moment.
Yeah, this was an experience for these southern drivers.
“It’s obviously cold, but it’s been a lot of fun,” said Leicht, of Asheville, North Carolina. “I don’t even walk on ice, let alone race on it.”
Leicht raced multiple vehicles.
“The steering was a lot easier in the 9, a lot harder in the 715, a lot more to do with your hands, but once I figured the steering out, I really started to get the hang of it and felt like I was making some good speed,” Leicht said. “It’s a completely different driving technique, nothing like any type of dirt or asphalt racing I’ve done before. I’m definitely starting to pick up on it, and the more you start picking up on it, the more you want to do it. At the end of the day, you’re still driving a race car, whether it’s on ice, dirt or pavement.”
Dan Williamson / Duluth News Tribune
Starr, a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, competed upon the invitation of his sponsor, Barry Sinex of Duluth, and Sinex’s good buddy, Mark Androsky of Superior, a member of the Lake Superior Ice Racing Association board. Starr then brought along some of his friends.
“This is awesome,” said Starr, of Dallas. “Everyone is so passionate, and I love it. Whether you’re racing on ice, or drag racing, dirt racing, we’re all family, man, we’re all racers.”
Cuevas, 23, is an up-and-coming driver from Mexico who said he’s never done “nothing even close to this.”
Cuevas was visibly shivering afterward.
These NASCAR guys were freezing, but smiling. They didn’t realize sunny skies and temps in the low 20s made for the Twin Ports’ best day of the week.
Cuevas said there was no added pressure in being a pro racer at an event like this.
“There’s no shame at all (in losing),” Cuevas said. “These guys have the heart. They come out here every week, and it was really fun for us to come out into their territory and try to give them a shot, and it was fun.”
And while some of the same rules may still apply, pick a line, find a groove, etc., don’t get too carried away.
“Yeah, some of it applies,” Cuevas said, then laughed, “but there’s nothing that compares with this.”
Myers agreed. While he certainly gets bragging rights for the weekend, he is also realistic.
Is this a feather in the cap to beat these NASCAR guys?
“Take me down to Daytona, let me run one of them and we’ll see how I do against them,” Myers said, drawing a big laugh from everyone around him. “I don’t think I’d do so hot, but this was fun to do. (Having the NASCAR guys) kind of made the day a little more fun and entertaining. It was a good time.”
Dan Williamson / Duluth News Tribune
Dan Williamson / Duluth News Tribune
Dan Williamson / Duluth News Tribune
Dan Williamson / Duluth News Tribune
Dan Williamson / Duluth News Tribune
Dan Williamson / Duluth News Tribune
Dan Williamson / Duluth News Tribune