THUNDER BAY — Racers have begun prepping for the 2025 Ice Racing season.
The season will kick off with regular races on Jan. 12 and continue until March 9, with Don Kettering Memorial races on Feb. 15 and 16.
Roughly 300 spectators are expected on-site daily for the races.
The Thunder Bay Autosport Club held its tech inspections this weekend to ensure all cars have up-to-date safety equipment.
Gary Adomko, the Thunder Bay Autosport Club president, is a competitor in the studded series with car number 57. He said the inspection checked various parts of the mechanical side of the vehicles, including ensuring the exhaust was secured properly, windshield wipers worked and all lights were functional.
“It’s easier to do all of that in a facility like this at Central Auto Parts,” said Adomko.
“And when we go to start the first race, we know that all the cars have been looked at, they’re up to date and that there will be no safety issues is really what we’re concerned about.”
Central Auto Parts inspected approximately 12 cars on Saturday, with another eight scheduled for later appointments at other garages.
Adomko said their current forecast looks like there will be a total of 10 ice cars and 10 studded cars.
“That’ll be enough cars for each class and a lot of the drivers and the membership are just itching to get back out there and having some fun with their cars,” said Adomko.
The club leased Mission Bay out in agreement with the Port Authority for the upcoming season.
“We have been there for approximately 16 years, I believe, and it’s an area that’s large enough for us to plow on a track of roughly 2 kilometres, but generally, we’ve been cutting it back to about 1.7 to 1.8 kilometres,” said Adomko.
He said the club will initially set up on the bay using pylons until it snows enough to build the course.
“Two years ago, we were able to operate. We had the ice thickness and snow we normally have in place to design the track. The last year being an El Nino year, this region of the country was abnormally warm and so we never got to the ice thickness that we normally require for our insurance, which is 16 inches,” said Adomko.
“For this year, we’ve already been out two- or three times doing ice measurements and we’re off by about a half an inch right now and we know that with this cold weather that we’ve been experiencing, it’ll gain that additional half an inch to an inch easily.”
Adomko said many of the returned people competing are veterans and know what to expect out at the ice racing site.
Corey Dumoulin has yet to win and will be racing the D3 studded car this year. He said he hopes they get a good full season of good weather and get started as soon as they can.
“I grew up around the track with my dad and his bosses,” said Dumoulin.
“They’ve been racing there pretty well for my entire life and every Sunday in the winter time be getting out there and either helping or watching and just playing around.”
Dumoulin had his car on the rack on Saturday and went through it to ensure everything was good for the season and within regulations.
He said it has been a trial and error of tinkering and trying little things, from different tire pressures and fuel mixtures to adjusting their carburetors.
“We’re still working on the car, just slowly increasing and getting faster. And just every weekend, it’s a new trial and error, so just see what we can work on and work out the kinks,” said Dumoulin.
He said they are just trying to make it and ‘every little bit counts.’
Next Wednesday, the club has a meeting for those planning to race to complete their memberships and sign up.
It will also have a run-through of the track layout and volunteers are required to set up a series of advertising signs the prior Saturday.
