The ravaging pandemic has again caused a major setback as decades-long Manitoba tradition, Ice racing has been completely ruled out this year.
This is making it the first time since the late 1950s, that the Winnipeg Sports Car Club isn’t hosting an ice racing season.
Veteran driver Tim Gordienko, who hasn’t missed a season since he started racing in 1981 said, “It’s the most fun, the adrenaline rush”.
“You don’t feel the cold coming out of the car. You’re standing around there and it’s -25 degrees and my wife tells me to put a jacket on and I go, ‘oh yeah, it’s winter.'”
Reacting to the development, Gordienko said “A bit dejected, I always look forward to it when the weather starts getting cold,” however, quipping that “It’s something we have to accept and we’ll be ready for winter.”
For Mike Demchenko, the club’s ice racing director, cancelling the season was a tough decision.
The director said “It was an unfortunate decision but one we had to make,” adding that “We just have too many volunteers and organizers involved in putting on an event.”
The ice racing season usually consists of six tracks in various Manitoba towns.
The cancellation will be felt in Gimli, Man., which hosts the racers during its winter festival.
Mayor of Gimli, Lynn Greenberg said “There’s definitely an impact,” noting that “We used to get quite a few people out for the ice festival weekend and we’re not going get those kinds of crowds now.”
It was revealed that the Winnipeg Sports Car Club was planning on using this year’s season to launch some initiatives to attract new drivers to the sport.
Demchenko said “We were looking at building up some of our racers and our numbers this year. We will just have to look optimistically forward for next year to do that”.
