This past weekend we made our annual trek across the Mackinac Bridge to the U.P., heading for Sault Ste. Marie for the Soo I-500 snowmobile race. The race is a big deal at the Soo as it brought in 10,000 spectators last year, both for the oval racing and sno-cross, which they started a few years ago.
It's not that we're race fans, we never watch racing on TV, but when you have a family member that races, well, then you just go. I've found that any sport becomes interesting when you know someone who's participating.
You make friends there too, and you might only see them a few times a year, but you just take up where you left off last time. All the months in between don't matter.
When we headed out, the weather was gray and gloomy, but in Michigan in the winter, cloud cover often means warmer temps and it was true this time. In fact the forecast for the Soo on race day was cloudy with a high of 31, warmer than where we live 2 hrs. south. They certainly don't want it any warmer than that, or the track, which is made of ice, would melt too much.
They start building the mile-long track in December, and this year they put down over a million gallons of water before they were done. One of the first races we went to, they weren't able to get the ice thick enough to last the day, and the drivers were racing on mud by the end. This year, helped by frigid temps, the track was a foot thick, and was ready two weeks ahead of schedule.
We met up with our daughter, her racer and his family for a late lunch at the casino. We had a fantastic, friendly waiter who wasn't afraid to tell us what not to order from the menu. He got a good tip.
In the evening was Meet-the-Drivers at the local WalMart. Our racer has been getting filmed for over a year now for a documentary by an independent film company, so they were there along with a local radio guy, and a young man from the school paper interviewed them as well.
Lots of fans come in to get their race posters signed and some of the racers have postcards made up that they give away.
The family members do a little shopping, take photos, and just basically hang around supporting their racers. Dinner comes afterwords when we reconvene at the casino to "carb up" on pizza for the long day tomorrow! The casino at the Soo is a big sponsor of the race, so alot of the racers stay there, and all the meetings and the post-race banquet are held there.
The race starts at 10 in the morning, but we leave at 8 so that we can get a good parking spot. The track is right next to I-75, just this side of the border with Canada. The International Bridge makes a backdrop for the scoreboard all day.
The sleds are out on the track by 9 and by 9:15 most of the racers are out there milling around, talking to each other, and making final checks.
Our racer makes his appearance at 9:30 with his crew chief dad and his brother-in-law, one of the pit crew. Looks a little like that scene from Tombstone, when the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday walk down the street to the OK corral.
Our racer is surrounded by his pit crew, the sled owner, his teammate and his wife, our daughter. The drivers, many of who are old friends, mingle and shake hands for good luck.
Fans and racers pause for the playing of "Oh Canada" and then the National Anthem.
Dad makes a final check on the head sets of both drivers, then he and the pit crew head back to the race trailer to watch. They have a box on the top where they can see the whole track. Dad, with the head set, watches from a snow bank right next to the track.
He gets a final kiss for luck, the owner starts the sled, then the sleds start around the track behind the pace sled in anticipation of the green flag.
And then they're off!
The racers arrive early in the week for practice runs and to qualify for their starting spot on the track. Winning the "pole" or first starting position is good for a check and a line in the record books, but is not necessarily a good indicator of winning the actual race. What counts in this race is not only speed, but also endurance. If you and your sled can't make it the 500 miles, then the fastest times won't help you.
Our racer has qualified to start in the 10th spot out of 35, but quickly moves up and before 30 laps have gone by, he has made his way to the front of the pack. Running in front is also worth money in this race, every lap that a racer holds the first position is worth $5.
He and his teammate manage to hold one of the top spots for the whole race.
Positions change back and forth numerous times due to pit stops, or sleds dropping out for one reason or another. What we didn't know on the sidelines was that their brakes gave out at about lap 350, so that they now had to slow down sooner for the corners. They opted not to take the time to fix them as that would have lost them laps, and there were 3 or 4 sleds all running in the same lap or only down 1 or 2 laps.
They were down 2 laps from the leader, who then rolled his sled, but was able to get right back on and continue racing after a quick pit stop to attach a new windshield, costing him 1 lap. They were now in 2nd, in the same lap as the new leader. This new leader also now had problems, putting us back in the lead up until the last few laps when a 4th sled, only a lap down, was able to pull into the lead and keep it for the win.
The team was a little disappointed, but ecstatic all at the same time. First place would have been nice, but a second place finish, and only 4 seconds off the lead time was truly an accomplishment to be proud of.
I think they will be back next year, raring to go!
