Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128145
Inside ICE Speedway Kings of the rink: ICE speedway riders do baWe a1 the Bank America Center In Boise, Idaho. ICE speedway racing Is tight, and the front-row spectators sometimes find themselves too close for comfort. Hedrick called to tell him that there was to be an indoor ice race at the Kent State University Hockey Field House. Densford thought it sounded pretty crazy, but he went along anyway. They stopped at a local hardware store and bought some sheetmetal screws, and when the race was over, they had taken first and second place. It really clicked for Densford, and that winter he put together his first indoor ice race series, a fourrace tour with stops in Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona. Densford both promoted and raced that first year because they couldn't get enough racers that wanted to try ice speedway. In 1977, International Championship Events was formed. The series has expanded considerably since that first race. The year 1983 saw the first true ice National Championship for STORY AND PHOTOS BY DOUG KARCHER I t's 8 a.m Monday in Boise, Idaho, and the man they call "The Iceman" and his crew have begun to prepare the ice for the coming weekend's onslaught by the methanolpowered, steel-studded speedway bikes and the quads of International Championship Events' World Speedway On Ice Championship series. At the same time, 2600 miles to the southeast, reigning series champion Nick FaFard and a dozen or so other racers are driving north on 1-75, having left Lakeland, Florida, three hours earlier. After having raced the previous Friday and Saturday nights, they are now on their way to Idaho for round six of the 10-round series. Squeezed into a Ryder truck and a rented Chevy van, they will cross 10 states and, driving straight through, will arrive in Boise early Wednesday, some 2600 miles and 50 hours later. When the races are over on Saturday night, they will pack it all up and head back to Florida, where they are scheduled to race the following weekend in Tampa. Such is the life of an ICE speedway racer. Indoor speedway ice racjng got its start in 1977. ICE founder Gary 50 MARCH 13,2002' cue • Unlike racing on dirt, riders on ice pick up speed before hitting the crashwall. But just like on dirt, it can hurt. Densford got into speedway racing in the early '70s at the legendary Costa Mesa Speedway in Southern California. After a year of racing, he realized that he was more interested in promoting, so he began to hold his own speedway bikes, and in 1990 the first World Championships were held in Tucson, Arizona. road, promoting or helping to promote dirt speedway events at various venues around the country. The current ICE champion, Nick FaFard of Canada, who was second in the points as the series headed into races on a track at nearby Orange County International Raceway. That _ venture only lasted one season, (being maybe a bit too close to Costa Mesa). The following year, he hit the In the summer of 1976, while racing in Indiana, Densford's friend Bob Boise, is typical of the peculiar breed that has been drawn to ice racing. n __ s 1