Ice Racing

[twall]

In our town, we have a big olympic-sized ice arena. Tonight, they are having ice racing on it. :biggrin: Dirt bikes and ATV's with spiked tires racing on ice. Should be fun! (better be for $25 a ticket)

 

[MotorDuck1]

Firstly thats awesome you guys have that ice arena! It seems like alot of fun! What type of ride are you going to use?

 

[twall]

Firstly thats awesome you guys have that ice arena! It seems like alot of fun! What type of ride are you going to use?

I'm not going to be in it :laughing: I'm going to watch it.

Yeah, there was big controversey about the arena. When it was originally planned, it was supposed to have one big dual use rink, and dual-tiered seating for thousands. Big enough for concerts. But, the local chapter of "I want my brat to be able to practice their bad hockey in the new rink, too" fought and lobbied city hall, and they won. So now we can only seat about a quarter the people, but there are two rinks in one building, separated by a wall (where the concession area is). It's neat, but could've been so much cooler.

We did have the Junior Hockey Championship hosted here. (the sub-playoff round) We had hockey players from round the globe here. USA won against Russia in the final round. Some NHL players were allowed by their teams to participate, but the Sabres player that was eligible wasn't allowed to go by the owner and coach.

 

[KennyV]

Sounds like it will be a hoot..
The 25 bones is a bit stiff, but in a limited seating venu it's going to be hard to find anyone to promote any event at a more reasonable ticket... :smile:KennyV

 

[twall]

That was so FREAKIN FUN!!!

I still have a buzz from the race gas exhaust.....:confused2:

Here's some pics we took of what was there....

The 3 and 4 wheelers were the racing variety, and there were regular dirtbikes. My favorite were the ice - specific racebikes. They were little more than old Schwinns with spiked balloon tires. They have no brakes, and no starters of any kind. They must be push - started. This event was actually the end of the world championship. Well worth the dough.

 

[mystreba]

Looks like a lot of fun. Those three-wheelers were a blast back in the day. Can't get them anymore.

 

[KennyV]

Looks like it could have been fun.

Just curious... I couldn't help but notice, the seating was mostly empty... Was that what you would have expected?
Would you attribute that to competing entertainment?
Ticket pricing?
Not promoted correctly?
Or something else... :smile:KennyV
I hate to see empty seating...

 

[twall]

Looks like it could have been fun.

Just curious... I couldn't help but notice, the seating was mostly empty... Was that what you would have expected?
Would you attribute that to competing entertainment?
Ticket pricing?
Not promoted correctly?
Or something else... :smile:KennyV
I hate to see empty seating...

I don't know....they advertised it for a month.

I think it was a combination of stiff pricing (although this WAS a semi - professional event), mixed with not really making the most of the 'World Champion is being crowned here' thing. There are a lot of race fans around here, too. I expected to see more people, really. But, this WAS a two day event. Then again, the last day should've been the packed one.

They also had great sponsors - Monster Energy and Supertrapp mufflers to name the two biggies. It was put on in part by Lake Erie Speedway - the only local paved oval track we have anywhere near us (the next closest is Watkins Glen), and they gave everyone there 6 free tickets for opening night! Then again, that track really struggles, too. As cool as it is, they can only pack the place when the tickets are free......:frown: Local racing is like Minor League Baseball - it doesn't have near the following it should, even though the tickets cost a quarter what a pro event does - without sacrificing the fun factor. People just don't wanna go to these events anymore for some reason.

Good question, I really don't have an answer, sorry to say. My woman bought the tickets, and she expected them to be sold out (as did I - we bought them the day before the event). They obviously weren't by a long shot........:frown: