Lac La Biche racers have taken turns at the top spot in two categories of this year’s ice racing season.
Team Staples — which includes Lac La Biche Winter Festival of Speed organizer Ken Staples and Peter Seifert, a local mechanic and now-veteran on the ice racing track — recently finished at the top of the Northern Alberta Sports Car Club’s (NASCC) ice racing series.
Seifert, in his No. 3 red and white Neon, took top spot in the Limited Stud tire category, with Team Staples finishing second in the nine-racer series.
Meanwhile, Staples took top honours in the Neon Class in a tight, four-car class. Seifert came in second in the same class.
Staples and his purple No. 19 Neon finished just two points ahead of Seifert in the Neon category for the season. Staples’ 112 points was 40 points ahead of the fourth-place finisher.
"It was a Lac La Biche sweep,” he said.
The race season finishes are not the same as the results from the Winter Festival of Speed weekend. The festival serves as the Western Canadian Championships, a one-time event that is separate from the six races that go into the season’s results.
At this year’s championships, Seifert came out on top in the Neon class, beating Team Staples by four points. But Seifert wasn’t just battling other racers on the weekend; he was also contending with sudden repairs to his race car.
In two solid impacts over the course of the weekend’s race schedule, Seifert’s racer suffered severe damage to the front quarter-panel and wheel. The damage had his car hoisted in the pit lane for fast repairs between heats.
While unavailable before press deadline, on a social media post shortly following the races, Seifert thanked his crew and supporters.
"I got into a big crash on Saturday and Sunday, both on the left front of the car. I want to thank Andy Handy (Andy Bryks) and Jody Labelle who helped getting me back on the track and winning the championships,” he wrote.
On the second day, Seifert and his crew fixed a badly damaged front wheel and rolled onto the track just as the pace vehicle was getting the cars onto the track.
"He was a deserving winner,” said Staples.
The racing community is a tight-knit family, said Staples, and over the last few years, it has been getting tighter as fewer racers are in taking the time to compete.
He’d like to see more people enter what he calls "the cheapest way that you can go racing.”
NASCC officials are expected to plan a database of racers — and more importantly cars — to help people looking for racecars.
"We hear from lots of people who want to do it, so we could make it easier to find cars,” he said, adding that there are some retired racers who have several race-ready Chevette-class cars available.
"There are all kinds of cars out there that are race-prepared. We just need to get people to the cars.”
An ice-racing Chevette, complete with roll cage, racing harness and all the approved modifications, can cost less than $3,000.
In Lac La Biche, new racer Mike Ross would love to take up the sport. Ross was a first-time racer inside the Lac La Biche Post and Lac La Biche Liquor Stop’s Charity Race entry. "Amazing. Awesome,” were Ross’ big-grinned comments as he took off his helmet and posed for his third-place finish in the race that wrapped up the Winter Festival of Speed weekend. Khalil Abougouche from Lac La Biche’s IGA won the Charity race.
The charity races are a good way to get people into the sport, Staples said, adding that Seifert was a one-time fresh charity race entry who came back for three consecutive years as the race winner.
Staples hopes more people follow the path that Seifert did.
"It’s a wonderful sport.”
