A huge crowd, beautiful weather and very, very (did we say very?) fast, record-breaking snowmobiles combined last weekend to make this year’s ISR World Series of Ice Drags and the related NSSR Speed Runs in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a runaway success.
You want fast? How about zero to 191.574 mph in 1000 feet! That new record for a snowmobile-engine-based 1000-foot speed run was set by a 15-year-old who is still too young to get his driver’s license. The driver of the Frozen Assets II mod does have quite a pedigree, however: Flyin’ Ryan Ensor of Sheridan, Illinois, is the teenage son of longtime speed demon “Fast Eddie” Ed Ensor, a drag racing and speed run assassin for decades in the snowmobile world.
The previous record had held for 29 years – set at 190.308 mph by Marv Jorgenson in 1989 – and that was in a quarter mile (1,320 feet).
That was the highlight at the NSSR Speed Run track. About 400 feet away, the annual ISR World Series of Ice Drags had its own amazing runs, including a new 660-foot World Series record set by Danny Steinmetz of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, racing for North Dakota-based Ratzlaff Motorsports. He hauled the Ratzlaff-owned mod labeled as “The Grinch” from the starting line to the finish line in 4.257 seconds, tripping the finish line lights at 160.27 mph. Take that, Titletown!
Each of those sleds were HRC-2 chassis machines built at Arlington, Wisconsin-based Hypersports, with twin cylinder engines based on Arctic Cat/Suzuki designs, though you’re not going to find these sort of fire-breathing monsters on the showroom at Billy Bob’s Cat Sales & Service – they are purpose-built laydown mods unlike anything on earth.
Steinmetz 160 mph pull came in the Outlaw class in a methanol-burning hotrod, according to event announcer and Super Sled Online kingpin Chris Riley, who said the atmosphere at the event was electric.
“It’s the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen in my 28 years of being involved with this and other events,” Riley told us, “and it was truly the finest ice racing facility I’ve ever seen.” The attached overhead photo, graciously provided by Christopher Hord of Race One, shows just part of the scene – notice the fences line with fans.
Steinmetz also won several other classes, including Pro Mod 1000, Open Mod 1000 and Heavy Mod 1000. Also notable, Dan Fischer from Coldwater, Michigan, claimed the top spot in the highly competitive Pro Stock 1000 class for the fifth straight year – a truly amazing feet. His dominance has come behind the handlebar of a Ski-Doo Mach Z in the old CK3 chassis, according to Riley. Ahhhh, the glorious triple-triples!
The speeds were obviously great, and the track was in fantastic shape all weekend, Riley said. But perhaps most impressive was large crowd that came out on beautiful winter days to watch the world’s best go toe-to-toe and ski-to-ski on the iced surface.
For full results of the drags, search for the World Series of Ice Drags page on Facebook — host circuit NDRS Racing has posted the results as pictures. Results from the speed run are available at RaceNSSR.com. And, to learn more about the people and machines in this aspect of the sport, join Riley’s Super Sled Online community on Facebook and listen to his podcasts on Mixlr.
