ALL-TERRAIN ALL-SEASON UTV RACING

Red Bull Scramble Series

- BRYON DORR

It's the day after my first motorsports race ever. I still have a massive smile plastered across my face. That's not the whole story, though, as I have frostbite on both cheeks, all my fingertips feel like needles are being put in them continuously, and my forearms and shoulders feel absolutely shredded.

I'm heading home after a quick visit to Okoboji, lowa. Yes, the town is as in the middle of nowhere as the name might imply. The landscape is very flat, snowy, and windy. On race day it was negative nine degrees with the wind chill. I was there for the 43rd annual University of Okoboji Winter Games, which includes the Red Bull Ice Scramble UTV race.

Race Morning 

On race morning I awoke well before the sun would have even thought about appearing, but it was such an overcast and snowy day that its rays didn't really hit the ground until around noon anyway. My adrenaline was pumping from the moment my eyes snapped open. I had little idea of what I was about to get into, but at the same time super excited to get the opportunity to apply my years of on- and off- road performance driving training to an actual wheel-to-wheel race.

Qualifying 

First up was what the event called "practice," but was actually qualifying. I'd get four laps to set my best lap time to seed me into the heat race brackets. I strapped into a Polaris RZR brought in for me by experienced racers Pleasant Cook and David Fisher. As I fired up the machine I tried to take it all in, as I'd never driven on studded tires, on a frozen lake, or tried to qualify for a race. I also hadn't seen the course layout or driven this UTV before.