For most of us residing in the northern half of the United States, when winter arrives, the race cars go in the garage and we enter full-on hibernation mode, partaking in football, binge Netflix sessions, and overindulgence in holiday meals and eggnog. Not so however, for the people of the small town of Merrill, Wisconsin (population 10,000), who don their long underwear and overalls every January and February, dust the snow off the icy surface of Lake Alexander, and light off some race cars. What better way to cope with the dreariness of winter and the withdrawals from racing but by racing, right?

As we’ve reported here on Dragzine before, the folks of the Merrill Ice Draggers have been racing on Lake Alexander since 1955, and many of the competitors are drag racers during the summer months, taking their bracket racing machines and all sorts of wild contraptions and bolting on a set of studded tires intended for the ice. And make no mistake about it, these racers are some real troopers. You see, northern Wisconsin isn’t just kinda’ cold….it’s one of the coldest regions in the entire country, and this time of year, the temperature can struggle to exceed the single digits. It’s these kinds of temperatures that allow for the lake to form a layer of ice several inches thick, which is more than enough to hold the races on, including parking of race haulers, the temporary timing tower, and other equipment. The climate also provides a virtual guarantee that their “race track” will be there each and every winter, without fault.

The ice drags, as you can probably imagine, is quite different from racing on a purposed asphalt drag strip, although the premise is much the same. These differences are illustrated in this clip captured and shared by racer Ryan Podeweltz from onboard his Modified class third-gem Camaro. There are no burnouts, naturally, but in an ode to old school drag racing, there are “dry hops” to get a feel for how the tires are going to hook on the ice. As soon as the tree drops, the instant tire spin takes the tach needle to the right in short order and trips the shift light, requiring some feathering of the throttle to get the car hooked up and moving. And a smooth surface? Forget about it. This is making the most of the elements and the elements can do whatever they want. Think of it like golf: you play it as it lies.