UPDATE:

From Our Gang 4-Wheelers facebook:
2018 Races Cancelled!!!
“We have made the decision to cancel the remaining races scheduled for this year. We are not going to get the ice we need to race this season. This was a tough decision and one we’d never had to make before! This is the first season Our Gang has not been out on the ice in our 42 year history. As much as we miss being out on the lake racing around, it was the right decision. Never fear, we’ll be back out as soon as the ice is ready in 2019.

If you need a little therapy session, we’re planning a get together in Georgetown. All our ice racers are welcome (more info below).

Ice-racing club holds winter events on Georgetown Lake

Photo by Jeffrey V. Smith

GEORGETOWN
For more than 40 years, members of the Our Gang 4 Wheelers—a self-described “little band of weirdoes”—have been holding races on ice, and having a ton of fun doing it. Except for its first three years, the club’s events have occurred on Georgetown Lake. Its members, many of whom have had relatives involved for decades, consist of volunteers who join to help put on the ice races, organize the events and attend meetings. Membership is not required to take part in events during their six weekend season. Just follow the rules, pay the $20 fee and it’s off to the races. Even better, spectators can show up anytime to observe the action for free on the ice.

This season is scheduled to begin with a “Fun Day for Practice,” Jan. 12, and continues with racing on Saturdays and Sundays, Jan. 13-14, Feb. 3-4, Feb. 24-25 and March 3-4. A second “Fun Day for Practice” is March 2. Warm weather changes everything, so check the group’s website to confirm activities.

The Our Gang races have three divisions: competition, professional street and street. There are separate races for men and women. A wide range of cars, from normal all-wheel-drive street vehicles to extremely modified Jeeps with studs and “cheaters,” can participate.

“On Sundays, we have the most popular class for beginners and that’s just regular street cars racing heads up with regular tires,” Our Gang President Lisa Bashline Lannerd explained. “From there, you can step up through the ranks. We have the Street Class—street cars with street tires—but then we have the Pro Street Class. It’s street cars, but they are starting to advance their competitiveness and buying special ice driving tires or studded tires. Then, you can keep going all the way up to my class, which is purpose-built race cars with the tires and a lot of experience behind the wheel.” She says, to begin, if you have a street car with regular tires, all-wheel-drive, a driver’s license and pay the fee, you can participate.

For those not into racing or driving on the ice at high speeds, it’s free to watch others do it, and it’s surprisingly entertaining. “We are just off the highway, and you can come see a really unique sport,” Lannerd said, “but, you also still get to be outside in Colorado in the winter time. It’s just something you can cross off your bucket list. You get to walk on a frozen lake and watch some crazy people racing cars.”

There is also the competitive aspect. “You can watch that lap and that finish between those two drivers and the advancing of the brackets,” Lannerd explained. “I think that’s an exciting element for people to watch as well. It’s not just numbers on a board or anything like that. It has that drag racing or NASCAR feeling and has that ‘heads up’ competitiveness to it.” Visit ourgangiceracing.com for more information and complete details for racers and spectators.

Originally published in the January 2018 issue of the MMAC Monthly