Beater car race looks like 'Mad Max' movie shot on ice

Part of an occasional series of stories about the unusual, entertaining and downright risky things Minnesotans do outdoors.

You don't expect a rear-wheel-drive station wagon once used to shuttle children in the 1980s to handle well on ice.

But with Steve Donat at the wheel, a 30-year-old Buick Electra can move like a sprint car.

"How does that make you feel, Wyatt?" Donat shouts as he passes a rival beater car, going 60 mph in a big drifting turn.

Donat is an easygoing 52-year-old heavy equipment mechanic from Bemidji. He's also one of about 30 guys spending a recent Sunday afternoon racing old, mostly ruined cars around a 3/8-mile track plowed into Garfield Lake off the shore from Laporte.

The town of Laporte has 111 residents, two bars and three churches.

The Garfield Lake Ice Racers gather every Sunday afternoon through the winter and speed around their ice track until the sun goes down.

Donat won most of his races last year. He was awarded the winner's jacket — which means, for now, he's the most respected guy on Garfield Lake.

It also means he races in a group of really good drivers. In his first race, he's trapped in a tight group of jockeying racers, avoiding contact by inches until a driver called Nub, in an old Caprice, gets in the way and Donat rams him.

"That was just a reminder," he says, "to get out of the way."

From the back seat, the race looks like a "Mad Max" film shot on ice. Spray-painted beaters collide with welded-up bumpers. Everything thunders with tuned-up horsepower.

Another wagon, painted black, spins out and smashes into a snow bank. Donat grips the dashboard with his left hand and operates the pedals with both feet. He finishes in the middle of the pack and returns, only slightly depressed to the pits.

The first time Donat raced on ice was almost 20 years ago. He rode with a friend in an ice race near Akeley. It changed his way of looking at Minnesota winters.

"I went home and immediately dragged a Buick LeSabre out of the woods," he said. "That car blew up halfway through my first race, but I got another car."

Since then, Donat's been wearing out an old car every couple years. He picked up his most recent racer, the Electra, for a few hundred dollars and improved with a big Chevy Tahoe engine for a few hundred more.

The sport has changed quite a bit in the last two decades. Years ago, ice racing was a fairly dangerous old-boys club. There were three of four small racing associations on lakes across northern Minnesota, and most events involved a lot of beer.

In those early days, cars maxed out at 30 mph. Now every junkyard racer has studded tires in the front and gummy tires in back. They're going 60 mph now and drivers need their edge.

"We don't drink anymore," Donat said. "We all got older."

Drivers even pitch in and give about $6,000 to charity every year. It's a bit more grown-up now, which is part of the reason the Garfield races are still running while other clubs dwindle. No one takes things too seriously.

"It doesn't matter what motor, what carburetor, what shocks you're running," he said. "When that green flag comes down, the roar of the pipes. There's nothing I like better."

Some drivers even let local kids ride along.

A 9-year-old named Tanner is a regular in Donat's back seat. He wears a snowmobile crash helmet while Donat revs up the wagon at the start of his second race.

Donat floors it right off the bat. At full speed, the station wagon shakes so hard, dog hair from the previous owner shakes loose from the brown upholstery and floats into the air. He blasts past a half-dozen drivers and holds the lead through the finish line.

When the checkered flag falls, he heads toward the pit area going just a bit too fast. The wagon spins out, hits a snow bank and slides off into an un-plowed section of lake.

Tanner laughs.

"A win is a win," Donat says.

More in this series

• Why would you snowkite?

• Why would you camp in the winter?

• Why would you ice fish?

• Why would you bike commute in the winter?

• Why would you jump off a ski hill at 50?

• Why would you ice climb?

• Why would you polar plunge?

• Why would you snowskate?