It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
With Muskoka in winter’s full grip, it seems appropriate to share what former area residents did for fun this time of year. Like racing on the lakes.
The Muskoka Motor Sports Club held the first Dice on Ice in 1951.
Dice on Ice made the rounds of several North Muskoka lakes in the 1950s and ’60s. It spent a few years on Mary Lake, followed by Hunters Bay and Pen Lake at Hidden Valley.
According to David A. Charters in The Chequered Past: Sports Car Racing and Rallying in Canada 1951-1991, “By the 1960s, ice races were regular features for many clubs, and they usually attracted several dozen racers and thousands of spectators, drawn to the hilarious spectacle of wildly spinning cars vanishing into clouds of snow. The inevitable collisions encouraged racers to use older (and cheaper) cars, so ice racing was not usually a venue for ‘hot machinery.’ Rather, it featured the agile and sure-footed European sedans – VWs, Minis, Renaults, NSUs, DKWs, and Citroens. But the usual British sports cars raced as well and frequently won.”
Do you remember Dice on Ice? Tell us about it in the comments.
See more Wayback Wednesday photos here.
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Back in the day I bought an Austin A40 that was used in ice racing. I believe it also had a dash plaque that mentioned Dice on the Ice. Little did I know that I would soon be privileged to live in Muskoka and still do. Thanks for sharing the picture.
That dice on Ice was held in one form or another at my parents resort on Lake of Bays, at one time.
I was too young to remember exactly but probably in the late 50’s. I do remember bits of it and it was on Haystack bay, in front of what is now Bondi Resort. Only for one year I think.
Down at Orillia in the 60’s we used to drive down WEST STREET and out on the lake to visit all of the fish huts on the north end of LAKE SIMCOE in mid February. Once I was driving too quickly and caused a stern wake in the water below the ice . I could see the ice slowly bending downward to meet the wake . I quickly slowed down realizing the danger. Even though the ice was easily 2 feet thick that winter I never again sped across the ice to the fish huts . It still amazes me remembering foolish things I did when I was young .
60 years later I am happy to still be alive .
My ex-husband, Barry Webb, and I came to Huntsville in 1967 with the purchase of the VW dealership. One winter I was allowed to participate in one race on the ice in a VW bug. What fun. I went on to be a champion Snowmobile racer while the mother of my first two children. What a life we had following the winter circuit around Ontario. I also have a plaque that says I am “The Fastest Woman In Ontario” at 82.3 miles (Not KM!) per hour. Since I arrived here so long ago and started coming up in 1958 I an enjoying the many memories posted that I remember.