Ferd's Ice-Racing Stories Updated: February 29, 2004.

Ferd's 2003 Ice-Racing Adventure Updated: February 29, 2004.

Once again the date of the F1 season opening race at Melbourne conflicted with the running of the Western Canadian Ice-Race Championships on March  2^nd & 3^rd, 2002.

The McLaren F1 team had to cope without me for another year.  Hopefully they'll handle the disappointment a little better than they did last year.  Mika Hakkinen missed me so much, he moped around all year and finally quit altogether.  And Ron Dennis was so distraught over not being able to sign me up, he went and hired some girl named "Kimi" to replace me.  Ron will be doubly disappointed when he hears that I finished higher in the standings at the Ice-Race Championships than his "Kimi" did in Australia!

Can you believe it?  Ron Dennis invited me to join his McLaren Formula One team!

Here I am in the team photo alongside my new teammate Mika Hakkinen and test driver Alexander Wurz at the official launch of the 2001 McLaren F1 car.

Shortly after this photo was taken, I had to confess to Ron that I'd already accepted a better offer elsewhere.  As it happens, the season opening F1 race in Melbourne, Australia, coincided with the 2001 Western Canadian Ice-Race Championships held at Lac la Biche, Alberta, on March 3^rd and 4^th.

Despite the fact that I rolled it in 1999, and crashed it in 2000, my generous and long-suffering friends in Edmonton once again offered to let me drive their car!  Sorry, Ron.  F1 is for sissies.  Real men drive Chevettes on Ice!

Read the stories of Ferd's 2001 Ice-Racing Adventure.
 

2000 Western Canadian Ice-Race Championships   Stories, pictures, videos, and crash...   Ferd's 2000 Ice-Racing Adventure

This Green Chevette #79 carried me to near victory in the 1999 Western Canadian Ice-Race Championship (Chevette Class) held at scenic Lac La Biche, Alberta. See Ferd's 1999 Ice-Race Adventure for the full story, with pictures and video clips including in-car video footage of my rollover (oops).

I drove this car in the 1998 Western Canadian Ice-Race Championship (Chevette Class) held in Leduc just south of Edmonton, Alberta.  See Ferd's Excellent Ice-Race Adventure for the full story, with more pictures, and analysis of a first corner 'incident'....

This 1976 Chevette was the first car I owned.  It had no power, no grip, and useless brakes, but it was FUN to drive!  I learned a lot from this car.  It tolerated my abuse for twelve years and 210,000 miles before it finally broke in half.  It wasn't much of a performer, but the 'Vette had a big heart.  I loved this car! I once almost blew up a gas station with this car.
The 'Vette was a great chick magnet.  Girls couldn't keep their hands off it. Here's a picture of my wife and me.  I've got my arm around her, but note she's hanging onto the car.

This Datsun 510 was my first real "race car".  It was saved from the scrapyard when I purchased it for $100 to compete in the Motorsport Club of Ottawa Ice-Racing Series.  I won the Series Championship with this car in 1988 and the Class Championship in 1988 & 89 (see Newspaper Article).  This car was also once driven by Davey Jones (IMSA GTP, leMans, Indycar), but that's another story.

My VW Rabbit initially cost me $50 more than the Datsun.  I never really got along well with this bag of dirt and the experience has forever soured my opinion of front-wheel-drive.  Can you spell u-n-d-e-r-s-t-e-e-r ?  You wouldn't believe how many people asked me why I would paint a Ford  logo on the side of a Volkswagen.  They just didn't look closely enough.  For a hint, check the logo at the bottom of  my homepage.