Ice racer returns to rink

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, December 18, 2003

EVERETT — A long, long time ago, someone invented the indoor ice rink. Who did it, and why, is not the point of this story.

After year-round sheets of ice became available, along came the flowing figure skaters, the hardy hockey players and the swift speed skaters.

It was only a matter of time, then, until some guy on a motorcycle thought, "Gee — I wonder what it would be like to ride a motorcycle on ice. Wicked fast, on ice."

And so — from the same adventurous sporting creativity that brought the world things like snowmobile races across unfrozen lakes and demolition school bus battles — ice motorcycle racing was born.

This is where Mountlake Terrace resident Seth "Cadillac" Church slides into the picture.

In 1989, Church was the ICE Speedway National Champion. The same year, he and his wife Paula had their first child. Church retired, and never again went near the ice with a motorcycle — until Thursday.

When he heard the 2004 World Championship ICE Speedway Series planned to kick-start its season at the Everett Events Center this weekend, and that local riders were invited, he couldn’t help himself.

Though he likes to call it "ballet on ice," Church concedes that ice motorcycle racing is probably the most unusual thing yet to hit the Everett Events Center.

"People are used to coming and seeing Smurfs and Ronald McDonald out there skating around," Church said, chuckling. "This is a little different."

If seeing four motorcycles racing around a hockey rink at 60 mph with no brakes, no gears and sharp, studded tires is "different," than yes — it’s different.

The riders wear safety gear head to toe.

Church dusted off his $1,600 red leather racing jumpsuit, specially made in California. It has white stripes up the side with sewn-on blue leather stars. The shoulders are padded, and the leather protects against the cold, hard ice. Or oncoming studded tires, for that matter.

His special ice racing boots are red, spacey looking, smooth on the bottom and manufactured in Czechoslovakia.

His old-school leather riding uniform is a stark contrast to some of the "new kids," many of whom wear neon oranges and yellows.

The ice motorcycles look like souped-up mopeds. They have to be pushed to start, but they go from zero to 60 in three seconds.

The only traction the motorcycles have is 1,000 "studs" in each tire, studs being 1 1/4-inch metal screws with sharpened edges.

While the studded tires provide the only motorcycle-on-ice traction, they also afford an element of danger to an extreme sport that’s already not short on risk.

"Next time you’re driving on the freeway at 60 mph, open the door and fall out of the car. See if it hurts," said racer Bill "Ice Man" Hermant, of Sparks, Nev.

Most of the motorcycles run on methanol, or wood alcohol. Methanol burns cool, with a sootless flame, and emits formaldehyde.

Motorcycle riders steer with their back tires and lean in close to the ice. While they ride, their bodies and bikes at a perpetual 45-degree angle — the stance of a BMX trickster doing a twist off a jump.

As they ride, the studded tires kick up hundreds of snow cones’ worth of slush and rip up the ice. Every few races, the Zamboni comes out to mop up.

Because of the wear and tear on the hockey ice, the Everett Events center built the arena ice three inches higher than normal for the Ice Speedway Series.

Church got to feel the ice beneath his boots again Thursday, when he took a few practice laps around the rink with some other riders. He slipped and slid but he made it.

After the race, Church, 39, sat in the cozy, white, 40-foot school bus he and his son converted into a sort of RV and motorcycles trailer in one.

The bus has blue captain’s chairs, sleeps eight and has a stove to make morning coffee and evening beans.

It has an Elvis throw pillow, a deluxe sound system to play his jazz music, and in the rear has parking stalls for the motorcycles.

On the ceiling of the bus is a taped-up picture of his dog, Milo, buried up to his neck in sand and smiling a doggie smile.

On the ceiling there are pictures of Church’s son, Wess, racing a motorcycle on dirt. Wess, 16, isn’t allowed to race on ice until he’s 18.

"I had to keep a tab on it," Church said.

Still in his leather racing gear, Church sat on the bus’s futon. He has a generous but trimmed goatee and short, spiked hair. Both are about the same silver as the spikes in his motorcycle tires.

Back in his day, Church even had a fan club. He said kids would send him letters and their school pictures. Most wanted photos, and Church would send them an autographed "action ice shot." He framed his fan mail favorites and hung them on the wall in his shop.

When he quit racing in ‘89, he started his own business pouring concrete.

"One thing about racing, when you have it in your blood you get a racing high," he said.

And though the racing retiree will be racing against world champions and men half his age, Church — the local hero of this weekend’s biker bunch — is going out to win.

He said many of his friends and family will be there to cheer him on — the frosty mist in their faces, the whiffs of formaldehyde exhaust in their noses.

"I want to be smooth, calm-minded and in front. To be No. 1. To be on a podium," The "Cadillac" said. "That’s what I’ve done all my life."

But after the races, instead of going out drinking and partying, he’ll go home with his family.

He’s been there.

He’s done that.

"I’ve traveled all around the world," he said. "And you can get to anywhere in the world from here."

Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.