MOUNTLAKE TERRACE – Like many kids, Wess Church grew up wanting to be like his father.
Which is fine when dad enjoys golf or fishing or some other typical pastime. But if the activity is racing motorcycles on ice, well, that requires a restriction or two.
In particular, Seth Church insisted that his son wait until he was 18 years old to take up the sport. Racing on dirt was OK, which is something Wess Church started doing at about the same time he was starting kindergarten. But racing on ice had to wait, and it did until just last weekend when Seth and Wess – who turned 18 in September – competed at indoor ice racing events in Portland, Ore., and Oakland, Calif.
Dan Bates / The Herald
A third event was to be at the Everett Events Center on Sunday afternoon, but the Churchs were slowed by snowy weather in Northern California as they made the overnight drive back to the Puget Sound area.
That disappointment aside, the weekend was a great success, Seth Church said Monday. On Friday and Saturday nights, both made it through preliminary races and into the main events.
“We proved that we’re a team and that we’re dedicated to what we do,” said Seth Church, who is 41. “We’re out there as a family, working together.”
Dan Bates / The Herald
Spectators, he went on, quickly warmed to the father-son tandem at both of the weekend races.
“Everyone else out there was competing for themselves, and then here were me and Wess, a team. We were dressed the same and our bikes were the same, and the crowd totally cheered us on every time we came on the ice. It was just great.”
Seth Church, who was raised in Edmonds, started racing motorcycles outdoors as a teen-ager. A few years later he tried ice racing – “I saw it on TV and just felt like I had to give it a try” – and in 1989 he won a national championship. Then, because he had a young family (his son was 2 at the time), he left the sport.
He was, in fact, ready to get out.
The emotional demands of ice racing “actually worked on my nerves,” he said. “I think I lost a big part of my ability to handle stress in those years because I’d used it all up. You get out on the ice in those NHL-sized arenas, and you’re on the starting line with four other guys that are there to make money, and you have all this anxiety built up.
“I did that for many years, and I just couldn’t feel the reasoning of actually getting out there anymore.”
Also, the sport is decidedly dangerous. Racers compete by making laps around the arena at speeds of 40-50 mph, and spills are routine. So are broken bones, which often occur when a skidding motorcycle follows a fallen rider into the hockey boards that surround the rink.
And, because the tires are studded with spikes for traction, they can be harmful in the extreme. A years ago, he said, a friend suffered a severe groin injury when he got tangled up with a spinning tire against the boards.
Still, Seth Church made it through the first part of his racing career with only minor injuries. Though content to stay away, he found the opportunity to ride with his son too tempting.
“I don’t think I could have just gone and helped him on the sidelines,” he said. “I have to be involved. Also, the way they’re promoting it as a father-son thing, I think it’s going to be good. I’m excited to see it.”
Wess Church, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School, says he watched his father race on ice at Everett the past two years (his only events in his years out of racing) and was immediately drawn to the sport.
“I thought it was just really cool, to see a motorcycle being raced on ice,” he said. “I really like racing on dirt, but this was something that just looked much more extreme. I was really interested in trying it.”
Mom Paula, meanwhile, is a fan, although she admits to fretting about her son.
“I worry a little bit more about him because he’s not as experienced as Seth is,” she said. “But the two of them go over everything well. They talk about how to be safe, and they have protective gear, too. So they do everything they possibly can to be safe.”
Otherwise, she said, “I think it’s really exciting. I love it. I have to be there, right up in front, cheering them on.”
Ahead for the Church family is a winter of events at arenas around the country. On Dec. 29, for example, Seth and Wess will be in Greenville, S.C., and the next night they move to Nashville, Tenn. And, although this is not a lucrative hobby, their strong showing last weekend, combined with the unique father-son aspect, is putting more dollars in their pockets.
The promoter has agreed to transport their equipment from one race to the next, saving them that expense. They will also receive an appearance fee beyond whatever winnings they receive.
“By the end of the season we’ll be a real father-son team because we’ll know how to race together out there,” Seth Church said. “We’re taking a new approach to racing. We’re not cutthroat as most of the other racers are. We’re going to be out there as a family. It’s going to be the Church team.”
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