For the past seven years, Kyle Miller has been a familiar face — in a racing helmet — at the annual Lac La Biche Winter Festival of Speed.
At this year’s festival-which takes place Feb. 24-25-the Lac La Biche man will be racing on the ice in his 1995 Dodge Neon, a vehicle he describes as a stock car with “a couple of goodies” to improve the horsepower.
“I run the car in the Limited stud category,” he told Lakeland This Week. “It’s a fun and fast class to participate in where we are running tires with bolts in them.”
Quite a few repairs had to be done to get the car in tip-top shape for this year’s races. He explained that last year, the ice was very rough, which took a toll on the vehicle. Miller continued by saying that once the car is built, preparation for racing in the event is relatively minor. He checks over the tires and makes sure the studs are tight.
“These tires are hand built so you don’t want to wreck one over something as simple as a leaking stud,” he said. “You have safety equipment in the car that does expire so you have to replace the safety harness every two years usually. Other than that, I try my best to keep it in good shape…you hate to make the drive to these events and be broken…that’s no fun.”
The 2024 Lac La Biche Winter Festival of Speed marks four years since Miller has raced in his own car. He had raced for three years prior in the Charity Race that is also held on the same weekend. In the charity races, drivers give up their cars to amateur competitors who pay to race, with the entry fees going to local charities. o amateur drivers and teach you a thr two. I
While he does his best to make all the races in the circuit, scheduling on his end does affect this. He said unpredictable weather over the past couple of seasons has made it tough to make them all.
As far as winning prizes, Miller explained that when he ran in the charity racing events, he always placed in the top three and ended up winning a couple of trophies.
“When the club had ran a Neon-only class the car was very competitive,” he said. “Now that we were all put into the limited stud category due to low car counts in the neon class, the car has to play with the big boys. So far, the biggest prize is driving the car on the trailer after a weekend.”
While he enjoys competing in and finishing races, Miller also likes the social aspect of the annual winter event. He said out of this close group of competitors have come some great friendships over the years he has been ice racing.
He said the Festival of Speed is good for the Lac La Biche area and is well-supported by the community.
“This event is great for our community…Ken Staples puts on an amazing event, he does a great job to incentivize the drivers to make the trek north to make this event what it is,” he stated. “The track is fast, and it's great to race in your own community as the support from the local spectators gives you that little extra push to do your best.”
