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When most folks tell their teenagers to slow down, Ryan Podeweltz is timing his daughter’s quarter-mile splits on a frozen river. At 14, Isabelle Podeweltz is beating drivers three times her age at the Merrill Ice Drags, a competition that’s been turning Wisconsin winters into high-octane showdowns since 1965.
“I got butterflies in my stomach the first time I did it,” Isabelle said. “I still get some butterflies, but that’s a normal feeling, I feel.”
The Merrill Ice Drags transforms the Wisconsin River near Merrill into a 1/8-mile drag strip every winter, provided Mother Nature cooperates with 20-plus inches of solid ice. This isn’t your typical Friday night at the track — it’s families cheering from snowbanks, V8 engines roaring across frozen water, and competitors who’ll help you fix your wheel between runs.
Isabelle’s debut season at Merrill Ice Drags marks her first real driving experience of any kind. No learner’s permit. No parking lot practice. Just straight to ice racing against folks who’ve been doing this for decades.
She’s placing second in multiple categories.
“I couldn’t be prouder of her,” Ryan said. “She’s very cool, calm and relaxed in the car. I’d probably be way more rattled than she is at this point.”
The competition draws everyone from daily drivers to purpose-built dragsters, all following the old Northwoods philosophy of “run-what-ya-brung.” Races come down to fractions of seconds, with competitors spending countless hours fine-tuning their rigs to balance speed with control on a surface that doesn’t forgive mistakes.
“I just beat a nice lady out here and she was giving me hugs after and stuff.” — Isabelle Podeweltz
That’s the spirit that separates Merrill Ice Drags from other racing circuits. Win or lose, you’re getting a hug at the finish line.
Bree Krueger-Schmidt has seen the community aspect firsthand over her years racing. “Everyone that participates here really becomes a family,” she said. “We really get to know each other and cheer each other on.”
Joe Peek experienced that family mentality two weeks before the February 14 memorial races. His truck’s front wheel fell off right at the starting line.
“We had a bunch of people right at the starting line to help get it back on so we could run,” Peek said.
The racers themselves maintain the track, flooding lanes and rotating them weekly to preserve ice quality. They clear snow from tires before each run — think burnouts on pavement, but colder. The Merrill Ice Draggers Inc., a nonprofit organization, coordinates everything from the two-story heated race tower to concessions that keep hot chocolate flowing.
Back in 1965, a group of Merrill locals decided winter boredom needed a cure louder than a chainsaw. They headed to the frozen Wisconsin River with their fastest rides.
Six decades later, their experiment has inspired at least five other ice-racing clubs across the region. Merrill’s event draws crowds from throughout Lincoln County and beyond, all bundled up to watch flashy dragsters and pickup trucks tear down a track nature provides for three months a year.
A 2023 PBS Wisconsin segment dubbed it the “world’s fastest 1/8 mile on ice.” That’s the kind of winter bragging rights you can’t buy at a gas station.
The event requires precise conditions — too warm and you get slush, too thin and nobody’s driving anywhere. When everything lines up right, those Northwoods forests surrounding the river echo with engine roars that remind you winter up north isn’t about hibernating.
Krueger-Schmidt offers advice that applies to more than just ice racing: “We’ve got 20 inches plus of ice beneath us, we have rigs and we have cars. Get over your fears and let it rip.”
The February 14 races served as the season’s third week and annual memorial event, dedicated to racers and organizers who’ve passed. It’s a reminder that traditions like this don’t just happen — they’re built by people who show up year after year, sometimes for their entire lives.
For Isabelle, this is just the beginning. She’s already got the most important skill down: staying calm under pressure while piloting a machine across a frozen river. That’ll serve her well whether she sticks with racing or moves on to regular pavement driving.
The Merrill Ice Drags continue as long as winter cooperates and the ice holds. If you’ve never seen cars launch across a frozen river with the Wisconsin woods as backdrop, you’re missing one of the Northwoods’ most uniquely Midwestern spectacles. Just dress warm — the only thing hotter than the engines is the coffee in the concession stand.
Written by
Mike has been coming up or living in the Northwoods since his childhood. He is also an avid outdoorsman, writer and supper club aficionado.
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