Please check out the I-500 website for further updated information on the 2024 55th Annual I-500 Snowmobile Race.
Events are happening all week. Starting Sunday, January 28th, 2024 up until the big race, February 3rd, 2024. Full Race Week Schedule
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3rd, 2024
55th I-500 Buttons will be available at the track and are available online.
Join us for the 55th Annual International I-500 Snowmobile Race and experience all the thrills of NASCAR on a one-mile oval ice track.
The I-500 is the BIGGEST event in the Upper Peninsula and in the entire snowmobile-racing world. No Hans devices. No padding. Just 100% raw courage!
When drivers accelerate to speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour on the straightaways, your heart will race…
If you enjoy NASCAR, you will love the I-500 Snowmobile Race. It’s, “NASCAR on Ice!”
Check out the International 500 Snowmobile Race Promo Video by Seth Landon – The Winning Edge Magazine.
THE HISTORY
The I-500 began in 1969 and is a 100% volunteer organization. We are always looking for more volunteers. Racing rules are not part of the race committee. The track was actually set on an old creek bed of gravel and clay. The site was originally developed in World War II as an ammunition dump.
The coldest race day was -31°F in 1996. The track was built in less than six months purely by volunteer help. The first year, the race was so slow that spectators could actually walk across the track between machines.
It takes 3 weeks and 1,800,000 gallons of water to make the track. Water is transported from a hydrant in the pit area via the use of three 8,000 gallon tankers and many trips around the track. Each year is different but ice has been found on the trackbed in late May. One cool summer as late as the 4th of July. From the first race come these immortal words: “Gentlemen, go fast, always turn left, and do not fall off your sled!”