WOODSTOCK, Maine — A steady stream of drivers, traveling home last weekend from Sunday River on Route 26, passed by quite a scene on North Pond
A hearty handful took their cars — equipped with studded snow tires — onto one of two winding ice tracks plowed into the deep, newly-fallen snow.
It’s an annual tradition for the locals and friends who come each winter to test their skills. But this year’s drive-in came with emotion as well. Local boy made good, Forest Duplessis, helps organize the event and was close friends with action sports superstar Ken Block. Block died in a snowmobile accident in January, but not before helping to elevate the New England Forest Rally each year, which starts at Sunday River. Duplessis said the drivers on the ice and throughout the region were inspired by Block’s example.
"His influence is huge," he said. "Just to see it in these areas; these small towns; these kids that probably might not ever leave are into car culture that Ken has helped to introduce them to — sell to them, if you will. What it means to slide a car, to 'hoon,' that’s Ken Block."
People drove from as far away as Nevada and New Jersey for Sunday’s drifting. The core group plows a track every year, as long as there is thick enough ice.
For the latest breaking news, weather, and traffic alerts, download the NEWS CENTER Maine mobile app.