Opening Day for the 52nd I-500 Snowmobile Race

SAULT STE. MARIE – Wednesday marked the opening day for the 52nd I-500 Snowmobile Race in Sault Ste. Marie.

Practice and qualifying for Thursday’s inaugural Meijer Pro Shootout and Saturday’s I-500 were on the agenda Wednesday as well as feature events for the ISR Formula III and the Great Lakes Antique Snowmobile Series.

“We’ve got midweek races and tonight we have a vintage race,” I-500 chairman Ric Federau said. “Of course we have some new some new sleds coming. That F3 is a new design and it’s going to be exciting to watch that. This Thursday night we have a new race called the Meijer Shootout which actually took the place of Woody’s Challenge and it’s just an exciting race.”

Final qualifying rounds for the Meijer Pro Shootout and the I-500 are set to take place Thursday afternoon with the 15-lap Meijer Pro Shootout set for 7 p.m.

You can view a live stream of the 52nd I-500 Snowmobile Race on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 9 a.m. by downloading the SBTV app or .