SNOPRO, ROLA & MOLE LAKE!
(LIVE ON SKIS - HERE WE COME!)

Posted 02.04.10 by Larry Preston

Vintage SnoPro returns this Friday night, under the lights in Sauk Centre Minnesota. This is a fantastic facility, a great race track and your chance to see some of the very best guys in vintage racing battle it out! It's just off interstate 94 on Sauk Centre - don't miss it!

On Saturday, the ORA continues racing in Sauk Centre, there is the big PVR race in Mole Lake, as well as the famous ROLA annual one-lunger 100 race in Detroit Lakes Minnesota. There's no excuse not to get out there on a sled and watch some racing no matter where you live!

Weather reports for next weekends "Live On Skis" are excellent for the International Falls location! Doc Jim posted some pictures from around the trails on the Bull Sessions.

Just to get you in the SnoPro mood, here's some awesome photos from back in the day, sent in by Jason Gardner and Justin Sorenson. THANK YOU!

When you love your GPX, you have to take pictures!

Team Army Z's ready for battle.

The pits, Eagle River. Note Darrell Courtright
in the 76 outfit, and the Kawi Shark!

You just can't find enough pictures of
t he revolutionary Skiroule IFS machines!

Profession Stan Hayes pulls one of his Merc's off the truck.

If you really love your GPX, you go and
win a class at Eagle River with it!

More Eagle River pits Jerry Bunke has a
conversation with Larry Coltom.

Dan KIrts' Manta SnoPro racer.

Boss Cat II. Need I say more?

Ironwood, Dec. 1974. A familiar
Omdahl sled in the forefront.

Jim Bernat's 74 650cc machine on the "rack" for some work.

ULTRA RARE DEERE

Posted 02.01.10 by Larry Preston

RARE DAYCO PHOTOS - 1978

Posted 01.29.10 by Larry Preston

Even though it was over thirty years ago, I remember the December, 1977 Dayco Holiday Spectacular snowmobile race in Alexandria Minnesota like it was yesterday.

I was not even a teenager. I was on the infield most of the day, helping out the race organizers in any way I could. I remember watching a Ski-Doo come out of turn two, and run wide open on the outside edge of the backstretch and disappear right into the woods in turn three.

Moments later, another track worker and a good friend of my family emerged from those woods and threw up.

Wanting to see what had happened, I ran as fast as I could to turn three. An adult stopped me by grabbing my jacket. I don't remember who it was; but I clearly remember what he said. "You stay down here - got it! You do NOT go up to the top of the track! Do you understand?!" I nodded my head yes and stayed put. He took off and scaled the ice to get to the top of turn three.

As more people headed over and the ambulance began to move, curiosity got the best of me. I ran to the top - and I will never forget what I saw.

Sammy's sled was sitting there like it was supposed to be there. No dents, no scratches, nothing. People were huddled around Sammy, and there was blood everywhere. People were trying to kick snow over the blood, and one fellow found Sammy's watch. I knew he was dead.

What I never understood was why the races kept going - a man had just died, and yet they continued to race. It would be many years before I found out that afterwards, the had held a meeting and the drivers decided to continue on, largely because they felt that Sammy would have wanted it that way.

The races continued, and the drives all fought through the rain and sleet. T.J. Patrick won that day, as did Jeff Knell, Jerry Bunke and Doug Hayes, who had a terrific day - winning the coveted Hetteen Cup.

On Sunday, I watched another sled come out of turn two, on almost exactly the same line as Sammy Sessions the day before. Only this time it was an Arctic Cat, with 1976 Hetteen Cup winner Larry Coltom on board.

Larry left the track in almost the exact same spot as Sammy. When I got over the hill this time, I was sick with the thought that Larry Coltom was dead. I saw his sled right away. Unlike Sammy's, it was pretty badly damaged when it tangled with a tree. But there was no Larry to be found anywhere.

Frantic track workers thought perhaps he was stuck in under snow, or brush. They called his name and searched frantically. But they would never find him there.

Larry had been fortunate enough to miss every obstacle as he went over the edge, and went behind some brush and hay bails. He stood up right away and realized he was fine. Walking through the woods and around the paddock area, he made his way back to the truck. He took off his helmet, and decided right then and there that he had retired from snowmobile racing.

Troy and Susie Lange found these slightly water damaged photos in their home and sent them too me this morning. Seeing Larry's sled and remembering that I had seen it just moments before that picture was taken brought back a flood of memories of that day.

You can see more of the Dayco race that day with this DVD from the store.

Thanks Troy and Susie for sharing!

INTRODUCING: FROZEN ASSETS!

Posted 01.27.10 by Larry Preston

I have been trying to keep my mouth shut about this one for about 4 months now - and I can't hold my tongue any more!

At that time I heard a rumor that Paul Groth, Jim and Bernie Warning and Jim Costa of Performance Concepts decided they wanted to go after the world speed record once an for all.

A month later, I was staring at this baby in the shop as they got started developing it. It took just three months to get it from concept to ready for the ice!

This is a 3,000 horsepower (Yes, 3,000 H.P.), 2,000 pound Twin-Turbo beast that they have named "Frozen Assets".

This is the "other" stop-secret machine that was coming to Waconia. They were going to do some pilot runs and testing there.

However, the crew has decided to take it to Menominee Wisconsin this Saturday to try for the Guinness Book of World Records at the NSSR sanctioned drag race there.

Best of luck to the Paul and the crew - that's a pretty big goal but if anyone can do it - it's Paul!

WACONIA FUN

Posted 01.27.10 by Larry Preston

I was getting primed up for the "year of the Deere" way back at the Princeton show last fall. Here I am sitting on on of John Deere Joe Rainville's prized possessions - his 76 liquidator, restored by Mark Stevens and Jon Carlson had it done up to look like his original factory race sled. This was the first time I ever sat on a Deere! This weekend, I sure hope I get to ride one of these babies.

There is so much going on this weekend at Waconia that it's hard to keep track of. Sorry, VintageSleds.com won't have a booth or a banner or flyer there. We don't go to Waconia to pimp this website; We go enjoy the people, the sleds and to appreciate the hard work the Waconia committee does to put the show on.

So what's going on this weekend? Where do I start?

First of all, I told you there would be two very fascinating sleds there. One is confirmed and will be inside the ballroom. Probably the rarest John Deere you will ever see. And you will likely never see it again after this weekend.

The other, I'm afraid will not be there. I'll have more on this king-of-insanity sled and it's whereabouts later this week - don't miss it.

Also there is ALWAYS some super rare stuff that turns up from all over the place. The swap is not to be missed, nor is the show on Sunday. Miss either and you will miss something you wanted to see.

The ROLA racing on Saturday should be quite a showdown. I'm hearing that almost anyone with a sled to race wants to be there and take a shot at it. I myself am hoping to get in some hot laps on my favorite little 250cc machine. I haven't ridden it since I did some hot laps last year at Waconia! That little sled has been some of the fondest memories I've got from the whole vintage sleds affair. I can't wait.

The ride on Saturday is always HUGE and a good time. This year we've got plenty of snow, and the temps should be a little on the cold side - but not enough to scare anyone away. I'm going to try and ride as big a variety of sleds as I possibly can. Waconia a few years back was the first time I tried a Ski-Doo. This year, I'd love to try some other brands. I'm just brining my rat-rod TX. Looks like a total pile of doggy doo-doo, but it almost always starts and runs.

Doc will be there with a couple new (old) sleds he just got and will be riding them around for sure. I look forward to meeting a lot of new faces - and seeing a lot of old ones again - at the biggest winter show there is.

ENJOY!

VINTAGE CHALLENGE

Posted 01.20.10 by Larry Preston

Well the vintage guys are really up for the Hall of Fame Vintage Challenge, on Feb 20the. Chatter on the Bull Sessions is great ... and I hear they are getting calls every day at the Hall. The John Deere gang leads that pack so far in early registrations. By the way, make your motel reservations yesterday as they are filling up fast for that weekend. The Whitetail Lodge has only the honeymoon suite left!

The Hall of Fame Site has Chamber links to help with lodging. The Rustic Manor, Black Bear and Hearthside still have a few openings.

The Ride With The Champs hats for the riders will arrive soon, the prototypes are really neat. Thanks again to Modine HotDawg Garage Heaters for sponsoring the Ride With the Champs for the 5th year.

I also hear that Raffle tickets for the Jon Carlson donated Polaris 1979 TXL are going well... this is a beautiful vintage original. You can order by fax or phone or mail in the order form from at their website.

The Hall of Fame will also have a big presence at Waconia. They will be bringing Brian Nelson's Winnipeg - St. Paul winner from 1976 to Waconia along with his leathers and helmet and there will be other J-D sleds coming back to the Hall of Fame Museum after Waconia. Look for the SHOF black trailer in front of the Ballroom and stop in and say hi!

UPDATE: If you are in the area on February 19th, join the guys on the Loose Lugnutz Poker Run. Meet and leave from the Hall of Fame, $20 per hand, play as many hands as you like! This would be a good hsake-down run to make sure you are all set for Saturday!

WINNIPEG TO WACONIA!

Posted 01.19.10 by Larry Preston

Just got word that a group of hard core vintage guys are going to take a very long ride - all the way from Winnipeg Manitoba to the big Waconia show!

The idea is that Don Mclennan, Murray Calder and Russell Calder are leaving Winnipeg on January 25th, and planning on making it all the way to Waconia on their vintage Cats. They will go from WInnipeg to Pembina on day 1, then to Crookston on day 2. Then on to Fergus Falls on day 3 and from Fergus to Waconia on day 4 - following nearly the exact same route as the original Winnipeg to St. Paul race@

What started out as an idea for a big vintage ride had to be scrapped because of issues with permits, local officials, and other complications. These guys took it on themselves just to do it for fun.

We'll be watching from here and reporting on the progress - best of luck guys and man am I jealous! That sounds like huge fun!

Here's the thread on sledshack and on the Bull Sessions.

Michigan Historic Snowmobile Registration

Posted 01.18.10 by Larry Preston

There's a group in Michigan trying to get legislature started for Michigan vintage riders to be able to ride without fear of a $100 ticket for improper registration. They want to get a special Historic Snowmobile registration passed - and the need your help. Please fill out the following survey and show your support for this cause!

MATT SCHULTZ: WORLD CHAMPION!

Posted 01.17.10 by Larry Preston

Just got word that Matt Schultz led the entire race and came out the winner of the 2010 Eagle River World's Championship for the late model guys. The race went flag to flag with no reds, and one minor crash at the end - making this the safest Eagle River vintage and late-model weekend ever!

PJ Wanderschied came in second and Jacque Villenueve we hear came in around 5th or 6th. More details as we get them!

SKI-DOO TO SPONSOR PVR!

Posted 01.17.10 by Larry Preston

Just got the scoop that none other than the Ski-Doo factory is going to add end of the year prize money to the crew at Pro-Vintage racing! We don't know the amount or details yet, but it appears that the growing popularity of vintage snowmobile racing has caught their attention. Over 800 entries at Eagle River probably helped! Ski-Doo joins Arctic Cat in sponsoring vintage - Cat sponsors the spring show for the Hall of Fame in St. Germain. Congratulations to Ski-Doo and PVR! More details as they become available will be forthcoming.

RAREST OF ALL DEERE COMING TO WACONIA

Posted 01.16.10 by Larry Preston

I've got the scoop not one, but two incredible machines coming to Waconia. The second one will shock and amaze you, but I can't say anything more about it now. The first one I can tell you a little about. One of thee rarest John Deere sleds ever built is going to be inside the building at the show. How rare is it? So rare that it has been locked in a top-secret location for over twenty years! No one has seen it since it was tucked away all those years ago.

I'm hoping to get a sneak peak picture of it just before the show. Until then you'll just have to guess and speculate. If your into the really rare stuff, or a fan of John Deere, you do NOT want to miss seeing this one. Really - once it gets displayed at Waconia, it's going right back into hiding and may never be seen again!

CRASH ANATOMY

Posted 01.14.10 by Larry Preston

In the 440 IFS SnoPro race in Eagle River, things got a little dicey when Jocelyn Lessieur, riding his Ski-Doo made a hard charge into turn three to try and catch leaders Devin Fackrell and Brent Miller. Turned out he went in just a little too hard, and dumped the sled over - and right into Fackrell's leg. That was enough to give Brent Miller the opening he needed, and brent won the 440 title on a brand new machine from Pro Vintage Performance that he'd barely sat on till that day. Here's how the crash looked in a series of photos from Scott Anderson.

Oh and if your wondering, Lessieur was not hurt. Fackrell's leg was as big as a tree trunk from the bruising, but he's okay and was back at work earlier this week.

MIKE SMITH PULLS AHEAD IN SNOPRO!

Posted 01.13.10 by Larry Preston

Reigning Vintage SnoPro points champion, Mike Smith from Wasilla, Alaska, piloted his Cat's into first place after the races in Eagle River. Mike and his son Adam both benefited from being in races classes so big that all the heat races allowed them extra points for their strong finishes in the finals. But Mike's lead is pretty slim at this point and anything could happen at the next race, February 5th in Sauke Centre Minnesota.

See the total point standings in the SnoPro section.

TONY PETTINELLI, JR: WORLD CHAMPION

Posted 01.11.10 by Larry Preston

Tony joins a very small group of only two drivers to ever win the Vintage World's Championship twice!

When the sleds lined up for the driver introductions, one driver, Tony Pettinelli Jr, walked away from his sled. He walked to each driver in the line up, offered up his hand, and wished each driver good luck.

From the beginning, it looked like 2006 winner Jacob Goede was going to find that luck and pull off his second win. His Starfire was clearly fast, but Tony was in second place and kept charging hard to catch him.

"I made a decision to slow down instead of falling off and wrecking the machine again." Jacob said after the race. "By lap 8 I was only going about half throttle."

No one would fault Jacob for backing down; In 2009, when he charged hard over 10 laps, several red flags and restarts, he crashed hard on the second to last lap when hanging on to that monster sled was no longer an option. Besides, prior to the World's Championship, 3G racing with Jacob and brother Matt driving won every single final they were in, including Super-Mod Liquid 340, Sport-Mod 340, 340 IFS and 340 IFSX. Goede was already having an amazing day.

Tony needed a little break, and his fast-and-steady approach would find him getting closer and closer to Goede as the race went on, passing him on about the 7th lap and holding lead to the checkered.

Brandon Gentz, who was also in the final said "You don't really drive these big machines. You just hang on." That was evident as each of the drivers picked clean and careful lines, and were obviously respectful of the drivers around them. For the first time in Derby Track History, the final ran the full ten laps without a single crash or a single red flag.

I think that's a testament to the respect these guys have for the track - and the machines that carry them around.

Our congratulations to Tony and his crew. They did their homework and ran a perfect race!

Here's a video of the sleds coming to the introductions.

WHAT A WEEKEND

Posted 01.11.10 by Larry Preston

When the last motor is finally shut down after the Eagle River weekend, you get kind of a buzz from everything you witnessed over the last three days, and your mind just keeps replaying highlight reels for days afterwards. This morning, my highlight reels are in overdrive.

The weather was very good all weekend, with a stiff breeze making it seem colder than it was on Friday and for part of Saturday. The track held up very well, there was few accidents, and thankfully only minor injuries on the ones that did happen. All in all, I think a lot of people walked away with a lifetime of memories from this past weekend.

We got a ton of pictures to come. But for now, I wanted to start with the winner of the VintageSleds.com 440 F/A Cup, Brandon Gentz. I had some time to visit with Brandon and his crew that included ed several mechanics, motor builder Norman Ball, personal help, chassis guys, even a personal cook inside the trailer who could cook up a hot dog any way you want it. I was impressed with what a tight-knit group they are, and the obvious team work they have in getting Brandon and team mate Nathan Feuchts sleds running and out front.

Mark Anderson who took a brief hiatus from retirement, borrowed Aaron Johnson's red hot smoking Polaris and won every heat, quarter final and semi final he was in like it wasn't even a fair fight. Fast Freddy Smith had his Ski-Doo close to Mark, and it looked like he was holding back... every once in awhile he'd really punch it, and you could see Freddy had a lot more than he was going to reveal fully in a heat race. It's no secret that these two are not each others biggest fans; So it looked like the race might come down to a battle royal between Anderson's Polaris and Smith's Ski-Doo. Classic Polaris Vs. Ski-Doo, with the best of the best driving.

But no one else in that starting field could be counted out! Bill Stull was running fast and furious on his Rupp, as was Tom King on his Polaris sled, and Jeff Lausten on his Yamaha.

From the start, it looked like all Anderson, all the way. But Mark made it a mere lap when his bulkhead snapped, he threw up his arms coasted off the track in turn two. That left Freddy Smith a wide open run, and he took advantage of it. Fred pulled away, and kept pulling away with each lap... getting close to a half a lap ahead.

At that point, the real race was for second. Gentz, Stull, King and Lausten all battled back and fourth in some of thee most exciting racing I have ever seen. None of those guys was going to give an inch or back off. Bill Stull finally pulled off the "Stull Swoop" in turn 3 and four, taking the high line and passing all three of them in one swift, decisive movement. Bill was taking second place comfortably when a small miracle happened.

Freddy Smith threw up his arm coming out of turn two and coasted to a stop, just in front of his biggest rival, Mark Anderson.

Bill Stull was now leading, and the race was really on. All of them battled as hard as they could. Gentz was gaining a little ground on Stull when his might Rupp started to slow... Bill was slowly burning down! Gentz went flying by, Lausten and King in hot pursuit!

When it was all over, the smooth driving, pacing and strategy of Gentz proved to be the best of the field. He made all the right choices, and all the right moves. At the end, Gentz and Lausten came to the podium to take their prizes, but someone had to let King know he had come in third - he was a little late to the podium, but got there in time for the photos!

All in all, great fun, great racing, great sportsmanship by all, and a great race run by the Derby Crew.

More to come...

800cc Mod Relic Class

STARFIRE AT FIRST SITE

Posted 12.30.09 by Brandon Johnson

For about the past ten years, I’ve been slowly getting involved with the vintage snowmobile community. It started out by going to some basic vintage shows where I would walk around and simply comment on sleds that caught my eye. There were really only two ways a sled would catch my eye; either it had to look cool or sound cool! Of course some of the Arctic Cats and Ski-Doos caught my eye, but not like a Polaris. For as long as I can remember, our family has only ever had Polaris sleds, so naturally I took to them—plus they looked so good! So with my basic, non-educated, criteria I quickly found a sled that caused my eyes to widen, and mouth to drop:

The 1973 Polaris Starfire.

I can’t remember exactly when that moment came, but ask my family and they’ll quickly tell you out of all the sleds we’ve talked about, the ’73 Starfire is the only one I remembered. I can’t tell you why I couldn’t remember any of the dozens of sleds we've talked about as a family, but I always remembered the good-looking Polaris. After ten years of obsession, the quest for my own ’73 Starfire began.

We were lucky to find an old chassis from a ’73, which could be salvaged and brought back to life with a fresh coat of paint. With a lot of help from Vintagesleds.com people, we found an NOS (New Old Stock) seat, a barely used gas tank, a barely used set of handlebars, an almost new suspension, some skis, the spindles, and original secondary and more. In the span of an afternoon, we had most of the sled put together, even if we didn't have a motor for it. We ran into one big snag: We had a new mold for the belly pan, and quickly discovered that the new pans were 1 inch too short in the back! Getting the mold fixed would not be a huge deal, but it would take some time - and I wanted this to be my Live on Skis 2010 rider. While my dream of riding a ’73 Starfire for Live on Skis was quickly coming to hault, a miracle happened.

Mike Kollman had a rolling 79 TXL chassis with the 73 hood and pan was for sale. it also had a 73 Starfire steering post and rear suspension. With a great deal in the works, this quickly become the choice for this year’s rider. After pulling it apart in the garage, this was for sure set up for drag-racing, we had a lovely time pulling the studs out of the track and discovering some other minor issues.

But I am excited to say this machine will be ready for LOS ’10 and will definitely turn some heads! Did you know Polaris made a liquid 340 ’73? Just kidding. We stuck a 340 TXL motor in it and got it running in now time!

Last weekend over Christmas break, we got to take the new sled for a "break-in" ride. I can tell you this thing is fast - but a little on the tippy side. We went through a recoil and I broke the steering post on the last ride of the weekend, but once that is fixed, we will be ready for LOS!

 

Where did the stuff go that used to be here? It got too darn big, so it was archived. Enjoy.