Danica Patrick. The new Patron Saint of Vintage Snowmobiles, until her lawyer says otherwise.

5.15.2008
THE ORIGINAL CAT SNOPRO MACHINES (PART V)
So where are they now? Well let's start with one of the big guns: Charlie Lofton's original 1974 650 SnoPro. Polaris' Larry Rugland narrowly beat Polaris' Stan Hayes as top dog in the 650 class that year. But the one guy who kept spoiling the Polaris perfect record in the 650 class by breaking through for a win now and then was Arctic's Charlie Lofton.

Thirty-four years later, I can report that Charlie's sled is alive and well. Ed Chestney was kind enough to send me a photo of the sled as she is today, but has requested that I not publish the photo. "I have sent numerous photos to other collectors and I now have a lot of regrets about that. We’ll leave that at that."

Enough said Ed, I completely understand.

So how do we know it's Charlie's 650?

Well, when I first started digging into this, everyone I'd heard who had a real 74 Cat SnoPro said "Call Ed Chestney. He's got Lofton's 650". They'd all seen it, and they all agreed on it. It's clearly got Charlie's handlebars on it. It also had Charlie's number 11 on the tunnel. Can't argue with that! Ed says she also has the number on the engine crankcase. The cylinders also have factory engravings, but they don’t seem to indicate anything other than a number for reference.

His serial number on this sled is also consecutive to the sled we featured in Part IV, owned by Todd Deloria. Again, these are not normal Cat serial numbers, which indicates special race machines. We know it's a 650 because of the cutout in the bulkhead to allow the room for the 650 triple engine. It also has the extra holes for the triple pipes.

Ed's done a lot of research on these machines, and here's one interesting thing he came up with: "I don’t have information saying how many were built, but there definitely extra bulkheads built. The bulkhead on this machine has been replaced. Clearly early in the year the sleds originally were all painted black, bulkhead and all. At some point, some of them had the bulkhead changed, I know mine did. The bulkhead is unpainted, but it appears the original pan and tunnel was reused. But at some point Charlie’s 650 got a new paint job, the bumper removed, tunnel shortened 2” and the number moved clear to the back of the tunnel instead of just in front of where the bumper was bolted. This is also when the seat was stopped short of the gas tank."

I can shed some light on this. The first couple of races, Team Arctic got spanked by the much lighter all magnesium Polaris sleds and those tiny little Yamaha's. After the first couple of races, the sleds went on a diet, and reportedly, up to 50 pounds was removed by removing any part not structurally required, drilling holes and shortening items. I would guess that Charlie's bulkhead may have been replaces as part of the "lightening" process, or to replace it from damage done in a race - and that it was never painted because paint = extra weight.

Andy Avelis showed me years ago how most of the unique original suspensions were chopped several inches shorter to lighten them up. Later I will be able to show you pictures of one bulkhead so drilled full of holes you could have used it for a lawn sprinkler!

Ed went on to explain the present condition of the sled: "...at the end of the season these were used for test sleds for next year’s equipment. The 75 Z looking suspension isn’t a finished Z suspension at all, it’s a prototype tested in this sled…probably could be more accurately called the 75 PDC test suspension. The extra holes for the pipes were drilled to accept pipes similar to pipes used on the 75 650s… The 74 had a “running board” stinger the 75s all dumped by the chain case."

Ed also added in this bit that calls into question some other sleds that might be floating around as 74 SnoPros: "I believe there are more now than originally because these extra bulkheads got out and were built to race by independents in the mid 70s. I know of four of these 74 SnoPros that don’t have 74 SnoPro tunnels. They are extremely hard to verify. But I (much like you as I can tell by your restoration thread of your 74 Polaris) have hundreds of pictures and have found ways to verify an original tunnel."

Ed has a long way to go to restore this amazing piece of history, but he plans on getting it done as soon as a few other projects get out of the way.

"I feel fortunate to have one with so much history still there. Most times these sleds have been raced and improved out by several individuals over the years. This sled sat for nearly 30 years in a shop and was never touched."

Amen Ed, Amen.

Up next: Davie Thompson's 340!

5.13.2008
WARMING UP FOR ST. GERMAIN
May 25this the big date fore the Classic Sled Roundup in St. Germain Wisconsin - presented by by Arctic Cat. I've heard of some amazing, rare, and never before seen sleds coming to this show. A couple that I heard about this week still have my head spinning. I can't say just yet.. but think red, think rare, and think "I thought all those got destroyed!" and you will have a pretty strong clue.

Charles Plueddeman sent this shot of Connie Meuler of Oshkosh Trophy in Oshkosh, Wis., holding the Best in Show award that will be presented at the show Sunday May 25, in St. Germain, Wis. The Snowmobile Hall of Fame has added some classes to the judging for this year's show, including a cutter class and expanded classes to include 1973-Earlier Race and 1974-Later Race with First and Runner Up in each category. For info on the show, go to www.snowmobilehalloffame.com or email Plueddeman at pluedy@execpc.com.

5.05.2008
HOTTEST PROM DATE EVER
Scott Carmen sent in this photo and video of his daughter going to prom. His daugher and her date had two chauffeurs on their stretch "catty".

Boyz, I think we have a new potential "Patron Saint of Vintage Snomwobiling!"

VINTAGE SHOTS FROM AROUND THE WEB:
D.R. Crews put up some cool shots form back in the day - getting some big air on his vintage bubble-top Ski-Doo! There's a good story and more photos on his blog, "Magic City Morning Star".

5.02.2008
THE SKI-WHIZ ARRIVES!
You might remember that last winter at Live On Skis, Forrest Hess used his Make-a-Wish wish to come and ride with all of us on Rainey lake in Northern Minnesota. We were stunned and honored that he picked the event, and after we all got to know this young man and his family, we even more thrilled with his choice.

Forrest Hess (left) and Joe Rainville with the customized and signed Live on Skis Liquidator hood.

We asked Forrest for a list of sleds he would like to ride; at the top of the list was a Massey-Fergeson Ski-Whiz and a John Deere Liquidator. Vintagesleds.com readers read the request, and people from all over volunteered machines for the ride.

One man (who wishes to remain anonymous) restored the Liquidator to absolute perfection. Pictured below is the hood from the machine complete with signatures from all the people on the ride.

It's been an amazing story to follow the Ski-Whiz from it's origins to Forrest's garage. Steve Thompson (kohler4403rs) donated the very first sled that he ever bought new, a 1974 Massey 304 twin. Swede donated another chassis for parts. JLOPower donated a correct set of skis, and Roger Jordon (Jekyll) donated straight up hard cold cash for the needed extra parts.

It was cleaned up and put together at Paul Shearer's shop on December 1st, 2007. Volunteers on hand to help out included Steve Mclean (oldsled), Eric (purple raider), Brian( aka Rampage), Dan (Pooch) Mike Knutson( Physcho mikeo), Steve Thompson (Kohler4403rs).

You can see the process of the sled on this Bull Sessions thread.

The sled was then hauled to DDub's place, where he re-did the hood and touched up the paint and applied the graphics. Frank from egraphicsltd.com donated the graphics (as well as the special "Live on Skis" decals).

Forrest and his Ski-Whiz at home in New York. The sled will join Forrest's growing collection of sleds.

DDub was going to bring the competed sled to Live on Skis when his transmission quit 90 miles from International Falls Minnesota. Not to worry. Trucker and Kohler_K4403rs made a mad, early morning dash to rescue the Massey and get it to Live on Skis.

At the event, we auctioned off the Ski-Whiz with 100% of the proceeds going to the Make-a-Wish foundation - over $1,300. The winner (Doc Jim) turned around and gave gave the Ski-Whiz to Forrest.

After the event, the sled went through a second day of improvements at Swede's shop. Rampage, Pooch, Doc Jim, Spike, Swede, Vahalla and Paul Shearer got together and converted it to a Mikuni carb, replaced the exhaust with a better one, and the seat got recovered. Pooch the hauled the machine to the Twin Cities to await transport to Forrest's house.

The only problem was how do we get the Ski-Whiz from Northern Minnesota to New York state where Forrest lives? Enter Joe ("John Deere Joe") Rainville. On a mission to pick up and deliver some items from the Midwest to the East, John brought the sled, and the John Deere hood to Forrest's house.

From all of us who attended Live On Skis last year, I'd like to say thanks to Joe Rainville for the gracious and generous offer to deliver the machine to Forrest - and to all the guys who worked on the Ski-Whiz. Note: If I forgot anyone in this, it was not intentional and I really do thank everyone involved!

5.01.2008
THE RETURN OF SNOWPOD.COM (SNOWmobile Picture Of the Day)
Hard to believe that it has been a year since C.J. Ramstad and his son were killed in a head-on car crash. Since that time, CJ's website, SnowPod.com, had displayed a message about the passing of the journalist and photographer.

Now comes news on from the Snowpod.com website that sometime after May 6th, they will resume posting photos from CJ's photo archive. I have seen CJ's archive myself and it is massive. I spent an entire day in there, just looking through race photos from the first 1/2 of the 1977 race season. It was overwhelming.

Glad to see it's going back up - and when they start putting new photos up, I'll let everyone know here first.

4.30.2008
THE ORIGINAL CAT SNOPRO MACHINES (PART IV)
Bet you thought I forgot all about this story huh? I blame winter. There was so much going on with the great winter we had, it was tough to keep up with any of it. But this story has been one I've been itching to get back to. So here goes...

When we last left off, I wrote about the "Odd Man Out" - that is the most unique of the 74 Cat SnoPro machines, the one and only twin tracker. I left off wondering where are the rest of these slick machines?

Before we get started on where they are, let's recap shall we?

I have pretty valid reports that as many as 20 of these chassis were built. But the four factory drivers each drove in just two classes - so only 8 of the 20 machines was actually raced by Larry Coltom, Charlie Lofton, Dave Thompson and Tom Marks. So what happened to the other 12? Well, the best reports I currently have is that all 12 were systematically crushed with a back-hoe and destroyed.

I also have reports that some, maybe all of them, were then dug up and, well, borrowed. That's a good thing - it means that they may have survived! Even if the the "dirty dozen" didn't get raced, they are still very, very unique machines and worthy of a spot in any collection.

Todd Deloria sent in these photos of what has to be a 1974 Cat SnoPro, no question. But was it raced? There's no real way of telling. Was it crushed at one time? Absolutely. But even so, Todd is going to take on the challenge of bringing this baby back to life. It looks like a real challenge, but I bet he can pull it off.

No question this is a 74 Cat SnoPro, note the round-tube front axle and driven clutch socket.

The Tunnel that was on it - sure looks like she was crushed. There was also a tag on it, and that serial number indicated it was something special.

The pan from the machine.

There was many more pictures that Todd was nice enough to share, but I just wanted to get enough up to give you an idea on what he's got. He also sent along a photo of the tag, and asked that I not publish that - which I understand completely. The number clearly indicates this is a 74 SnoPro. I think it's also pretty good evidence that some of them were crushed...

But what about the ones that were not!

That's next, I promise.

4.27.2008
BIG-MOUTH DEGENERATE HATE AND LIES
Here's a link to the original post I wrote called "Sunday in St. Germain" that caused Mike Decker to twist his panties in such bunch that he had to write the article below about me and the readers of this website.

4.25.2008
MY VACUOUS BRAIN
This is verbatim from the Winning Edge Magazine. It started out as good article about the Eagle River vintage weekend, written by none other than Mike Decker. It starts out nice, then turns very strange for the last 5 paragraphs.

Gee, I wonder if he's talking about little old me? The famous Mike Decker writing about a little 'ol nobody racing fan like me? Wow. I'm honored. Here's Mike's comments, exactly as published.

And I quote:

"There exists a pathetic segment in the snowmobile world, bent on doing harm and causing havoc to the sport they claim to espouse so dearly. This degenerate group has earned a new title and are now officially labeled "Blog Trolls" (see Urban Dictionary), spewing their hate and lies in blog form on the internet. These big-mouths, once essentially relegated to blabbing away in taverns, now find they can operate from the luxury of a pulpit via the computer.

Probably the most infamous snowmobile blog troll of all, (name withheld-just call him "#1 Troll"), actually admitted to disguising himself to attend Eagle River vintage races this year. The only reason someone would go through the bother to hide their identity, regardless of the lame reasons he would have you believe, is that he is simply a coward and ashamed of himself. After the races, he couldn't wait to run home and get on the computer and spew a litany of idiotic lies designed to inflame, all in the effort to discredit the Eagle River race and certain individuals he doesn't like.

The more notable, imbecile statements made by the #1 Troll, first had him accusing the new Vintage World Champion Fred Smith of deliberately crashing into another sled with the intent of taking him out while on his way to winning the title, then implied that Chuck Decker must have cheated in order to win his IFS class by the wide margin of half a lap that he did. It's quite obvious this person knows virtually nothing about racing or the long distinguished racing careers of these two individuals, giving insight into his hopeless, vacuous brain.

And who is this guy anyway? Is he a famous racer? Is he an industry bigshot? Is he anything? Why is it that the biggest loud-mouths are really nobodies, other than what exists in their own mind. Running a website and blog forum doesn't qualify one as anything-anyone can shoot their mouths with no regard for the truth and concoct propaganda while hiding out from the real world.

The "#1 Troll" conducts his website in classic dictator-like fashion, blocking and erasing any input that challenges or disputes what the little troll is trying oh-so hard to make you to believe. Snowmobiling doesn't need to be infringed upon by these bad-news people, our sport has enough problems. Enough is enough of this group damaging our sport. Rejecting and confronting this form of poison should be the duty of all responsible snowmobile people."