Ever since 1973, Mark Anderson has been racing – and winning on the ice oval. Mark Anderson, with 35 points, is the overall winner in the first ever 2005 Vintage SnoPro Master Series.
Mark started the series at Freeport, winning three classes and finishing 2nd in three more. Moving on to Arctic Cat’s back door on his 1973 Polaris Starfires, Mark won four more races and took a 2nd and 3rd in two more. In Strathcona, Mark won four races and took another second. Wrapping up the season in Beausejour, Mark won two and took 2nd in two more.
Going to battle with just two sleds, one a 340cc and the other a 650cc machine, Mark won 13 of the 20 races he entered. Those of you who have seen Mark run know he is one tough competitor. For those of you that have not made it to a big time vintage race yet, here’s the scoop on the first ever name on the Hall of Fame trophy. Mark will also receive $1,200 in prize money, and a big huge take home trophy courtesy of our sponsors.
Mark started racing in 1973 on a 73 tx 295cc Polaris TX he scrimped and saved for at a very young age. In his first race in Manitowac Wisconsin, Mark won the stock class he entered, only to find that USSA rules disqualified the 73 295cc TX because Polaris had not made enough of them. Frustrated, Mark sold the sled and bought a 295cc Starfire, won his first race on it, and he still owns it today. In fact Mark says at next years Hall of Fame Ride With the Champs vintage ride, he will be riding his original 295cc Starfire.
Mark ran a number of sleds over the years, including an RXL in about 1979 through 1981. He switched to a Scorpion SnoPro chassis, with a 340cc Super mod Rotax motor. IN 1988, the racing associations weighted results in favor of the early race at Eagle River. Mark had built a Pro-Sprint sled and won more races then anyone else that year, but had to settle for a 3rd overall in points – due to the heavy weighting of points at Eagle River earlier in the year.
Later a twin-track Ski-Doo was under Mark at the track. He recently learned that the motor from that sled was used to power Al Fenhaus to his Eagle River World Championship. Ski-Doo gave Mark a ride on a 1995 stocker. He did well but felt the restraints of running a ’stock’ sled overly restrictive. Mark went back to modified racing at that time, but hired driver Jason Looker to campaign his sled.
The first time Mark saw vintage racers was at Eagle River where just 5 sleds were on the track. Mark jumped into the vintage races in 1999 aboard the original 295cc Starfire. In 2000, Mark won two firsts, a second and a Friday night title at the famed Eagle River track.
Last year and this year Mark finally gave up on the new sleds, instead choosing to go back to driving and racing the vintage sleds exclusively. “The vintage sleds are a lot more work to drive” Mark said. “When the track is rough, you really feel it, but it’s still a real thrill”.
Mark is sponsored by his company, Anderson Heating and Sheet Metal, Mike Wienandt Performance (been doing his engines for 25 years!) Super Seer, Knorr Auto Body, Kirby Company and Auto Trim and Design. Mark is assisted in victory by his girlfriend Marilyn Harvot and vintage super-guy Rod Everts, who owns Marks 650cc race sled.
Congratulations to Mark!
| 2005 Vintage SnoPro Leaf Spring Class Top Ten | ||
| 1 | Mark Anderson | Polaris |
| 2 | Derek DeLisle | Yamaha |
| 3 | Jacob Goede | Polaris |
| 4 | Kelly Renkin | Johnson/Viking |
| 5 | John Schumacher | Polaris |
| 6 | Jim Lennox | Polaris/Cat |
| 7 | Mike Meagher | Arctic Cat |
| 8 | Dick Peterson | Polaris |
| 9 | Nathan Lindhom | Polaris/Cat |
| 10 | Greg Homme | Arctic Cat |
Coming up: Our first ever IFS Class winner!