Tonight I was working on the 78 RXL 440-X sled that I am restoring. The bulkhead is magnesium. I had sent it off to be stripped of the black paint that had been put on it over the years, and the cracks that needed welding. I got it back yesterday. It’s starting to look awesome.
While painting the handlebars, I found the phrase “Don’t Crash me” on the top of them. I was amused by that, but had no idea if it was done originally, or if it had been added over the years. I left it, just in case it was original. You can still read it throught the new paint.
I was trying to decide if I should just clean and clear coat the magnesium bulkhead, or sand it just a bit to try to make it look like it did when it came off the race track in 1978.
Thankfully, my instincts got the best of me and I decided to lightly sand it off. I started on the clutch guard as that would be the easiest. As I was sanding, I noticed someone had written the word “Rocky” in the magnesium clutch guard.
Intrigued, I sanded ever so lightly some more. Slowly, the word “Squirrel” came into view. Now I was starting to feel like I really found something interesting. I continued to clean, then I caught the whole phrase. “Rocky the Flying Squirrel”. The handwriting was the same as the ” Don’t Crash Me” on the handlebars.
So there I sat in my shop, thinking “What the ???????” What does a cartoon character from the 1960’s have to do with a 1978 440-X RXL? I scrunched my brow. I paced. I twisted my head and looked at the phrase over and over again. I felt like an archeologist. A confused archeologist, but an archeologist who had a mystery to solve, none the less.
As I may have mentioned, I’m writing a book about the Polaris race efforts in the 1960’s and 1970’s. I have already interviewed many of the players, including Sir Larry Rugland. In that interview, I remembered he mentioned “Rocky the Flying Squirrel”. I raced into my office to look up the notes from that interview.
Brad Hulings in 1978 was light, aggressive, and very fast. So much so that Larry nick named him ” Rocky the Flying Squirrel”. Every time Larry called him “Rocky”, Brad would respond “Okay Bullwinkel”.
When I read the notes back, I laughed out loud. I danced a strange little geek dance. I ran around in circles a bit.
I had suspected the sled was Hulings 1978 440-X sled. Jerry Bunke’s is in the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain Wisconsin. Steve Throsen’s 1978 World Championship sled is in Canada in the good care of my friend. The handlebars on my 440-X matched Brad’s, as did the gas tank and the foot loop mounting holes. But I didn’t feel that was good enough verification. But seeing the phrase “Rocky the Flying Squirrel” on the clutch guard brought it all together.
I had to run right out and party with the Vman and his crazy neighbors.
I’d show you a picture, but the writing was so small that I could not get a good photo. But if you come see the sled, I’ll show it to you. It’s there.
Life is good.