I’ll bet you thought I forgot about this story huh? No way! The 74 Cat factory machines are on my all time list of the coolest sleds ever made! But in case you are new to the story or have just forgotten, let’s recap.
In Part I of the series, we discussed the history of the original SnoPro series, as wells as the original Cats. In Part II, we clarified what we are looking for: The original sleds raced by the factory. We also learned that as many as 20 chassis were built but only 8 were raced buy Dave Thompson, Larry Coltom, Charlie Lofton and Tom Marks. In Part III of the series, we discussed how to tell a real one. Pretty easy since the sleds are very unique.
In Part IV, we took a little detour and talked about the odd man out, the only 74 twin tracker SnoPro built by Arctic in response to the Alouette twin tracker. In Part V we identify the first of the machines, Charlie Lofton’s 650.
So that leaves at Part VI, and as promised, We’ve located Dave Thompson’s original 340 machine.
It’s current owner is Canadian Darnell Nuhn. Darnell bought the sled as it is pictured here from Gordon Rhode. Gordon is very much worth mentioning here, as he and one other gentleman largely bought up ALL of the stuff from the Arctic Cat race shop when Cat went out of business in 1981. In fact as I understand it, they bought large semi loads of it, including this machine, for pennies on the dollar. Oh to have a time machine and to have been at that auction.
Gordon Rhode was an avid racer in the 1960’s. If you look at any old stats from Rhinelander, Eagle River or around upper Michigan, you will see Gordon Rhode’s name all over the place. He’s pictured in Warriors of Winter as well as in Phil Mickelson’s Ski-Doo racing book.
The photos come from John Jantsch. They were taken at Rhode’s auction sale in the fall of 1995. Note the sled was probably raced after 1974, as the hood has the "Pro-Mod" decals instead of the "Sno-Pro" decal it originally had.
You can clearly see the #22 of Dave Thompson on the tunnel. Is it 100% that this is Dave’s original 340 he raced? Well to be honest, we can’t know for sure. But the probability is so high that I would have to say it is the right sled.
Up next in Part VII: Tom Mark’s 650! Pictured below is mechanic and Chief Entertainment Officer for Arctic Cat, Dell Wahl and driver Tom Marks in Ironwood Michigan, December of 1973.
