You are currently browsing the archives for the Snowmobile Legends category.
Check out the stunningly cool article on Jeff Biddiscombe over at SnoProUsa.com. My friend Joel has done an outstanding job of interviewing Jeff and getting up tons of pictures from Jeff’s racing career that spans from 1967 all the ay through the early 1980’s. It also features pictures of Jeff’s amazing collection of race sleds and parts! NICE WORK JOEL!
The alarm clock went off this morning at the usual time. What was unusual was that the first words I heard this morning were “It’s Alive!!” from the Oingo Boingo song Weird Science.
“How fitting” I thought, as my thirteen year old Cat squeaked out a little noise during her morning stretch. Why was it odd to wake up to that song? Because this was the day that I was to see if a four year old restoration project of mine would finally come to life.
In the first races of the 1977-1978 SnoPro season, each Polaris driver on the Midnight Blue Express (Jerry Bunke, Steve Thorsen and Brad Hulings) had a regular 440 – that is with an aluminum bulkhead. They also each had a 440X machine, as well as each having a 250 and a 340 RXL, which were pretty much the same machines as the independents had.
What I didn’t realize until lately was that there was in fact 3 more made just for Eagle River. Along with the magnesium bulkhead, these machines had lightweight brake disks, shafts, thinner tunnels – whatever they could do to shave a little more weight off the machines.
The first time they hit the ice was at Eagle River. Both Jerry and Steve qualified for the coveted "World’s Championship" but Brad crashed his machine, first corner, first heat race. Brad crashed and fell off, but that machine bounced out of the race track with the throttle stuck wide-open, and slammed into a parked ambulance.
"There was nothing left of it" Brad told me in a later interview. "Nothing?" I said. "Nothing." he repeated.
Jerry Bunke’s Eagle River machine is in the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain Wisconsin. Steve Thorsen’s is owned by Rob McMillian, and we have chronicled that sled often here. Brad’s Eagle River sled was destroyed.
But all three 440X sleds survived the years – mostly. Having been a huge fan of the Polaris Midnight Blue Express as a kid, I never, ever in my wildest dreams thought I would own one of these machines.
But way back in 2004, I traded a very, very nice original condition superstock 340 RXL for a rolling chassis that was in Maine. At the time, I was not sure of what it was, other than it was another RXL, but with a magnesium bulkhead. I knew it had to have some kind of history with that.
It took a very long time to find all the missing parts – the hardest part being the not-so-common 440 Polaris triple RXL motor. Once I had that, I started working on the sled.
I was thinking that it would be a fairly quick job; after all, by the time I started in October of 2006, I had pretty much all the parts. I also decided to show the work off as it was being done, and I did so on a thread in the Bull Sessions.
That turned out to be a pretty clever move. I got help from all over the U.S. and Canada. Turns out a lot of people would like to see it done. As of this writing, the Rocky thread is one of the most popular on the Bull Sessions.
But then I started to run into some issues. The big one being time. I just wasn’t able to get out in the garage and get any quality time with the machine. I had no pipes for it, but I looked everywhere to see if I could find an original set. No such luck. If 440 RXL motors are rare, the pipes are just plain non-exist ant. Enter Dave Crumb, who volunteered to take the job on.
This was no easy task; Dave is in New York. The sled is in Minneapolis. So Dave borrowed a set from Jon Pardee who owns Bernat/Hulings 440 machine from 1977. He did a killer job! But the 78 440X chassis is different, and the pipes did not fit exactly right. So off to Willy Ewing they went for a fitting.
I found out a lot of very interesting things about the 440 RXL’s during a conversation with 1978 factory team mechanic Greg Hedlund; There was no standard pipe for these machines. They were all hand built. If one guy crashed, he could not borrow a pipe from another sled. They would not fit.
After getting the pipes on, the next problem was the hood. It just wouldn’t fit right, no matter how much I cut it. In fact I ruined two hoods before getting the third to fit, and it took one more pipe re-fitting to get it right. Hint: The factory team ran their hoods about 2" lower than everyone else.
On the way to get the pipes fitted to the correct hood fitting, we stopped in at Larry Rugland Motorsports and showed him the sled. In particular, we showed him the clutch guard where the phrase "Rocky The Flying Squirrel" is scrawled into the metal, and "Don’t Crash Me" on the handlebars.
Larry looked at the Rocky the Flying Squirrel and got a huge grin on his face. No question what this machine was after that.
"Brad was the lightest yet strongest race driver I ever knew. He was little, but he had barrels for arms. I just started calling him Rocky the Flying Squirrel after the cartoon. I’d always yell at him and say Rocky! Try this! And he’d reply Okay, Bullwinkle."
So this morning, I had some very small tasks to do before starting it. Adjust the track, test the job I did on bleeding the brakes the day before, and make sure it had to anti-freeze leaks. Then put some gas in it. 110 race fuel.
Then it was go time. I swear my heart had not pounded this hard since I could remember. I started to doubt myself. Was every bolt tight? What did I forget?
I ran through a check list in my brain about 20 times. Then I gently blew into the gas tank to get some fuel into the carbs.
The last time this machine ran was March of 1978. Would it indeed run after thirty one years and seven months?
On the 3rd pull it popped and sputtered. On the fifth, it idled for a bit then stopped. Thrilled, I grabbed the camera.
And here ladies and gentleman is pull number six:
I saw this sled (as did a great many) at this years Hay-Days. I know it’s not vintage (except for the sexy graphics package) but this is just really cool. For anyone who doesn’t know, Gabe is the only son of Jerry Bunke, the outstanding oval racer who raced for the Polaris factory between 1976 and 1978.
Gabe is now an outstanding racer in his own right. At just 32 years old, Gabe was most recently named by the United States Cross Country circuit as their "Iron man" for racing every event last year, and winning three class point titles, and consistent top-five finishes.
He’s won grueling Soo I-500 oval endurance race twice, once in 2002 and once in 2005. He’s won a bunch of other cross-country titles between 2005 and 2008.
I couldn’t help seeing that sled at Hay-Days and thinking that Dad would be one extremely proud parent right about now.
Why would we be talking about motorcycles here on VintageSleds.com? Because Gary Mathers got his start in motorsports with snowmobiles at Polaris way back in 1973.
Gary was named racing director there and was put in charge of the race team at home and on the road. He was managing the Polaris SnoPro Squad in 1974 when they dominated as well as in 1975 when they came out on top again. He then went to Kawasaki and managed their short lived SnoPro effort.
When Gary moved to run the motorcycle racing programs at Kawasaki then later Honda, his keen eye for talent and drive to succeed helped him dominate with those racing efforts as well.
Check out the stories today at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame website, as well as the Speed Tv website.
Some more pictures from the show in May at St. Germain for the Hall of Fame. These all came from Leon of Kochs Performance, who had the time of his life that day re-uniting Wayne and his original 1975 race sled. I think the photos tell the story.
Wayne signs the very cool posters had made up – some will be auctioned off for charity soon!
Left to right: Wayne Trapp, Leon Koch, Mike Johnson (Mike has been instrumental in finding a ton of rare Yamaha stuff) Leon’s wife Penne, and Lynn Trapps son Ty.
Wayne and his long lost 75 PDC racer reunited!
Wayne autographing the hood
Ken Jacobson sent in some more classic, really fascinating pictures from West Yellowstone in 1970. Some how as a young man, Ken figured out to take pictures of the really interesting stuff and save it for decades… pretty cool.
First up is a sled only mentioned in legend and rumors. The ill-fated Polaris NX. Yes, an NX. It was to be the new “Colt” but early testing was not so good. Even though many of the parts went into production, the sled itself never made it that far. Years ago while digging through Bud McCullums salvage yard, I found all kinds of parts for the NX, but until today I never seen a complete sled. There is one in Roseau I hear…
Update: I’ve been informed that this is not likely to be the NX. I’m hoping to get some photos soon.
This fellow is a 69 racer… with a twist. That’s one of the first new “Star” engines in the one labeled 567B. The motor did not set the world on fire that day in West Yellowstone. But twins and triples that would follow sure would.
That’s just Bob Eastman relaxing before he goes out and stomps on the other 800’s 650’s at West Yellowstone in 1970.
My thanks again to Ken Jacobsen for sharing these really great photos!
Talk about a game changer. The "Karpik Special" Ski-Doo would have radically altered the snowmobile landscape in the late 1980’s, but for 
whatever reason, Ski-Doo did not make a production version. According to owner Patrick Zeltinger, just three of these sleds were ever built. You can look in any of the old books and magazines and see that the first year these sleds were raced, they won a ton of races in the then new "Sno-Cross" format.
Patrick Zeltinger bought the parts – enough for three total sleds, all torn apart, in 1987 from Randy Karpik. The first one he has nearly assembled has an original hood, belly pan, seat, gas tank, skis, front suspension, and most of the rear suspension.
Patrick is hoping to have it done and at Waconia in time, but he’s not sure if he can make it. Hope so. Very cool sled.
If I’m not mistaken, doesn’t the above picture have the same number 62 that was on the "retired" Mark Anderson’s 1973 Polaris Starfires a few years back? The same Mark Anderson that won the Vintage SnoPro Series twice? I thought he retired?
Well since this photo showed up in the inbox just tonight, my guess is this sled is on it’s way to the big Vintage Derby Weekend in Eagle River Wisconsin. I’ll be there with a camera and computer do some podcasting. I’ll get the real story!
Jim Smith sent in these stunning photos a few days back, and we just had to share them. Talk about a trip back into time! The shots were taken by Spokane Washington resident Bob Taylor (all rights reserved) in 1971 and 1972. All the shots were taken in West Yellowstone Montana. Bob went to the VSCA National show in Coeur D’ Alene last fall. Brad Warning had brought the Boss Cat II out, and it reminded bob of his photos and watching the Boss Cat II run all those years ago.
My thanks to Bob and Jim for getting this photos into us. Very nice!
 |
 |
|
The original “Boss Cat”. It was completely destroyed in a fire.
|
|
 |
 |
|
More of the original Boss Cat. Notice the Inspector Henderson of the Safety Patrol in the purple suit.
|
|
 |
 |
|
Darrell Courtwright and and unknown Polaris engineer try and get the X-3 rolling.
|
The Ski-Doo X-4R
|
 |
 |
|
Bombardier technicians getting the X-4R going.
|
Fascinating shot of the Boss Cat. Note the 4 cylinder Kawasaki motor. It was reportedly used to start the turbine.
|
 |
 |
|
More of the Bombardier team on the X-4R
|
Boss Cat III looking mean as ever.
|
 |
 |
|
Two shots showing how the Boss Cat II was loaded into the Boss Cat Hauler. It was lowered down from the top level, then carefully wheeled out. Note the nose going into the snow.
|
|
 |
We consider these photos all the property of Bob Taylor, and they are here with his permission. They may not be used on print or on other websites without his permission.
|
|
Boss Cat III being pulled out.
|
|
I’ve been informed that Ski-Doo legend and all around good-guy Gaston Ferland is registered to race 440 Mod at Beausejour this weekend! This is the first big-time race of the ‘09 season, featuring late model and vintage sleds. If you can make it – don’t miss it!