Mitchell has been an avid snowmobiler since he was just two years old, riding his first Kitty Cat. He tried snocross at age 8 and has grass drag raced his 120 at age 10.

Mitchell’s dad (Bryan) told Mitchell he could run at Hay Days this year on a 440 fan cooled machine, and that was all it took to send the young mans already growing obsessions with sleds into hyper-overdrive. Mitchell wants to dive right in and race against anyone and everyone – and he wants to learn from them.

Mitchell’s sled of choice now is is a 1978 Yamaha 440cc fan cooled exciter. Bryan owns it, and together he and Mitchell do all the work on it. Bryan does the jetting, the clutching and the suspension work, while Mitchell studs the track and checks various parts for any hint of problems.

Prior to Hay Days Mitchell testing all week and felt he had gained some from the year before. But regardless, there was a long sleepless night the before, when both dad and son were pondering if they had done enough. Had they made the right choices? This was Mitchell’s big shot at Hay Days and they did not want to blow it. Saturday morning came, and from breakfast through the drivers meeting, it was tough to know who was more excited – Bryan or Mitchell.

Standing near the line with his son, Bryan told him "”Remember, do your best and have fun, have fun, it’s why we’re here" Mitch’s first pass claimed him 3rd place in Jr. 440 fan! But that wasn’t good enough for the young man. "Dad, I can do better at the light!" he said. Bryan made some adjustments, and off he went again.

The rest, as they say is history. Mitchell Sebastian became a Hay Days Champ at just 13 years old! And it’s tough to tell who is more proud – Mitchell or his Dad.

Both however have Mom to thank for letting them play in this great sport and Mitchell also has some sponsors to thank – including Kentucky Fried Chicken in Spencer, Iowa, Spencer Motorsports, SS Cycle Works in Spencer, Krukow Construction, his friends, Keegan and Scott. Justin Sorenson and his vintage racing buddy Josh Erdman. His drag racing idol is Pat Hauck.

I’d say the future looks bright for this young man – and I’m sure his Father would agree!

Josh Pecha has been diagnosed with vacuolar cancer and his headed into Chemo therapy in about two weeks. Doctors say it is highly unlikely that Josh would be strong enough to pilot his Polaris racers for the 2009-2010 season, but the whole family is gearing up for a 2010-2011 return.

Josh and his family have always been people I look forward to seeing at shows, races and events all over – truly some of the great people in this hobby.

The family says they do not want any financial help, but are exploring ways to raise money for cancer research. Expect to see some “RACING AGAINST CANCER” on more than a few sleds this year.

It hit home when I got the email about Josh yesterday. Doc Jim and I lost mom to cancer about 2 years ago, dad has recently been treated (successfully!) for lung cancer, and we have a 16 year old nephew who underwent Chemo last spring and did something really spectacular this summer courtesy of the Make A Wish foundation.

Cody, my nephew, got to travel to New York and visit with his idol, actor/producer Kevin Smith. What he was told is that he may only have a couple of minutes with Mr. Smith. But he actually spent the entire day with him, and even Smith even wrote Cody into the movie he is working on in New York!

Cody will have a scene in the move tentatively called "Two Dicks" where he gets to run over Bruce Willis. Not only did Cody get to meet Kevin, but he also got to meet Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. It was a pretty amazing adventure for the young man to be sure!

We here at VintageSleds.com would like to wish Josh and his family (Kris, Joy and Jennifer) our very best. We’ll help keep family and friends across the country up to date on Josh’s progress as he recovers. Josh is fierce competitor and one heck of a sportsman, and we will miss him at the races this year.

I am pleased to announce that VintageSleds.com will sponsor the 440 Super-Mod feature race at the Classic Vintage World Championship in Eagle River Wisconsin, January 8th-10th, 2010.

The 1985 and older Super-Mod 440 Free-Air class will run a 10 lap final with the winners walking away with $5,000 and the winner will take home the VintageSleds.com Cup.

Last year the Derby Track had 750 entries for the vintage weekend, the highest they’ve ever had. This year is expected to be the same or perhaps better.

I’ve been to almost every vintage weekend at the Derby track since they started it and every year the racers have gotten better, faster and tougher. Every year the crowds have been getting bigger. The Derby Track is a great facility both for fans and racers, and they crew there really does put on a excellent show with both the fans and racers in mind.

So this year, make plans to attend the race, spend some time riding in the area, and we’ll see you there! More information as it becomes available.

Rumors mixed with pretty solid facts point to one of our favorite racers coming back in 2009-2010 with a fleet of six or more Polaris RXL’s to race. Dick Peterson started out a very tough competitor on a fleet of 1973 Polaris Starfires and built 3 RXL’s to race in 2006-2007. We hear now that Wahl Brothers is helping Dick get some more ready, and that he’lll have an additional driver with him – putting two RXLS’s in ever class.

To Mr. Petereson, I believe I speak for a great many people when I say "Welcome back!"

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.

Gordy Vogelaar bought this 79 RXL hood out of the store some time back to put it on his Formula 340 race sled. Instead, he tore the whole sled down and started over, building clone RXL from an 81 Indy. It took 2.5 months of fabricating – but man oh man did it turn out sweet!

Nice job Gordy and we look forward to seeing it on the ice!

Rumor mill is running absolutely wild over this one… could the late model oval racing guys be making a move to gain back the popularity of oval racing that it once enjoyed?

What I’ve heard is that the racers themselves have decided to create and run their own corporation/association to run and promote races and the race drivers. The really exciting part? They want vintage oval racing to be a big part of the show! The big rumor is of a "pilot" race this winter (perhaps at the track in Sauk Centre?) to test the concept and the response.

Boy do I hope this is true. Nothing would make me smile like seeing thousands of fans out watching oval racing where ever it goes again. It’s going to take a lot of work, and the Internet will be absolutley key to the marketing success of such a venture… but I believe the drivers and race teams taking charge of thier own sport is the right way to go.

More to come …

UPDATE: THE RUMOR IS TRUE!

Check out this post in the Bull Sessions. From the post: "The Oval Racers Alliance is very happy to announce the 1st Annual Am-Can Nationals Ice Oval Race at I-94 Speedway in Sauk Centre, MN February 5th, 6th, and 7th, 2010. This organization was formed to help promote the sport of Ice Oval Racing and bring it back where it belongs as the premier form of Snowmobile Racing. Although the ORA was formed primarily by late model racers and crew members, we knew early on that including the Vintage Racing community was going to be essential to gain the membership and fan base that we would like to attain. We will have more details on the event itself in the next week or so, but as of last evening, the date is set and the race is ON!"

All in all a great day at the Rip Roarin’ ROLA days grass drags in New York Mills last Saturday. The event staff was doing a great job running races quickly, one right after the other. I must have talked to 3 dozen people out there, and all of them were in a great mood – despite the cloudy weather and occasional rain. It never rained hard enough to scare anyone away, so the races went on as planned. Enough of my blathering – here’s the photos.

"Reverend" Dale Sloper (middle) with Vance Elfering (magnumman) on the right. The bone stock Rupp F/A was one of the days big winners. I got to peak under the hood of that sled. It’s so clean we could have a nice dinner off of it. But it’s not just for show. This Rupp is tuned to perfection and kicks.

Dave Delaughter and crew lit up the cloudy air with this new Yamaha powered triple monster. We got some video of it running below.

The ever popular "Kawasaki Kate" is always gracious and sweet – till she gets behind a throttle and hammers on the boys till they cry for mercy! Kate, her dad and her brother were all having a great time. They must of run 2 dozen races.

Jeff Lausten gives his son some last minute top-secret advice before the race. "Now remember, the nitrous button is on the left!"

Top secret photo of a Mikuni powered Cuyuna engine with a stock {{cough, cough}} pipe.

Yesterday I spent several hours at Rip Roarin’ Rola days in New York Mills. This is their annual grass drags and get together. I have photos and some good video coming. For now, just wanted to say thanks to the guys putting it on and congrats to all the winners in the days events.

Out in Midland, Michigan it’s the Erskine Marine vintage show and our intrepid roving report Joe Desarmoux (“Demo”) is out there interviewing anyone who will stand in front of the camera. He got this really great footage Friday night of a restored sled with a special "emergency" kit in it. Check out the thread for updated photos and more videos.

Could this be the photo of the year for 2009? Rob Bye of RobByePhoto.com caught this moment in time at the March race on Beausejour Manitoba last winter.

Troy Lefko on the Ski-Doo is running head to head with Troy Pierce on his RXL. Most of the race was like this, but Troy Pierce on the Polaris did come out on top when Lefko ran into some mechanical problems.

What I love about the photo is the clarity, the detail and the subject matter. Notice how well Both machines look, and how well both drivers outfits blend in with the machines. All in all, with the sun light, the action – neither driver willing to give an inch. This is an excellent shot.

Have a great weekend – if you’re out and about, we’ll see you at the Erskine Marine show in Midland Michigan! You can discuss the photo on the Bull Sessions.