Way back in 1973, Nick Youker got a 1973 650 EXT to go racing with. He raced all over Minnesota and Wisconsin. His father Ken Youker was the mechanic, but also drove the sled sometimes. They raced it in 1974 and into 1975 as well, and often worked with the Porters and Arctic Cat to try and squeeze a few more ponies out of her.
The Nick and Ken have so many great memories from the machine that just thinking about it makes them smile. But over the years, the sled just sat, gathering dust, then dirt, then animal debris then rust and decay.
Last March, Nicks decided the sled was too special to meet its fate by rotting. So he packed it and all the parts he had for it up and hauled off to Jerry Leggit and Bill Adams of Arctic Restoration Specialties.
With a very tight deadline, the boys went to work on the sled. They tore it down to the last rivet and started cleaning and rebuilding. The vast majority of the parts are genuine Cat parts, but the tunnel was just too far gone. So they replaced it with a repop from Arctic Restorations. Just before July 4th, the whole sled was done. That has to be some kind of record doesn’t it?
I really dig the restoration of the sled – it looks as close to it did from the factory as you can get – maybe just tad nicer on the details. Ken Youker was particularly pleased to see the old sled redone and hasn’t lost the smile from his face yet I’m told. Congratulations to Ken, Nick, Bill and Jerry!
Here’s some before and after shots.
Before they got started.
Nick Youker’s got the vintage sled bug bad… his collection has been growing by leaps and bounds lately!
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!"
One of my favorite writers and posters on the Bull Sessions is JLOPower, also known as Gary Boest. His knowledge on Ski-Whiz and Massey sleds as well as their power plants has always impressed me.
When I learned he was going to lose his website, I jumped at the chance to help him out. We got him setup with a new site and he’s gone to town on adding his content from the old website as well as some new content.
He’s already got a lot of stuff up there to read – from info about the site, to decal and detail info, prototype info, readers rides, the early years of Ski-Whiz and more. I’ve been reading it all morning. Great stuff.
I’m glad we can help out; This kind of resource is exactly the kind of thing each and every brand needs.
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.
Here’s an interesting local Beausejour, Manitoba sled. This machine was built by a local racer named Dave Shack. An innovator and thinker, Dave built this independent front end machine from a 1976 TX Starfire chassis.
The Starfire had the 340 liquid kit engine and Dave installed the front end of his own design. The sled has a trailing arm construction with a single "V" or "A" arm on it’s side, and a hydraulic shock/spring. This machine did very well against leaf spring competition locally.
It was a handful to drive and maintain as it was ALWAYS being tweaked for better handling. I can remember him working on it at Tyndall garage and it was quite impressive. Dave raced this sled during the ‘76-’77 Manitoba Snowmobile Association season. In late ‘77 Dave bought a new RXL which is now in my possession.
Just got back and partially unloaded from a huge, fantastic event. I doubt Princeton has ever had a better year. Swappers as far as the eye could see!
We setup the VintageSleds.com Hospitality Center, and brought in as many of the sites visitors as we could for a chat, some pop and water and some snacks. I met literally dozens and dozens of new website visitors, and connected with dozens more I have not heard from in awhile – it was great to hear what everyone has been doing and is up to.
There was some AMAZING finds at Princeton. First up is a 1977 Factory John Deere race sled that just showed up on a trailer! The new owner (wishing to remain anonymous at this point) was literally shaking with excitement when he told me about it. His cell phone minutes and his battery were burnt out in a short period of time when word got out. None other than two original Enduro Team Deere factory race team members confirmed the sled. Here’s Steve Tabor, one of the original ETD members talking about this fascinating sled.
Here’s some more great Princeton finds:
This I believe to be one of Gordon Rudolph’s early prototype IFS machines. It has some mysteries, but it does sure look to be one of the real deals. Gordon may have made as many as 8 of these machines. Gordon worked with Polaris on the development of the very successful RXL’s.
Any idea what this is? Adam Leubner would like to know as well! This is a prototype of some sort – we assume Arctic Cat. It has a very unique motor mounting, steering system and clutch guard. Any information would be appreciated! Check out this thread if you can help!
Long time readers of VintageSleds.com will remember this sled! I made a trip to Sweden in 2001 and put up pictures of this machine from there. I had worked out a deal to buy it at that time, but we never worked out the details of getting it shipped back. I kept working with the owner, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and months turned into years. Frankly, I forgot about it. Until Sunday when a friend informed me there was a 1980 Arctic Cat snopro for sale in the swap from Sweden… Thinking "No way, it can’t be!" I charged over to take a look. The owner remembered me right away and I reminded him of our deal. "But now the price has gone up!" he kept saying. After awhile I again gave up – more for that fact that I really have no place to put the machine than the fact that we had a deal. Oh well, I’m not out anything and this is a very good condition Cat that I am sure will find a good home!
Here is the owner – his name is "Bengon" and if the machine is not already sold, it will be at Hay Days!
This cute little green guy nearly followed me home. I got pretty caught up in "Deere Fever" what with all the race sleds around and Waconia featuring John Deere this year.
Kurt and Joanne had an open house to celebrate the completion of the new facility housing their sizable and growing collection of Bombardier performance and racing machines. The get together was also to celebrate Joanne’s recent aquistion of a new college degree – and we congratulate her. Friends, business associates, relatives, racers and more congregated near the new facility for some good food, free drinks, camping, and lots and lots of breeze killing. I had a blast and would like to thank The dynamic duo for their hostpitality and say thanks to everyone I got a chance to talk with there for a great time. I’ll let the pictures do the talking!
Click each photo for a larger one and a caption on what it is.
Way back in 1973, Nick Youker got a 1973 650 EXT to go racing with. He raced all over Minnesota and Wisconsin. His father Ken Youker was the mechanic, but also drove the sled sometimes. They raced it in 1974 and into 1975 as well, and often worked with the Porters and Arctic Cat to try and squeeze a few more ponies out of her.
With a very tight deadline, the boys went to work on the sled. They tore it down to the last rivet and started cleaning and rebuilding. The vast majority of the parts are genuine Cat parts, but the tunnel was just too far gone. So they replaced it with a repop from Arctic Restorations. Just before July 4th, the whole sled was done. That has to be some kind of record doesn’t it?
