This just in! The 2010 Snowmobile Hall of Fame inductees, chosen by Hall of Fame members, has just been released! Keith Vreeland of Mosinee, WI, Clyde Seely of West Yellowstone, Montana, Ray Monsrud of Roseau, Minnesota and Jim Dimmerman of WHite Bear Lake Minnesota are the class for this year!
We’ll bring the bio of EACH of the winners in the next few days – congrats to the inductees!
Just got a note that the 2009 Erskine Marine Vintage Show and Swap held last August 9th in Mid-MIchigan is being broadcast on SNOW TRAILS TV on many PBS stations across the snow belt! Look for episode 7-10, and it also features the 41st running of the Soo I-500!. If you’re looking for it on TV schedules, search for "41st Soo-I-500".
Can’t you almost smell the klotz in the air when you look at the photo below? Taken today at the historic Derby Track, you can see ice is being made around the clock for the festivities that start soon.
Word is that ice in Rock Rapids will not be a problem – so we should see some fine racing two weeks from today! How’s a fella supposed to sleep knowing that??
**Keep checking the SnoPro page to see who has signed up as a driver for 2010! We keep adding them every day – over 20 drivers so far!!**
I’m always on the look out for new things that vintage sledders might love to have. I think I found some good ones.
First up is the new Old Iron DVD. This DVD is a newly produced DVD of vintage snowmobiling, covering racing, shows and more. Footage includes old Arctic Cat factory shots, lots of footage from the Waconia show in 2008, 2008 Eagle River Vintage races, including the big World’s Championship. There’s some 1974 SnoPro footage, some on the Polaris thrill team, a brief interview with Edgar Hetteen and much, much more.
It’s color, over 70 minutes long and is great quality footage.
Next up is "I raced Ski-Doo" a photographic look back at Ski-Doo’s racing campaign from 1969 through 1978, and some detailed information on the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain Wisconsin. This book contains some very rare, never before scene shots of the factory Ski-Doo racers and sleds.
Featured are Yvon Duhamel, Jerry Jandt, Doug Hayes, Steve Ave, Ed Scubitzke, Jim Bauer, Mike Trapp, Ronnie Durmont, Gaston Ferland, Claude Desrosiers, Chuck Decker, Larry Rugland, Leroy Lindblad, Bobby Donahue and many of the fine Bombardier race mechanics. The best pictures are from 1976 and 1977.
Both"I Raced Ski-Doo … A Different Point of View" and the "Old Iron" DVD are dedicated to our old friend C.J. Ramstad.
Finally, these have been in the store for awhile, but have been a big hit. These are the 2009-2010 VintageSleds.com racing t-shirts, available in tan and green, with VIntageSleds.com on the front, and the Go Fast, Turn Left, Look cool logo on the back. On sale now for just $17.00!
Have a great thanksgiving holiday everyone, and let’s get ready for winter 2009-2010!
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!
This absolutely mint 1972 Skidoo 300 Olympic Standard will be up for raffle at the LIVE ON SKIS ride in Lapeer Michigan on February 13th, 2010.
It came right from the original owner, and was kept in a heated carpeted garage. We can’t find anything damaged – and the only thing "wrong" is that it is missing the engine/carb covering. It Runs and looks fantastic!
The standard Oly has the sleek style seat just like the TNT, and has the fixed headlight. Comes with a mint condition matching OEM Cover and original tool kit.
Raffle tickets will be sold THIS WEEKEND at the A-1 for just $5 each! This sled will be at other events throughout the season and tickets can be purchased by contacting me, LIVE ON SKIS Lapeer Michigan host Doug Lubahn.
Proceeds from the raffle will go to benefit both MAW (a fantastic Michigan based handicapped hunters organization) and Wheelin Team 457
Drawing will be held at the LOS Lapeer Event- need not be present to win.
Here’s the info on my latest find. It’s a another 1969 Hornet but this one has the wheel kit.
I’ve been hunting for one with the wheels for a while now and fortunate enough to call on this one at the right time. The connection to this sled started some 5 years ago not long after I bought my first Hornet. I had seen pictures of this sled on the net with the owners name. With a little searching I found a couple of phone numbers and called to see if I could find out anything new about the Hornets or the company that made them, Jet Dynamics. We talked for a while and as far as my poor memory can recall that was the only time I talked to him, until two days ago.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago, when I got a call from Les Pinz. Les and I have talked now and then over the years, mostly me asking questions about Scorpion or Polaris sleds but this time we got to talking about Jet Dynamics and he asked about the serial number of my Hornet. I looked in my "secret" sled info binder as I new I had written it down but as I do often, didn’t write it down in the section marked "Hornet". I new I had it somewhere so after we hung up I started looking through my notes.
I found the serial number along with some other Hornet info and a couple of phone numbers. I had forgotten all about this sled and remembered that when I called years ago it was sitting in the barn with the wheels on it. Since it had been several years since I called I thought I’d see if it was still around. I couldn’t remember which was the correct number so I called the first number, answering machine, left a message hoping someone would call back. I called the second number and gave my name and why I was calling, he laughed and said that’s my dad you’re looking for and thought he still had the sled. It turned out that I had already left a message at his dad’s so I’d wait and hope to get hear from him.
It wasn’t 20 minutes later the phone rings, it’s the first number calling me back. Either I’m going to get chewed out for bothering him or I’ll actually get to talk to another Hornet owner. We talked for a few minutes and I asked "is there any chance this sled is for sale?" He said "Sure. I’ve been thinking about getting rid of it for some time now". Talk about calling at the right time!
We worked out the deal and I left the next morning to go pick it up. I didn’t want this one to slip through my fingers. I left Pittsboro at 4:15 AM and made it to Minneapolis just before 1:30pm, 595 miles.
What a beautiful sight it is to pull in the drive and see this machine sitting there all wheeled up just waiting for me. As all good sled transactions go there’s always stories traded and this was no exception. As cool as this sled is, it was the only one he ever owned but he was into just about everything else that had an engine.
It was a great trip and this checks one off the very top of my "Gotta Find" list.
I had a fantastic time at the A-1 show in New Lothrop Michigan last weekend. My thanks to host and all-around fabulous lady Dianne Miller, and the party of crazies I drove up to the show with. They kept me laughing so hard I almost split a gut on the way there.
Here’s just a few videos and shots from the show. First up is T.J. Henriken riding his 1969 Hornet around on the wheel kit. Very cool.
Next is Greg Spaulding explaining one of six ever built 1976 Rotax prototype SnoPro motors. Greg was one of the original mechanics at the time, so he knew all about the motor in great detail. Greg also runs Spauldings Vintage Snowmobile, a great resource for re-pop parts.
Last, but certainly not least is some fantastic, sunny day photos of the Boss Cat III, newly restored by the Warning family. The restoration made it’s debut at the A-1 show.
9 Year old Garret Rimko of Sharpsville, PA quickly became one of everyone’s favorites with his extensive enthusiasm for old sleds.
Dave and his new racing ride for 2010: Clark Motorsports replica of the very successful 1980 Steve Thorsen Cat SnoPros.
Friday night we were greeted by this amazing display from Team Highland, one of Michigan’s biggest and baddest enduro race teams.
Amongst the dozens and dozens of photos sent in of the restoration of the Arctic Cat Boss Cat III, I thought this one was just kind of the coolest. It’s the best shot that shows how big it is, how cool the 4 motors are and how much work went into the original creation of the sled and the restoration of it.
More photos and the FULL story to come. BOSS CAT III will be at A-1 in Michigan tomorrow!
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: