02/02/2007
THEE SNOWMOBILE HALL OF FAME AUCTION
As part of the induction ceremonies for the newest members of thee Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain, and the Ride with the Champs in St. Germain on Thursday, February 22, there will be an auction to raise money for the Hall and the amazing museum that is attached to it. One of the items up for auction will be this cool poster put together by Kurt Krueger celebrating racing legend Mike Trapp and the 74 Ski-Doo SnoPro (original in the background, clone in the foreground) that Kurt had made. Cool huh? Now that I can officially walk around and say "yeah, I've drive one of those" (hehehehe) I might have to head up and do some bidding on this baby myself!

INTERESTING HAMM'S ART
Paul Strand sent in this photo that was recently auctioned off... pretty cool. No word yet on what it went for. Paul will be in Glenwood this weekend... should be an interesting race with 4 associations there, each with drivers battling for the Hetteen Cup. If your headed that way dress very, very warm, because it's very, very cold!

<SARCASM>Because I mentioned a race without talking to the promoter, a certain race pro motor in Northern Wisconsin will see this as "bashing promoters" again. Just wanted to warn you all of the impending flame wars on the Bull Sessions that may erupt because I mentioned a race.</SARCASM>

02/01/2007
HOLY %$#@!!!!
In January, you people, again, broke all the records for vintagesleds.com visitors. We had 86% more visitors from in January than in December. It just never ceases to amaze me. Thank you.

01/31/2007
JANUARY 2007
Matt Campo sent in some photos of his "new" vintage sleds... actually he sent them in a long time ago, and I'm just now getting to them! Sorry Matt - better late than never?

The first one is an original Arctic Jag 4000 Matt says they only made in 1981. Not a rare sled but its really nice an has only 450 miles on it. Anytime you find a sled in that good of shape - its a good thing. The sled Matt would really like to 'get out' is this 1973 or 1974 Little Chimo. As you can see it is really nice, and Matt only paid $150.00 bucks for it! Matt's Dad saw it an wanted to restore it rite away but Matt and his Dad didn't have any information on it. So Matt's looking for help from others that may have already done one, or know where to look. You can talk about the Little Chimo's on the Bull Sessions, or Email Matt.

Thanks Matt!

Matt Campo's 81 Jag	Matt's Little Chimo he'd like to restore.

WHAT'S IN THE ARCTIC MARKETING GUY'S GARAGE?
Kale Wainer works in the Marketing Department at Arctic Cat and gets questions from a handful of loyal PRIDE readers (Cat's magazine they send to customers) asking what he is building now… well, Kale thought maybe vintagesleds.com readers would enjoy his latest sled. Good thought Kale!

It started life as a barn wreck 1976 Pantera that came complete with a free mouse and nest. (Quite the surprise when he opened the airbox.)

Kale's intention from the start was to modernize the sled, he really wanted to have a better seating position like the new Cat sleds, so he bought a gas tank and seat from a 2006 Sno Pro and mounted that. Once the seating felt right, the handlebars were too low, so the steering post was shimmed ahead ¾”, then the stock handlebars were cut off and replaced with a handlebar clamp from a Sport Quad.

To finish off the sled a few key sponsors were critical in the final outcome. If the goal was ergonomics, there was only one company to turn to and that was Rox Speed FX. Their 5” adjustable billet riser was the ticket to getting the bars in the air, as well as a set of their Universal handlebars capped off with a Rox bar pad, handguards and mounts. The coolest part of the handlebar setup was being able to retain the stock handgrips and controls for a pseudo vintage look.

After that, Rox focused attention on the stock running boards by adding a set of their billet SledTreds. Although Rox doesn’t make SledTreds specific to vintage snowmobiles, this pair was altered to fit, but originally slated for a Ski Doo MXZ. The number plate on the back of the tunnel is also a Rox product. (Perfect for vintage one-lunger racers.) The universal number plate is run by all the top snocross pros and easily rivets to any tunnel.

To cap off the look, Kale took it to Robb at Blown Concepts and a custom graphics package was made that is loosely based off the 1976 Cross Country Cat, appropriately named SnoCross Country Cat. I’d highly recommend Blown Concepts for all your graphic needs. Robb can recreate any vintage decal (As long as you supply an original) or can design a custom graphics package. Other major help came from Bottomline Traction who designed and fabricated a custom set of carbides for the skis. (In the near future I will be replacing the steel skis with plastic.)

Kale also mentioned that if any vintagesleds.com readers have any feedback on his creation, or would like to submit their custom Arctic Cats to PRIDE magazine, Kale would love to hear from them. Maybe they could even end up like the CAT'S PRIDE feature they just did on Andy Avelis!

Sponsors mentioned in Kale's creation of an updated Cross-Country Cat include Arctic Cat, Rox Speed FX, Blown Concepts Custom Vinyl Graphics and Bottom Line Traction Products. Thanks for Sharing Kale!

Before...	...and after

ONE MORE FROM WACONIA
Darrell Day sent in this very cool picture from the big Waconia show: "Hey all. just got back from waconia snowmobile show (the rollag of snowmobile shows!). It was great! They featured Arctic Cat this year. Enclosed is a picture of the replica of the Arctic Cat air sled that I built in about 2 months time. Standing behind it is non other than Edgar Hetteen, co-founder of Polaris and founder of Arctic Cat. Edgar built the original air-sled. He then graciously autographed the front of the sled!! On saturday of the show, they had the sled down on the lake and had about 20 people got to take it for a test run, they all seemed to enjoy!"

Well I certainly enjoyed seeing this in the in-box! Thanks Darrell!

Edgar Hetteen and a replica of the air-sled he built so many years ago...

01/27/2007
I-94 RACEWAY RULES!
Following my own advice, I hopped in the car and drove the PVR SnoPro races in Sauk Centre Minnesota last night. What a great facility this is for races. Just off the freeway, tons of parking, a gigantic pit area and best of all... lots and lots and lots of bleachers. Fans could sit high above the action, watch every inch of the track, and could take just a few steps into a nice heated food & beverage area that had close-circuit tv's so you didn't miss a single thing.

The races were fast, and run well by the group from SLEDS and the event sponsors. Jay Sperry on his Rupps had a good night, as did Kenny Kitzman on his Arctic 440X IFS sled, and Sean Johnson borrowed John Schumacher's 75 Polaris PDC clone and was turning some of the fastest lap times all night. Kurt Krueger and Paul Socwell made a long trip from Wisconsin and had a good time.

In a real heartbreaker for Mike Maegher, he was leading, by long shot in the 250 liquid final. In the 4th turn, headed for the checkered, a bad needle and seat in one carb caused the motor to 'burbble' for just a second, and Sean Smith of Wasilla Alaska and Bill "Elvis" Stull squeaked by for 1st and 2nd. Sean has now won the 250 SnoPro class twice this year.

In the big 440 final, things got scary. Steve Smith from Wasilla Alaska got a little sideways, then took a little tap from a fellow racer. It caused steve to go too far sideways, and the sled threw him off like he was rag doll. The screaming Arctic Z came down on his back before bouncing away.

He did not immediately get up. The red flag was out in a second.

Jay Sperry was way out front on his super-fast 440 Rupp. "I saw the red flag, but I thought the problem was down low on the track. So I came into turn three hard, but I stayed high." To Jay's horror, Steve's Smith's body was in front of him and coming up fast.

Not a split second went by, and Jay made the decision - and turned the Rupp right at high speeds, throwing himself and the machine into the multiple levels of hay bails, going through both all the way to the tar track on the other side. Jay didn't get up right away either.

Having heard what happened, Steve Smith pulled himself to his feat, and limped over to Jay. The ambulance crew was there in seconds. Jay stood up. Steve and his mangled Arctic Cat "Z" (affectionately known to the Smith family as "The Widow Maker") were hauled off the track.

Jay Sperry got his sled back on the track. Bent, twisted and even with a new case of toe-out, Jay decided to keep racing. He raced away with a pretty easy first place finish. I talked to him later in his trailer - he had a cut nose and knee that felt awful (I suspect it feels much worse this morning) but was in great spirits.

Great racing - great event. My thanks to everyone that worked so hard to get this to happen. This could be one of the premier events in vintage racing over time. You can discuss last nights race here.

<SARCASM>According to one race promoter in Northern Wisconsin, I'm not to mention anything about any race without discussing it first with the promoter. I did not speak to a single person in charge last night, nor did I submit the above story for anyone's approval, nor will I.</SARCASM>

01/26/2007
OFF TO THE RACES?
If you are anywhere near Minnesota tonight, head up to Sauk Centre - about 1.5 hours north and west of the Twin Cities. Right along interstate 94 is a banked, oval track there that will feature round #2 of the PVR Vintage SnoPro series races this evening. Hot Laps at 6:00, races start at 7:00PM. There's also races on Saturday, and Wolf Lake (Alexandria) has a full slate of race on Sunday.

I'd really love to be racing all three days this weekend, however a conspiracy of unfortunate events has prevented me and the crew from completing any one of the 4 race sleds we planned on running this season - and I'm now thinking its unlikely we will complete them at all this season. Does that bite, or what?

So best of luck to all the racers who could get it together this year, I hope to at least watch as many races as I can!

01/23/2007
ANDY AVELIS HITS THE BIG TIME
I visited Andy's home several years ago. It's a very nice East Coast home, from the outside, you would never guess there's a vintage sledder inside. But go down the stairs into the basement... and there was decades of sleds and parts that Andy and his family have collected, preserved, restored and enjoy. The basement was nice... but it was slightly cramped, and also served as Andy's workshop and the furnace room for the house. So over the past few years, Andy has been hard at work at this new display in a new house.

If your a Cat fan, you probably get the "Cat's Pride" magazine. Guess who has a full spread article about his collection in the latest issue? Our own Andy Avelis and family that's who! Andy's vintage collection and new playroom will be the focus of Arctic's attention in some upcoming marketing campaigns... keep an eye out for it. Arctic has really adopted the vintage "thing", recognizing that another name for a vintage sled fanatic is "customer". Pretty cool huh?

Andy's new playroom is truly mind-boggling and I can't thank him enough for sharing these amazing photos. Congratulations to him and his family on completing this amazing display.

One of everything... displayed perfectly.

Andy has recreated a "vintage dealership" in his playroom.

Every rare Cat race sled, lined up and ready to rumble.

This will blow your mind... click on this photo and look at what's behind the glass.

01/22/2007
WACONIA MAGIC
I'm still pumped from last weekends Waconia show. I met a ton of the Bull Sessions members, and a ton of new vintage sledders. Here's a few photos (from Valdi Stephenson and Ken Hansen) to hold you over if you couldn't get to the show:

This was fun... the Antique Snowmobile Club of America held their annual meeting at Waconia, and as a part of the weekends program, they held an antique "backwards" race on the lake.

1984 World Champion Jim Dimmerman is reunited with the SnoPro twin tracker he tested back in the day. Jerry McGee brought the machine all the way from New Hampshire, as Arctic Cat was the featured sled.

The entrance to the theatre on Friday night...

...Inside, 133 vintage sledders got together and whooped and hollered through a private screening of "A Matter of Winning".

Dr. Mario brought out his TX 800, made famous through YouTube videos for kicking newer sleds on the grass!

This friendly little green fellow is a 1971 "Big Boss".

Reports from Hell indicate it froze over when I actually drove a Ski-Doo for the first time and loved it. That's Jerry to my right, wondering if letting me ride his sled was such a clever idea.

Let's see... the last time I had this silly of a grin on my face was 2000 when I got to drive Doc Jim's 1972 800cc Starfire.

01/21/2007
HELL HAS FROZEN OVER!
I still think I'm dreaming, but Jerry McGee actually let me rip around on his 74 Ski-Doo SnoPro! Not only my first time riding this year, it was the first time my butt has been on a yellow sled, and I get to ride the best one they ever made.

It was a really slick introduction to the Bombardier family. My never ending thanks to Jerry for a once in a lifetime rip around lake Waconia! Jerry one his class with the sled, also won the award for furthest traveled. Paul Rioux also got to take a ride... and made a point out of driving through Arctic Cat alley.

Got some great photos Jim Dimmerman and the one and only Cat twin-track 1981 SnoPro, and got a killer story out of Larry Coltom over lunch.

Thank to the Bull Sessions, I was handed a rare decal I needed by a total stranger for a sled I'm restoring. God Bless Waconia.

01/20/2007
WACONIA UPDATE
Great weather, great sleds, great fun GREAT PEOPLE have made my first day of this Waconia weekend really great fun.

I was inside the ballroom all day - only got out once to get a pork chop on a stick, and to take a couple of photos. Everyone I saw was having a great time. The main show is tomorrow... with autograph signings from Arctic Cat dignitaries, a silent auction, and of course, tons of amazing old sleds. But as you can see from the photos below, the sleds just get more interesting every year.

Side note: One of my friends had a sled being dropped off at the show. He couldn't be found, so I volunteered to take care of it for him. So I drove all the way home, and will drive all the way back tomorrow - with a pink snowmobile in the back of my truck. Yes, I covered my face when I saw other traffic, but otherwise, I am un-injured by the incident!

See you tomorrow - until then, here's a teeny-tiny taste of the stunningly cool sleds at Waconia!

Show stopper #1: Jerry McGee''s 74 Ski-Doo SnoPro - he's going to drive it tomorrow! Next to the SnoPro, Jacque Villenueve's 250cc 1976 Skiroule SnoPro!

Back from the ashes and looking AMAZING is Bill Adam's 1970 Fuel-injected Arctic Cat drag racer... I'm in love with this sled... and Bill and the crew at Arctic Restorations may have out done themselves with this one!

DADDLER POWER! Need I say more? This sweet 72 'Daddler is owned by Tom Geronime.

01/19/2007
WACONIA STARTS WITH A BANG
Just got back from the screening of "A Matter of Winning with Jerry McGee and Paul Rioux and 131 of my other vintage buddies. Quote from one local fellow in the theatre: "This place hasn't been this full since the opening of Star Wars". Okay, I don't think it was that big of a deal, but everyone seemed to have enjoyed the movie. The name tags were GREAT I think I met about 15-20 of the Bull Session members that I didn't know before.

There is going to be some really wild stuff at the Waconia show over the next few days and the TRAIL RIDE IS ON!

01/17/2007
A MATTER OF WINNING HAS ARRIVED!
The UPS man dropped of the box today... the DVD's of "A MATTER OF WINNING" have arrived! To those of you that pre-ordered: THANK YOU! If you pre-ordered and are coming to Waconia this weekend, vintagesleds.com will have booth inside the main building. We'll bring the pre-order list with, and if you want us to deliver your copy to you at Waconia, please email us - otherwise we will be shipping the pre-orders BEFORE Waconia.

Speaking of Waconia, you can see "A MATTER OF WINNING" at the Waconia theatre on Friday night. There are only 150 seats available, and as of now, I think 50 or so have been spoken for. Email and ask to get you name on the list to reserve a ticket. They are $7.50 at the door, and the movie starts at 7:30 - so get there by 7:00!

The weather for this weekends show looks EXCELLENT and I just got off the phone with Jim Dimmerman, who will be attending for sure. This is a pretty rare appearance for Jim, so don't miss your chance to meet him. I've not heard if Bob Elsner is coming, but Edgar Hetteen, Dave Thompson, Roger Skime and Larry Coltom, to name just a few, are one the way! They will do an autograph session on Sunday inside the ballroom.

The ice drag racing has been cancelled. Instead, there will be a radar speed run on Saturday from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm. No classes or side-by-side racing, but instead a "run-for-fun" to check speeds. Also, stock Kitty Kat races on Saturday at 12:30 pm.

Keep checking the mwvss.com website for more information as it gets updated.

01/15/2007
BOONVILLE RACE RESCHEDULED
The race has been changed on the historic track to February 2, 3 and 4 at the Boonville, New York Fairgrounds. <SARCASM>According to one promoter, I'm not to mention anything about races without talking to the promoter. But I'm being a rebel again by posting the above information! I didn't talk to the promoter at Boonville - they sent an email. </SARCASM>

PVR VINTAGE SNOPRO ROUND #1 SNEAK PEAK
Sent in from Jim Smith of the Pacific Northwest Vintage Club - Thanks Jim! This one is a mod class heat race start. There's a little wipeout at the end. No one was injured.

You can watch two more clips on YouTube - The start of the 440 Open Mod final and the Big Race on Sunday.

01/14/2007
MARK ANDERSON - KING OF THE VINTAGE RACING WORLD
Not only is Mark Andersons the #1 man in vintage snowmobile racing - his name is on the first two slots of the Vintage SnoPro Master Series cup at the Hall of Fame in St. Germain - but now we hear he's won another big race and another big title in Northern Wisconsin today.

Mark phoned yesterday to let me know he won all his heat races and was pretty excited about his chances today. "The big sled is just running great" he said.

Mark brought all three of his sleds from last years SnoPro series (340, 440 & 800) to the race, but says this is his last race. Mark said if he won this last big race, he would retire from snowmobile racing. The 340 and the 440 are for sale, and the 800 goes back to owner Rod Everts.

Congratulations to Mark! I know he's been dreaming about this race his whole life. I'm only bummed I'll be missing the celebration party!

The first race of the 07 SnoPro series was also today. No word on results as of this writing. But with Mark's winning sleds not going to the other races, this thing is wide open and will be a ton of fun to watch. Unofficial results for the big race was Mark Anderson in first (Polaris), Fast Freddy Smith in second (Ski-Doo), Bill Stull in third (Rupp) and last years winner, Jacob Goede in 4th on a Polaris.

The next vintage SnoPro series race is January 26th on the I-94 race way in Freeport Minnesota - great venue - and should be a great race. My spys tell me they have 2 water trucks running non-stop to build ice, and the weather in Minnesota is co-operating.

WACONIA HERE WE COME!
In a very busy weekend next weekend, the Waconia show is set to go. Weather conditions have been getting better, and they are expecting snow in the next few days. A final decision on the trail ride and drag races is expected from the DNR very soon. Keep checking their site (or this one) for updates as they happen.

WEEKEND UPDATE
My thanks to Jim Haug who came up this weekend and helped me get caught up on way too many projects. Jim's help also contributed greatly to hours of QGT (that's Quality Garage Time for those of you in Eagle River), resulting in some sleds almost running. Not for lack of trying, but for lack of parts that either haven't arrived yet, or some that gave out even before we got the sled(s) to run. Oh well, isn't that what vintage sledding is really all about? ;-)

01/09/2007
BOMBARDIER THREE WHEELER SPY PHOTOS
From WorldCarFans.com
Bombardier is about to unveil it's latest product, and here's the spy photos: A futuristic looking, 3 wheel motorcycle (2 in front, 1 i back). It has a 130 HP Rotax V-twin in it, and will likely be marketed under the Can-AM name. It is set to launch on February 7th, with deliveries starting in the fall of '07. Interesting.

Mike Meagher's new 340cc Cat SnoPro racer

01/08/2007
WEEKEND ADVENTURES
Ahhh the smell of race fumes!

I got up to Alexandria to watch the racing at Wolf Lake... good showing. The Formula 340 class looks to be the hot ticket this year. I think I counted 9 sleds out there... all 340cc Polaris Indy's with stock exhaust pipes. This class is designed to be a low-cost class, so for fun I quizzed a few guys on how much the total investment in the sled was to get it on the ice - totals ranged from "a few hundred bucks" to $1,500. While that isn't free, it's probably the cheapest you'll find for getting into IFS racing. The racing in the class was very tight, but Scott Tillman (A Ski-Doo guy at heart, whom I'm sure will now become a die-hard Fuji guy!) taking the win.

Several guys looked very fast and I'm sure will be having a good season. There was also a few new machines out there... Mike Meagher's new 77 Cat, Jeff Karrow's new 79 Ski-Doo SnoPro, and several new Yamaha race sleds I'd never seen before. Even a few champ sleds that were out having a good time.

Jacob Goede was also there and all I can say is "wow". The open mod sled of his has been made to look a little smaller, and a whole lot meaner. Jacob was on top of his game yesterday and looks to be in fine form for this season. He was even beating up on the Champ sleds!

MORE FROM BEAUSEJOUR
Here's some more neat photos from the Polaris plant in Beausejour. These were sent in by Murray, and we thank him. It's pretty cool to see how the machines looked as they were going through the plant and how the workers of that period got the job done.

8 hours of hauling them babies around must have been hard on the back!

Note only one glove on, no masks as these plant employees apply fiberglass.

Star Cars getting ready to roll off the line.

01/06/2007 (PART II)
ARCTIC CAT DONATES COLLECTIBLE MODELS TO WACONIA AUCTION
Set of 10 Serial Number 1 Die-Cast Firecat Models to be Offered

[NOTE: I do not post press releases here normally, but the fact that Arctic Cat as a company is diving into the whole vintage thing is just really, really, really cool ]

Arctic Cat Sales Inc. will support the world's largest vintage snowmobile event, Waconia 2007, by donating a set of 10 die-cast Arctic Cat models to the silent auction of memorabilia and merchandise held on the second day of the event, Sunday, Jan. 21. Arctic Cat is the featured brand at Waconia 2007, which begins on Saturday, Jan. 20 at the Lakeside Ballroom in Waconia, Minn., and includes a vintage trail ride, swap meet, vintage sled and memorabilia exhibits, Sunday show judging and more.

The models in the collection are each 1:18 scale die-cast metal and about six to eight inches long. They are highly detailed: the hoods open, skis and handlebars turn, and the engines and suspension have accurate details. These models are in the original boxes, and are serialized and made in limited quantities. The models available at Waconia will each be serial number 1, and thus highly sought after by collectors.

• 2006 Tony Stewart Firecat (#1/2000)
• 2005 Joker Firecat (#1/1000)
• 2004 Team Arctic Firecat (#1/1108)
• 2005 Black Widow Firecat (#1/1000)
• 2005 Retro Firecat (#1/1000)
• 2005 Team Arctic Firecat (#1/1000)
• 2004 Tiger Firecat (#1/1108)
• 2004 F6 Firecat (#1/1108)
• 2004 Fighter Pilot Firecat (#1/1108)
• 2004 Nightfire Firecat (#1/1108)

According to Arctic Cat media relations specialist Kale Wainer, these models retail for between $55 and $90 each. He adds that the Team Arctic model will be autographed by Hall of Fame racer Kirk Hibbert, while the Retro Firecat model will be autographed by Arctic Cat legends Roger Skime, Dave Thompson and Larry Coltom.

The silent auction will be held in the Lakeside Ballroom on Sunday, Jan. 21. Waconia 2007 is organized by the non-profit Midwest Vintage Snowmobile Shows, and most proceeds from the event, including the silent auction, benefit the Carver County Sno-Runners and the Westonka SnoBlazers snowmobile clubs for snowmobile training, trail grooming and more.

For more information on Waconia 2007 please go to www.mwvss.com or call the Waconia Hot Line at (651) 649-4688

01/06/2007
RACING STARTS (BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!)
Normally, this would be the spot that, barring any unforeseen strange weather, the first race of the year will take place at Wolf Lake in Alexandria, Minnesota tomorrow. Since there is no snow anywhere near, ya all might as well come out and have a good time watching some roundy-round racing.

<SARCASM>However, I got that information from a website, and according to one promoter, I shouldn't mention anything about an event without speaking directly to the promoter himself. Since I haven't actually talked to Scott at Wolf Lake, just pretend you didn't read this here, and all will be well. </SARCAM>

01/05/2007
CUSTOM KIDS SLEDS
This picture is so cool. Straight off the Bull Sessions... 'pdafast' built two custom sleds, one for each boy. Neat. What a neat Dad. I'll bet the projects were very inexpensive, Dad & the boys got to spend some QGT together and make some toys that will be a lifetime of memories. Very cool.

WEEKEND UPDATE
As of today, the races at Wolf Lake in Alexandria are ON. But I would call ahead if you can to verify.. the weather all over Minnesota has not been great for making ice. Might even see 'ol C.J. Ramstad at the Alex race. The ROLA season opener is on for sure.

01/03/2007
WHATEVER IT IS - ITS CANCELLED.
USSA Races in Plymouth, Wisconsin have been cancelled for this weekend, and the Hayward Wisconsin Vintage race for Saturday has been cancelled, next race at Hayward is January 26th. Haven't heard yet if Wolf Lake in Alexandria is still on for this Sunday.

UPDATE: The ROLA Season Opener is ON! Get details at rolaracing.com. Fine one-lung racing.

EVENTS SECTION BACK UP
The SPAM Morons have been out in full force, attempting to plaster ads for Viagra and Porn on the classifieds and the events section. The events section got so bad I had to shut it off for a bit. An occasional SPAM ad might get through now, but for everyone that gets through now, about 100 are stopped.

SNEAK PREVIEW:
Here's some screen shots from "A Matter of Winning". No firm ship date on the DVD yet, but we are getting very close. Thanks all for being patient!

12/31/2006
HAPPY NEW YEAR
In today's episode of "Vintage Sled Adventures", I traveled north to the great racing mecca of Alexandria with Bob Poirier and the rest of his new race team. The idea was that I was going to help them out a little bit and see how the other racers are shaping up. My race sled isn't ready, nor is my team mates, so it was the only way to spend Sunday smelling race fumes.

A mere mile from the Alexandria exit, we get a phone call: Race cancelled. It seems the ice was great the night before, but this morning it was covered with water. A good call on track owner Scott Tillman's part, but it left a lot of disappointed racers.

So we trucked on home, hearing that a snowstorm was coming to the Twin Cities. We just beat it, getting into town as the roads had start to become intolerable. I got home and took care of some business, then headed to the garage for a little QGT (That's Quality Garage Time for those of you living in San Francisco).

The snow did come. Lots and lots of it. Looks like about a foot to me, and it's still coming down. If I stick my head out side, I can hear sleds running all over the place.

Then it hits me. I have 8 (count 'em) 8 snowmobiles with me. It's snowing hard. Not one of the sleds is prepared to go for a ride on the day we finally ge a ton of snow.

Can you say "Irony"?

YOU CHOKED IT!
Nice job! Traffic again took a huge leap on the website, and this time we exceeded the available bandwidth. Sorry for the inconvenience - but that's a quality problem to have!

HAVE A GREAT 2007!

12/30/2006
VINTAGE SNOPRO LOGO
Okay, you have to love this. Bill Stull, who has taken over the running of the Vintage SnoPro series, has created a new logo for the newly named "PVR Vintage SnoPro Series" series. I'd say it is kind of an update to the old black & white SnoPro logo huh? Nice.

HALL OF FAME MUSEUM - BEST IN THE WORLD!
Speaking of the vintage SnoPro races, one of the major sponsors is the Thee Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain Wisconsin - where you can see the Vintage SnoPro cup on display - got two new invaluable pieces added to the display last week! Checkout page 114 of your copy of "The Best of SnoPro" and you'll see this 1976 Skiroule SnoPro as it was originally driven by the Jacque Villenueve. The other is one of only Moto-Ski twin tracker ever built, raced by Gilles Villenueve. Holy cow. These babies are owned and restored to perfection by the Warning Family.

The Hall of Fame collection, including rear-engine Eliason's, SnoCross sleds, famous oval track sleds, cross-country racers, one of a kind production sleds.... is the most amazing repository of the history of snowmobiling on planet earth, bar none. Speaking of the Hall of Fame Museum, you can imagine that keeping a facility open, heated and lighted for all of use to enjoy can be expensive. Well, you can help. Thee Hall of Fame still has tickets available for your chance to win $10,000 in whatever you want from 4 different dealerships. At just $10 a ticket your odds are fantastic. See the page on their website for more details on how you can help keep this museum open for everyone and maybe win cool stuff at the same time!

Gilles Villenueve's 1-of-1 Moto-Ski Twin Tracker, and Jacques 1976 440 Skiroule SnoPro - the latest addition to the greatest collection on earth. Courtesy of the Warning Family Collection.

"A MATTER OF WINNING" AT WACONIA
It's been confirmed that we will be showing the 1971 film "A Matter of Winning" at the Waconia theatre on Friday, January 19th at 7:30 PM. Seeing it in a real theatre with popcorn and 150 of your closest sled buddies will be a lot of fun. There are only 150 seats available for this showing (with some already spoken for) and this may be the only chance to see it in a theatre. More info coming soon on how you can reserve a seat!

WOLF LAKE OPENER
The racing season gets underway at Wolf Lake in Alexandria at 12:00 sharp. Sounds like quite a turnout with all the PVR guys coming over to warm up for the first SnoPro race in January. Me? I'm not going to make it (with a sled, anyway) I haven't had a chance to enjoy Quality Garage Time (QGT) for weeks. You can get directions to the race here. PDF file - Adobe Acrobat required.

MIKE TRAPP/YVON DUHAMEL VIDEO
Gary Merrit put up a really nice, cleaned up version of "The Greatest Race" that I re-linked to below. Enjoy.

12/23/2006
DAN ROSE LIVES ON
I've told this story before... but now that there is video to back it up, I felt like I needed to re-tell it. I met Dan Rose in about 2001 or 2002. At the time, he wanted to sell all his vintage sled stuff off. Between me and Doc Jim and some friends of ours, we put a deal together, and it came back to Minnesota from New York in a huge rental truck.

In the pile of sleds and parts was the 1973 650 Starfire in the video below. Dan had restored it with all NOS parts, except for the motor. Instead of the 650 73 motor, he installed a 75 650 PDC motor. Dan loved to ride, race and show off this sled, and kept a running list of every sleds whose butt he kicked with it. Although having a 650 PDC motor was pretty cool, Dan told me his dream was to restore it as a 73 800cc Starfire. He had a lot of the 800cc motor parts - but they were not in a good enough condition to restore.

When I brought the sled home, Doc took the motor and built his 75 PDC from that. I found an NOS 800 kit, and Doc put that together also.

Check out these videos from Gary Merrit. How fun was it to discover these the night before Christmas and hear a 75 650cc PDC running - just for the thrill of hearing the pipes.

WOLF LAKE TESTING
Race sleds hit the ice at the Wolf Lake track in Alexandria, Minnesota today. It was a test & tune day for the boys, with no actual racing going on. Didn't hear too much about how it went - with the exception of a certain 3 cylinder Ski-Doo motor melting because the spark plugs were not in tight. Ouch. That's gotta hurt!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

The 73 800.	Doc's 650 PDC.

12/19/2006
FIRST ANNUAL BULL SESSIONS "FIND OF THE YEAR" AWARDS
The judges have been bribed, palms have been greased and we have some winners. Judges were VIN+AGE, 72tx340, and smelly old Rude Dog. Criteria was basically what sled made all the judges the most jealous, and also who bribed the judges the best.

• 1st place gets a trophy sculpture: "Man Smoking a Cigar" from Office Depot, and a tin full Of Hershey's Kisses. He also gets a $20 gift certificate from the vintagesleds store, plus an Antique Polaris Snowmobile Diecast and a RetroSno.com T-shirt from Judge Rude Dog at RetroSno.com. (Note to my neighbors Jill and the Vman: Thanks for the cookies, they were great. But yes, I am re-gifting the tin and the chocolates. Hope you don't mind, but I think trucker and his wife will really love them.)
• 2nd place gets a $15 gift certificate from the vintagesleds store, a Snickers bar AND a RetroSno.com T-Shirt.
• 3rd place gets $10 gift certificate from the vintagesleds store, some Altoid breath mints AND RetroSno.com T-Shirt.
• Runners up get there name mentioned on the biggest website for sleds in the world.

You know, I think I would have gotten bigger, cooler prizes, but then, I thought "Why? They already got the find of the year!" Thanks to our judges, and Doc Jim who coordinated this whole thing.

1st Place: Jason Hollenkamp (aka Trucker) and his 1982 530cc Kawasaki Interceptor, #61 of 601 produced. Found in a barn in excellent shape, this photo taken after just cleaning it up! Bribe: Pictures of his Hottie wife in a bikini.

2nd Place: SlideJob's 1971 600cc Rupp Magnum. Pretty rare sled. Bribe: Undisclosed palm greasing.

3rd place: Gary Bright's 1973 800cc Polaris Starfire, one of only 4 known to exist. Gary hunted it down amongst a lot of Polaris race sleds and parts from a retired racer. Bribe(s): Too numerous to mention. May cause rioting.

Honorable Mention : 82SRX500's (aka Jon Bertolino) 1973 650cc Arctic Cat EXT. Bribe: Offered photos of scantily clad women.

Honorable Mention: Justin's (aka 71txman) dream sled - a 1971 Polaris 795cc 2+1 Racer. Might have won had he not "found it" on eBay. Bribe: Actually gave a judge a complete sled. Justin may not have won "find of the year" But he gets top honors for the best bribe!

12/18/2006 Part II
First photos of the second vintage race of the year are up at vsca.com. By all reports, she was a fun, fast race, on a first class track. Congrats to everyone that got this one going. No news on who won, just that Dustin Wahl kicked booty with his '07 RXL, Vintage SnoPro champ Devin Fackrell blew a motor, and the high temps didn't stop nothing.

12/18/2006
YOU ARE THE PERSON OF THE YEAR!
Time magazine has declared YOU person of the year... Why? Because the Internet has put YOU in control of information. Never before has the control of information been less centralized. No government, no media conglomeration, just you. And you have responded to your new found control in a big, big way. Look at the amazing amount of information and content on sites like YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia and other Web 2.0 sites. For all of your contributions, Time has made you person of the year.

"...for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you."

When I started doing this site 7 years ago (Oh my God has it really been that long already?), it was largely because I could not believe there wasn't much (if anything) on the net about old sleds. I soon realized that I needed to encourage as many of you as I could to put the information lurking in your brains, the pictures in your closet and the videos under your bed about old sleds on the net to share. That is now really starting to happen.

Not only do sites like Davids, SnowPOD, and RetroSno give me my daily fix of Sled Porn, the Bull Sessions have proven to be an hourly source of it, and it's gone beyond just being Sled Porn, and is now officially more addictive than herioin.

Need and example? Here's one. Garry Merrit (also known as 72tx340 on the Bull Sessions) uploaded these videos. The first two are what was considered to be one of the greatest races of all time: Yvon Duhamel and Mike Trapp battling out in 1971. The second is a prior heat race to the greatest race.

Last, but not least, is Andy Avelis running his sleds. I met Andy several years back and I remained stunned at his collection of rare Cat racing and muscle sleds. But I'd never seen Andy go to a show and fire them all up before! How many chances to do you get to hear an 800 King Kat or 77.5 SnoPro run?

THANKS GARY!

12/15/2006
THE HISTORY OF BEAUSEJOUR
On my trip to Beausejour last weekend, I got a sneak peak at 3 very large, safely locked away file cabinets that contain not only the history of the race track there, but also a lot of historical pictures and information on the Beausejour Polaris plant that was operated there for some time in the 1960's. The photos below are not even a scratch in the surface of the cool stuff in those cabinets. But there is a lot more to the story than just the photos.

In 1963, Beausejour established itself as the snowmobile capital of Canada by staging the first ever Canadian Power Toboggan Championships. Everyone in the area was "power toboggan " crazy and this created a lot of excitement and a really good market for sleds.

Local entrepreneur Mike Bosak was already constructing new power toboggans in the area and H. C. Paul was selling Autoboggans in Winnipeg and the surrounding area for polaris. Economics dictated that in order for Polaris to compete for sales in Canada, they look at building the sleds there instead of exporting. They looked for a site near Roseau to build a factory.

It so happens that Beausejour was in the limelight for snowmobile racing and when Allen Hetteen came to town and won the 1965 CPTC title, he asked some questions. Yes, the local officials said, there was a facility large enough and, yes ,we would provide some incentives to help you set up a manufacturing facility. Thus, by the fall of 1965, Gerry Thomas was hired away from H.C. Paul to manage the new Polaris factory.

They built the new Colts and before long had a racing team. Allen Hetteen called in the potential team and had a very serious meeting. "Polaris is NOT interested in 2nd's or 3rd's!" Allen said. "We want 1st's only!" Thus began a very successful effort that dominated the tracks in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario. The effort was headquartered in Tyndall Garage to keep "speed secrets" safe! They were very serious about their racing.

The Polaris Canada plant produced all Playmates, all Star Cars and was the research and development "skunk works" for future special products. A personal watercraft was tested and an aluminum tunnel 1966 Mustang, were a few projects of note.

The plant employed several hundred people at it's peak, but alas, economics caught up with it and the plant was closed in the summer of 1972. The building still remains as offices and a confirmed rumor has it that several mid 1960's hood molds are still in the attic, too large to extract. So the ghosts will remain, a grim reminder of once what was!

Factory truck with shiny new Colts!

The caption reads: "This team is representing Polaris industries of Beausejour in the 500 mile Winnipeg to St. Paul snowmobile race underway now. They left Winnipeg Monday morning. The above drivers are Clarence Baker, Larry Johnson and Ed Schindel. Pitman are Gordon Fiebelkorn and Danny Schuland. Also racing from beausejour is Wes Kioski. Participating from Whitemouth are Alvin merke and Gerry Cousins."

Outside the main beausejour plant with a shiny new sled hauler.

On a sad note, Clarence Baker, noted above as an early Beausejour Polaris racer passed away last fall. Clarence was inv loved in all aspects of snowmobiling in the area, was very active in the community, including serving in the Manitoba Legislature. Clarence was 78.

12/13/2006
VINTAGE SLED "FIND OF THE YEAR"
On the Bull Sessions a rather spontaneous contest started - what sled discovered in 2006 could win the title of "find of the the year"? The debate rages on, but time is growing short. As of Monday, December 17th, entries will be closed.

The winner will get a trophy, and their choice of a DVD from the vintagesleds store. The Judges are (by their Bull Session names: VIN+AGE, Rude Dog, and 72tx340.

The rules were pretty simple.
1. It's just for fun
3. Judges can be bribed (beer and pictures of girls on your sled were the hot tickets)
4. Judges are allowed to have temper tantrums
5. One entry per Bull Sessions members
6. Some other rules got mentioned, and may be used if the judges feel like it.

Many nice entries have come in so far, and Doc Jim who got it all going, and all the participants are having a blast. Check it out on the Bull Sessions.

The winner will be announced early next week.

Ladies and Gentleman: Introducing the 2007 Polaris RXL oval ice race machine by Wahl Brothers. Not only is it dead sexy, it's extremely fast on the oval race track. This one is for newest Wahl Racing Driver Jordan Whal.
Dustin Wahl wins the 440 Champ final at Beausejour this past weekend - and Super 78 RXL fan (and CPTC President) Dale Neduzak couldn't be happier!	Durmont Wahl, hard at work on his Terry Wahl's '07 RXL.

12/11/2006
AMBUSH AT BEAUSEJOUR - THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF THE POLARIS RXL!
A few weeks back I posted a rumor that Polaris was building new RXL's for racing - my assumption was that they were clones. Well, the rumor was mostly true. Although these amazing new sleds did not come directly from the Polaris factory race shop, they came out of arguably the next best place: Wahl Brothers Racing, who are sponsored by Polaris.

These sleds are so amazing that the "Oh-My-God-That's-Cool" meter shattered while trying to measure the cool factor. I'm not kidding. People were taking pictures of them all day long.

This was my first trip to Beausejour; I had no idea about these sleds prior to seeing them. I went to watch a little late model racing, but mostly to watch the vintage races. I was ambushed by the new sleds.

By the way, the vintage races can be summed up as thus: Aaron Johnson and Duncan Reid. Aaron's 73 Starfire might well be performing the best it ever has, as Aaron captured the top spot in vintage 340. Duncan's 78 Ski-Doo's walked away with the IFS class. Both Aaron and Duncan led their classes from flag to flag.

This race track is amazing. First off, it is really long. When the champ sleds get to the corners, you almost have to hold your breath as they barely let off to get through. Second, it's also got to be one of the safest tracks there is. I saw numerous accidents on Sunday, and as far as I know - everyone walked away.

I got a first hand tour and history lesson from Dale Neduzak, pictured above with Dustin Wahl. The facilities and grounds and pits really are top notch. We spent a good deal of time near the spot where Jerry Bunke lost his life in a tragic accident in 1978. Somehow, going to Beausejour to see the place and the new Wahl RXL sleds all tied together into a celebration of race fuel, tuned pipes, cold ice and lot of families watching the races.

But enough of my yakkin' check out the pictures!

Original newspaper ad from the movie.

12/08/2006
A MATTER OF WINNING NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
It's been a long journey from finding this movie, to getting permission, to getting it converted - but they are nearly ready!

As you can imagine, the cost of getting this all done has been frightening. But after previewing the movie, the risk of losing money on it doesn't seem as important as just getting it out there.

I don't have a solid date on when they will ship, but at this point, it should be reasonable - they might even make it for Christmas. If not, we will send out a card for any pre-orders that can be put under the tree. We are also offering FREE U.S. shipping for any pre-orders (Just $2.95 to Canada).

The DVD's are professionally duplicated and in a case with the movie poster on the front, so it will look good sitting in the rest of your DVD collection. It's 90 minutes long, color, and contains some of the best footage of snowmobiling in the early 1970's that you'll see anywhere.

->Click here to reserve a copy today!<-

DON MERIT PHOTO
72tx340 was one of the first guys to hop on the Bull Sessions and contribute fast and furious to the fun there. he disappeared for awhile, tending to the loss of his father, Don Merritt.

I didn't know Don, but his son posted a link to their family website. I;d never seen it before, but Don was quite a fan of vintage snowmobiles. I found this photo from his website. I don't know the story behind it but WOW! What a shot!

Wow! Does that make you want to go for a ride or what?