|
6/17/2004
3 SLEDS, ONE GEEK, 0 DAYS
DONE! At 10:30 AM, I finished the 77 Leaf spring SnoPro! The
sleds are all packed, and we (jim Haug and his father) are
on our way in just minutes! Where's the photo, you ask? You'll
have to come all the way to Roseau this Saturday to see the
leaf spring - live an in all her glory.
We'll have 25 race sleds on display, the biggest display
of it's kind ever. Starting with an original 1964 Eagle River
K-95 racer, through 68 racers, a 74 SnoPro, a 75 PDC, a 76
SnoPro, not one, but 2 of Jerry Bunke's sleds, the only twin
track Polaris ever built, and finally Terry's high point 2004
Champ sled.
I've been looking forward to this for years! Please stop
up and say hi!
 |
|
12:21 AM, 6/17/04
|
 |
|
10:18 PM, 6/15/04
|
6/15/2004
3 SLEDS, ONE GEEK, 2 DAYS
One down! Kind of, anyway. It's missing the radiator, a gas
cap, and there are no studs in that track, but she still looks
good enough to eat!
6/11/2004
3 SLEDS, ONE GEEK, 4 DAYS
I got super help on Saturday from Jim Haug - who did an amazing
job of rebuilding my 74 Snopro suspension. Unfortunately,
anything that could have gone wrong on Saturday, did. Jobs,
such as putting on hyfax, that should be 10 minute deals,
wound up being all damn day events. For as much as we worked
(into the wee hours of the morning), it seemed like little
progress was made. After making a list of what is left, it
doesn't seem that bad.
The major stuff is done. Sunday, Vance Elfering did an amazing
job of getting the triple pipes to fit on the leaf spring
SnoPro. I never thought I'd see that task finished, and here
they are!
Then, we have the hoods for the two 1977 SnoPro sleds - one
an IFS model, one a leaf spring model. I found, thanks to
Bill Adams of Arctic Restorations, an amazing glass company,
Epicraft Inc., that got them all put together, molded and
parts stamped out, on time and beyond my wildest dreams for
quality.
Once the hoods were cut and fit, it was off to Krugers Auto
Body, where owner Tracey Kruger did and amazing job of matching
up the original blue metallic color. The paint finish on these
is absolutely gorgeous.
The graphics came from an original Jerry Bunke Hood that
I traced, thanks to the Snowmobile Hall of Fame. They were
digitized, and cleaned up by Jason Gilmour of Gilmour Creative,
then sent to Prographics Inc., where Betty and Dave got them
measured and printed in record time. Back to Krugers Auto
where Tracy and I installed the decals (mostly Tracy, who
am I kidding?) late Friday night.
 |
1977 IFS SnoPro hood, glass by Epicraft,
Paint by Krugers Auto Body, decals my Gilmour Creative
and Pro Graphics, Inc., decal installation by Kruger'
Auto Body. The hood will go on Jerry's original 1977
340 IFS sled.
Result? I couldn't be happier!
|
Today and tomorrow are critical. The 74 has more issues then
a newspaper that must be resolved today. On top of that -
we are desperately seeking a 4 place trailer to move all this
stuff later this week...
At the Polaris 50th this Friday night, there will be a historical
review, and a preview of the new Polaris video featuring -
as I've heard - Leroy Lindblad, Bob Eastman, Jim Bernat, and
of course Edgar and David Johnson. I can't wait!
6/10/2004
BUD McCALLUM
I got word late last night that Bud McCallum's funeral will
be today at the Family of Christ Church near Bud's hometown
of Anoka, Minnesota. It's expected to be a very large funeral.
3 SLEDS, ONE GEEK, 7 DAYS
Things are REALLY heating up for the Polaris 50th event in
Roseau, Minnesota on June 19th, just over a week from now.
Last night I heard about some stuff the Boys in Roseau were
preparing for the special event. I can't let the Cat out of
the bag (no pun intended), but the caller who told me about
watching the first demonstration said his heart was still
pounding and he was still shaking after watching the demonstration
earlier in the day. It was, as the caller stated, "the
absolute coolest thing I've ever witnessed anyone do with
a snowmobile".
What is it? Okay, here's a hint: What goes around, comes
around. Other then that, all I can say is DON'T MISS IT! You
will likely NEVER get another chance to see this!
I spent all day yesterday working on the decals for the 2
77 SnoPro sleds. One of them is over 23 individual pieces
that make up the graphics, so we spent for ever getting the
digital files converted and ready to cut out of the vynl.
After that, I spent the rest of the night working on the 74
SnoPro steering, and a handlebar loop.
They are coming along. I'm going to make it. This is going
to rule.
Next update by Sunday. Stay tuned.
6/08/2004
BUD McCALLUM - VINTAGE GUY
Just learned tonight that long time racer, collector, dealer,
restorer, hunter, Polaris junkie and all around good guy Bud
McCallum passed away a couple of days ago.
 |
|
Bud McCallum -
|
No word on funeral arrangements, I will try to pass them
along as soon as I hear.
My favorite Bud story was trying to buy some 76 Starfire
pistons from him.
"Got any pistons for a 76 250cc Starfire?" I asked
Bud.
"Nope, only one set left - not for sale." This,
I had learned was Buds response to almost any request.
Bud and I chatted for a long time, an he told me the story
of how, one year, he kept calling Polaris, asking when they
were going to deliver his new racing sleds. They kept telling
him they were not done yet. Bud knew different. He'd heard
the boys in Roseau were too busy setting up their own race
sleds and not working on the ones for Bud.
Along comes race day. Bud still has no sleds, but Polaris
tells him they will be delivered for the race. Sure enough,
the Polaris truck pulls up, and they give Bud his sleds. His
650 will not, under any circumstances, start. He knows it's
the carbs, but he and his team can't figure out what's wrong.
Bud is very angry that he didn't get his sled in time to set
it up before the race.
Bud hatches a plan.
Without telling his crew what he's up to, he tells them to
distract Bob Eastman, and the rest of the Polaris crew. Under
no circumstances were they to let any of the Polaris guys
go to the side of Polaris' truck, where, coincidentally, Bob
Eastman's 650 was located. Without asking too many questions,
Bud's crew does as they are told and carefully distract the
Polaris team.
Bud sneaks over to Eastman's sled, pulls his carbs off and
replaces them with the defective ones from his sled. He sneaks
back over to his sled and puts Eastmans carbs on. One pull
and the sled roars to life. Hearing the sled, his crew comes
back and asks how he got it running. He just smiles and tells
them to keep an eye on Eastman's 650.
The first of the 650 races is called. Eastman walks over
to his sled and starts pulling. And pulling, and pulling.
Bud looks at me with that big 'ol grin and says: "I've
never seen the Polaris truck empty out so fast and them Polaris
guys run so fast as to try and get Bob's sled running!"
He chuckled out loud to himself, remembering the panic on
the Polaris crews faces.
I asked him if Bob Eastman ever knew what happened. Bud said
no. But he did ask Bud how come his sled was running so well
after the race.
We chatted some more, and eventually I got back to the pistons.
"Go check for yourself. They are in the second file cabinet,
two drawers down". I went into the back and opened it.
As I suspected, there was about 10 sets of the pistons. "Yep,
you only have one set Bud - are they for sale?"
"Only if you promise never to repeat that story!"
Bud laughed again.
I got the pistons. Sorry Bud, it's too good of a story to
keep to myself.
3 SLEDS, ONE GEEK, 9 DAYS
One week from Thursday I need to have all 7 sleds packed up
and on the way to Roseau. The last 2 hoods are being painted.
Decals should be picked up late tomorrow. Last of the parts
to be fabricated (a tach mount) will be picked up tomorrow.
The 74 Seat will be picked up from the upholstery place tomorrow.
The 74 Motor is done (THANK YOU DOUG!).
What's left? stud one track, install 2 tracks and 2 suspensions,
paste all the graphics on the hoods, install 2 motors, still
waiting on brake and throttle cables, Pipes need to be fitted
to one, I had to order brake rebuild kits today from Polaris
(most expensive parts one the whole things so far, sheesh
Polaris - $3.50 for an O-ring???), Handlebar hoops on 2 sleds.
I think I'm gonna make it. Will they run? I likely won't
have time to find out!
 |
 |
 |
|
Nearly done...
|
Long way to go...
|
Long, long way to go...
|
6/02/2004
3 SLEDS, ONE GEEK, 15 DAYS
Ug. Progress has been painfully slow. I spent as much time
as I could possibly afford away from work over the last few
days working on a single hood and the graphics.
It took most of Memorial day to get the hood to fit properly.
It has taken all of yesterday and today to get the outline
of the hood graphics prepared. I ran out of tracing paper
at 10:30 and decided to take a break.
 |
|
1974 Suzuki SnoPro - the only one
known to exist - just one of the rare sleds at the St.
Germain show last weekend.
|
Tomorrow I'll get more tracing paper, finish the outlines,
then the hood goes to paint - actually two hoods are going
to paint. The decals for the 77 IFS SnoPro continue to trickle
in - but it's just the electronic files - I still have zero
of them actually printed.
Did get some good news today - all the parts are in for the
74 SnoPro motor. Pistons, rings, bearings & clips all
arrived today, as did the track for the 77 IFS SnoPro. Unfortunately,
the holes are not drilled for the studs, and the cleats are
made of Arbolloy. Arbolloy is similar to Titanium, meaning
that drilling a hundred and some holes will take forever.
As promised, here are the progress shots. Still want to take
some bets as to if I will get these done on time?? Well, do
ya? Do ya feel lucky, punk?
Well, it's only 11:08. I think I have at least another 2-3
hours in me. Back to the garage.
5/31/2004
FIRST ST. GERMAIN PHOTOS COMING!
The Snowmobile Hall of Fame's first ever classic sled round-up
in St. Germain Wisconsin can only be called a huge success.
Amidst the ever present fear of rain, almost 100 sleds were
on display - a very good number for a first ever show.
The weather station was promising "driving rain"
and "constant downpours" all day, but when I poked
my head out of the hotel room, the sun was shining. The weather
held just perfectly, only starting to rain as the awards ceremonies
were starting early in the afternoon.
Chip Patterman won the award for "Best Arctic Cat",
a special award in recognition of the shows sponsor, Arctic
Cat.
The Warnings showed up with about 12 sleds, and were more
then happy to start them for the crowds that gathered. One
of the highlights of the day was Keith and Brad firing up
the Budweiser drag sled - an amazingly unique sled - unique
sounding and very loud!
 |
|
Brad and Keith Warning fire up
the 16 cylinder Yamaha powered Budweiser drag sled.
|
I have a whole bunch of photos to share late tonight - after
I get a good solid long day in the garage to catch up on my
projects, so stay tuned - there was some truly amazingly nice
sleds at this show.
5/28/2004
SWEET "NEW" YAMAHA
Ken Olsen sent in these sweet pictures of his brother Craig
Olsen's recently completed restore project of the First Year
Yamaha 1968 SL350.
She looks great and was a complete basket
case when started. They have been told only 75 of these were
ever made..not sure? but, I am sure there are few around.
Lots of people think the 1969 SL351 is the first Yamaha machine
Ken will have its history in the making on his site in the
near future: www.yamahasnowmobiles.biz
Personally I really dig the round, smooth, full carb covers
and clutch cover. They remind me of something warm and cozy.
Yes they do.
Nice work Craig! It looks great. Thanks
to Ken for sharing the photos!
3 SLEDS, ONE GEEK, 20 DAYS
One more hood got painted. One more hood arrived, raw and
needs trimming before paint. We finally have some sun today,
so I'll be painting some small parts. Suspension sliders showed
up from Dennis Kirk yesterday for one, the track for another
is due from my good friends at Wahl
Brothers today, where they were replacing the steel cleats
with the correct Arbolly cleats.
One of the sleds needed a rather odd handlebar hoop to hold
up the steering column. I'm happy to report that is nearly
done, should be absolutely completed late tonight. Superman
Jim Haug has volunteered to restore the suspension on the
74 SnoPro. After a memorial day vacation, that should be ready
early next week.
The scariest part yet? Missing motor pieces and decals that
are still not done, some not even started.
Speaking of the newly arrived hood, many of you know of the
long, painful and damned expensive journey I've been on to
find a hood for one very rare Polaris racers. I'm happy to
say that search is finally over! I'd give out more detail,
but that is a whole long story in of itself, with too many
people that helped out to do it justice with anything short
of a full length story. 4
Stay tuned. The next update will include first ever photos!
5/25/2004
FIRST EVER SAINT GERMAIN SHOW
It's all happening this coming Sunday in the park in St. Germain
Wisconsin. Rumors are heating up that some very rare and unique
sleds will be showing up there for the first time ever. I'm
hearing about some very rare Eliasons, Polaris, Cat and other
custom and oddball sleds making their way North this weekend.
Sounds like plenty of swappers headed North as well. Swapping
is sometimes very fun at new shows, because you get new swappers
with new stuff showing up....
 |
|
Doc Jim's "Wildfire"
|
Among the sleds that will be there, I'm trying to talk Doc
Jim into bringing out his "Wildfire" creation. We'll
be featuring Wildfire soon, and you should all make your guesses
now as to what it is made of. It caused a lit stir when our
good friend at retrosno.com,
aka "Rude Dog" aka Jay Carsley, posted some "leaked"
photos. Jay was pretty close at guessing Wildfire's parts,
but not quite! If you know Doc, email him and tell
him to bring it so he can fire it up and drive it across the
grass...
Speaking of driving across the grass - there are some limitations
as to where you can drive cars or snowmobiles at the St. Germain
show, so ask one of the officials before firing up the old
beast and hitting the hammer! I've posted a link with directions
and the show
rules (much the same as Waconia) for everyone to gander
at - just check the new
events section.
NEW HAMPSHIRE CLASSIFIEDS
I've noticed that when I click on the NH Classifieds link
above it sometimes does not respond. Please allow me to explain
what's happening there.
To make a long story short, vintagelseds.com had to be removed
from the server it had been hosted on since inception. I found
a whole new world possabilities out there and decided to change
the platform of vintagesleds.com to a dynamic site (database
driven) based in the programming language of PHP and the database
of MYSQL. The code from the old classifieds that we all know
and miss was written in a different language and was also
the property of another company.
We've been working on re-writing a better, faster, easier
to use classifieds section for the site that will also add
a lot more interactive features to the site. More on that
later. But until that time, Stephen Burdick of the NH museum
has setup the temporary adds that are available for now. He's
done a very good job of keeping them going. We know there
is some issues with them, but they will work for now. As soon
as the new classifieds are ready, we will change the link
on the top of this page.
3 SLEDS, ONE GEEK, 24 DAYS
I've got 3 sleds to finish before the first of the Polaris
50th Anniversary events on June 19th. One is 90% done, minus
the hood and decals. One is 20% done - minus the motor that
is still missing parts. The other is 10% done, but is missing
no parts. Can it be done? I've got help from a good many people,
but there is a ton of painting, cleaning, bolting and testing
to be done before then. Compounding the issue - I have no
clue what I'm doing and my garage is rather under tooled.
Place your bets now folks. Will all three be done on time?
Will any of them be done on time? Will any of them run by
then? What are my odds of finishing? Will starting a new company,
selling a house and chasing girls get in the way?
Place
your bets folks.
 |
|
The Dash Plaques for the
1st Annual Classic Sled Round-Up, and an excuse to put
up a photo of a sexy EXT.
|
5/16/2004
FIRST EVER SAINT GERMAIN SHOW
Charles Plueddeman is sending me updated information on the
first ever show put on by the Snowmobile Hall of Fame. Already
the show looks to be a good one.
First of all, Arctic Cat stepped up the
plate and is sponsoring the event. So they added a special
"best Cat" category for the show. They've also added
a Custom Class. Swappers welcome.
It's May 30th, and will be over in time for everyone to get
home for work on Monday. More updates on the show coming.
{This space is brought to you by Yvon Duhamel. Please don't
wear those "Yvon who?" buttons anymore!}
5/13/2004
FIELD OF DREAMS
Don Soukup sent me this photo of his
field of Polaris sleds he's salvaging, restoring and preserving
for future generations.
We've all seen images like this of sleds in need o loving.
It's darn nice to know that Don is out there trying hard to
make sense of them all!
BIG ST. GERMAIN SHOW NEWS...
Is coming soon. They have added some classes, have some celebrity
judging lined up, and are expecting a pretty big turnout.
The show is sponsored by Arctic Cat and the Snowmobile Hall
of Fame, and kicks off the summer vintage show circuit for
2004. More info on the Snowmobile Hall of Fame events
page.
 |
|
Huh?
|
5/10/2004
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
Geez, I've smelled bad before, but these people are fearing
for the ecology around me? And why only the Power plant foes
fearing the ecology around me? Who is Joy Powell? What did
I do to her? ;-)
5/04/2004
HALL OF FAME ATTRACTIONS
I made a trip up to the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain
Wisconsin recently and took a few shots of some of the new
additions.. The collection there just keeps getting better
and better!
 |
 |
|
Terry Wahl's 100% orginal Boswell
Cup winning sled.
|
Mike Trapp's 1974 Sk-Doo SnoPro
Hood.
|
Take for example the Terry Wahl sled. The museum had the
fiberglass for this machine for years. The Wahl's delivered
the rest of the machine recently. Loren Anderson of the Hall
of Fame sat the glass on "it all fit perfectly!"
and there it is. The machine is exactly how it was when it
came off the track in 1996. Terry won the Boswell cup that
year, winning a $50,000 prize for winning 3 out of 4 selected
races on the circuit that year.
The 1974 SnoPro Ski-Doo hood is not new to the museum, but
what a great piece to have. This hood once belonged to Mike
Trapp. The damage on it is from some work that was done on
it in the years since it was retired. To the best of my little
brain's knowledge, only one of these sleds survived and is
owned by racing legend Yvon Duhamel (YVON WHO?).
 4/29/04
MEET THE MAYOR OF GARAGE LOGIC
I've babbled on about my favorite radio show before - AM 1500's
"Garage Logic". A mythical place where nothing is
more important than QGT - Quality Garage Time. It's got to
be the only talk radio show on this planet (or any other)
that features the sounds of motors running, regularly praises
flashlights, and supports the right to enjoy motorsports.
The traffic reporter for Garage Logic is Kenny Olson, who
races vintage Sno*Jets and regularly comes to vintage shows
- particularly the big Waconia show. Kenny Olson is also a
good buddy of vintage racer Todd Elmer. When Kenny found out
I got Todd's race sled, Kenny got me a HUGE poster of the
sled on the cover of Race & Rally magazine which is framed
and placed prominently in my basement.
Kenny and I went out and got a couple of Russian burgers
in St. Paul this week. On the way back, he gave me a tour
of the mighty AM 1500 command and control centers in St. Paul.
I got to meet Rookie, Morghanne Q.E. Wolfe-Slattery, (Euphorian
- she believes snowmobiles should come equipped with Wolf
Gaurds) and (drum roll please) the Mayor of Garage Logic himself
- Joe Soucheray.
You know, no matter how you picture someone on the radio,
they never look like what you think they do. Rookie is a whole
lot hairier then one might imagine. I had pictured him bald.
Joe's a whole lot thinner then one might imagine, downright
thin. I always pictured him a bit potbellied. Morghanne Q.E.
Wolfe-Slattery, is, well a major babe. No Liv Tyler, mind
you, but a total babe.
So my thanks to Kenny for the tour and the chance to meet
the people behind the characters that have kept me chuckling
through hellish Minneapolis traffic for several years now.
It was my pleasure to meet all of you.
Garage Logic is available
over the Internet from their web
site.
 POLARIS
DRAGSTER
Here she is - and she's buck naked. The Polaris Dragster I
mentioned a few days back is looking pretty good. The chassis
is done, the motors installed, the tracks and suspensions
are in place.
It's owned and being built by Bob Weaver of Bob Weaver Motorsports
and he hopes to have it ready by the Polaris 50th event in
June. Good luck Bob!
|
Home 
