The lost Johnson photos

08/03/2004
THE LOST JOHNSON PHOTOS
My grandad (on dad's side) lived in Warroad Minnesota, I believe for all his life. He had lots of toys and he really, really liked his toys.

For instance, he had a Toyota pickup truck. Therefore, he reasoned, Toyota pickups are vastly superior to any other brand {cough, cough}.

He also had a couple of Johnson's. He was very proud of the Johnsons. Doc Jim some time ago wrote a great story about how Grandad told him, when he was very young, that he and his brother could ride the Johnsons... if they were strong enough to start them.

When Doc wrote that story, I looked high and low to find photos I knew we had of the Johnsons. Well, my sister finally dug through all the boxes, and her and Dad finally found one.

So here it is for all of you that thought Doc Jim never touched anything that wasn't made in Roseau!

So what year and model are they? Can anyone tell from what little can be seen in this photo? I bet the guys at Team Johnson know!

08/02/2004
AT LEAST THE SHIRT IS WHITE...
Dale Darling's Yvon sighting continues... Turns out I did have a T-shirt there! Actually Dale did something very cool - he picked up a shirt at the event and had Ski-Doo Superman Yvon Duhamel sign it to me. Very cool Dale thank you so much! I may have to start my own little "Hall of Fame".

Do you like apples? I got Yvon's autograph. How 'bout them apples?

VINTAGE SLEDS EARLY YEARS CD-ROM
Open message to all the people that pre-ordered the vintagesleds.com early years CD-ROM from the new VSN store: Hang tight for a few more days, there was a complication with the duplication of the CD's that have delayed it slightly. Any questions please contact us.

7/27/2004
ANOTHER YVON SPOTTING
Dale Darling sent in this intriguing tale of his spotting of the ever elusive Ski-Doo Superstar:

Hi Larry, ...Caught him [Yvon] on the golf cart heading to the autograph tent. Very friendly man; I believe that's his wife next to him. Think I caught him by surprise when I brought up the snowmobile days! Mentioned about the battles him and my idol, Jim Adema, had back then. He said, "Yes, those were fun times, but very sad when Jim was killed at Ironwood".

Yvon and his wife? Get escorted off the track in Ohio.

He also said he has "only one snowmobile, now. Too cold"! I had him sign your T-shirt [What? I had a T-shirt there?], Larry, and mentioned vintagesleds.com. Maybe he'll look it up sometime. Let's hope. I'm sure he could provide some GREAT stories. Hope these pics get to you OK. I took the pics, my son did the work to get them to you. I wouldn't even know where to start! He lost me right after he started!

Thanks very much Dale. Your son and yourself did a great job - thanks for sharing!

7/25/2004
POLARIS IN ST. PAUL
The Polaris 50th event in St. Paul, Minnesota this past Saturday was clearly a big hit for the company. I don't have an official gate count, but I'm sure it was in the 10's of thousands. I didn't see any one of the Polaris faithful having anything but a truly good time. I heard accents from Finland & Sweden, even Australia.

Highlights of the one day blow out? Of course, Roger Dick running a 70 Charger through the loop. Rumor has it they may do it again at Hay days this year. Roger celebrated his 60th birthday with the death defying stunt. It also pretty cool to see a new sled and an ATV running through the loop as well.

Next on the highlight parade was a celebrity sighting or two. Richard Petty was about all day, though I didn't get to see him up close. The night before I had one of my sleepless nights (how else do you think I find time to have fun with this site!), and was watching the great Biker Build-off on the Discovery channel. This, of course, only made it harder to sleep as I had to watch the whole thing. This version of the show featured Arlen and Cory Ness. Who do I darn near trip over at the Polaris event? None other then Arlen Ness himself. I also saw Polaris stars Jim Bernat & Ray Monsrud signing autographs.

A big thrill for me was finally seeing the only Polaris twin tracker ever built. Dave Wahl built the sled and only ran a few times before kissing a wall (not his wife - this wall was not friendly), and retiring the sled. I'd seen it so many times in one video I've got that I've always been intrigued by it. The sled is in pretty darn good shape, sans a motor. Many thanks to the Wahls for getting this extremely rare sled to the show. I know a lot of people really appreciated it.

Also on the list was getting to meet Jerry Bunke's son Gabe. Though we didn't get to chat much, I can tell this is an outstanding guy who definitely inherited the good stuff from the old man. I also got to meet his wife, and together with Lee Fredrickson, we took some pretty good photos I'll be sharing later.

I caught a couple of minutes of 38 special and some other bands. Not my cup of tea, but the crowd was surely enjoying it.

A huge highlight for me was a small gathering on Friday and Saturday night. Restoration guru Dave Larsen, wife Jo and Kehin the wonder Doberman (Sorry Kee. I believe I am still several points ahead!) hosted a gathering of Polaris race sled fans at his house. A small group of vintage sledders, good food, some adult beverages and some great sleds to look at and appreciate. Dave fired up his 70 TX now and then so we all had the smell of 2 stroke smoke to complete the ambiance. It was great fun, and that my friends, is what it's all about.

More photos at a later date.

7/22/2004
FINALLY, ST. GERMAIN PHOTOS.
The first ever show in St. Germain Wisconsin to raise money for the Snowmobile Hall of Fame could only be described as a smashing success. Lots of sleds showed up that I don't thin had gone to many other shows, and there was a very good sized crowd of people to appreciate them. Finally, I got all the pictures put up. Enjoy.

POLARIS IN ST. PAUL
I did make it to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds yesterday. Jim Strandlund and I dropped off some race sleds. The vintage display is really cool and well worth the show. The big news is the new Polaris 50th Anniversary DVD will be on sale near the vintage sleds - it contains some really great vintage footage (including never before seen race footage), and interviews with a lot of the great Polaris racers over the year. I'll see you all there Saturday.

7/20/2004
DOWN, BUT NOT OUT.
Perry Sekel runs vintagetwister.com. He's completely addicted to the old Mercs. I got to do a vintage ride with him at Waconia a couple of years back. It was a hoot. I check his web site all the time. Perry's clearly one of the good guys in the hobby. Well, Perry's not going to be able to ride a sled for over a year due to some back surgery. Just thought we should all email him and see of the Twisters are for sale then? Just kidding. Hope you feel better soon!

Scotty Graybill gets to meet Yvon DuHamel!

NO MORE "YVON WHO?" JOKES
Scotty Graybill got to meet the Ski-Doo legend. I think he tells the story better then I:

"Dear Larry, Thanks for the heads-up on Yvon's appearance at Mid Ohio. On Sunday, we gathered up some Ski Doo memorabilia including the hood from my totally original 71 645 Blizzard and headed for Mid Ohio. After watching Yvon do some parade laps aboard an H1R Kawasaki, we got to met him and he very graciously signed all of the items we took there. It was a thrill to meet Yvon in person as he is indeed a legend among both snowmobile and motorcycle racers.

He talked a good deal about his 74 Blizzard (the only one remaining) and said that it still runs perfectly although the suspension needs some attention....and he's not ready to sell it yet!!!

I showed him the new race and rally vintage book and he was quite impressed with it! Yvon is a great guy and I will never forget getting to finally meet him in person and sharing some conversation. Bt the way, the hood looks great with his autograph on it!

Thanks again to vintagesleds.com for a great day that we will treasure forever.

Sincerely, Scotty Graybill Garrettsville, Ohio

Right on Scotty! - thanks for sharing the story and the photos. I would sure like to meet him myself and hear about that 74!

7/18/2004
MORE STUFF
We've added some more ways to interact with the web site, including the new vintagsleds.com store. If you find anything not working this site, if you can, please get the page address URL where you encountered the problem, your browser and operating system info and email it to us. We will dig into it and see what the issue is. We appreciate your help.

Another view of the 70 Polaris going through the loop in Roseau.

MORE ROAD TO ROSEAU PHOTOS
This time, four new photos from Jim Strandlund - all shown on the bottom of this page. This will be the final install of the Road to Roseau photos. Thanks Jim!

The 2nd Polaris 50th event is this coming up this weekend, July 24th. I'm sorry to say that due to schedule conflicts and space considerations, it looks highly likely that both myself, Doc Jim and the Snowmobile Hall of Fame will not be able to display any of the vintage Polaris race sleds in our collections. There will be a lot of race sleds there however, ranging from Herb Howe's 66 I-500 racer to several 1973 Polaris Starfires. However, the full race sled display that was in Roseau will NOT be there. I'll be there with the camera and will be able to focus a whole lot more on photos. I'm looking forward to it!

ELKLAND SHOW
From the posts on the classified, the Elkland show was a huge hit! I'm looking forward to photos on retrosno.com. Speaking of retrosno, site host "Rude Dog" has announced you can pre-register for Rude Dog's Really Big Show on October 9th & 10th. That's pretty cool.

7/14/2004
YVON WHO?
This is too good to miss - for anyone near Ohio. This weekend, Ski-Doo legend Yvon Duhamel will be at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Friday through Sunday. According to a post from Dale on the New Hampshire Classifieds, Yvon is the Grand Marshall at the event and will be signing autographs and doing a parade lap. Dale says you can get more information at mid-ohio.com. However, I visited the site and didn't find anything about the Ski-Doo Jedi Master. Someone please send photos if you go!

7/13/2004
POLARIS 50th IN ST. PAUL
Please note the Polaris celebration at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds this weekend is only open to the public on the 25th. It is not open on the 26th as we had listed here before. They are doing the loop in St. Paul as well as a vintage display, but it doesn't sound like many, if any of the original Polaris race drivers are coming for this one. I don't know what they are going to do about the vintage display... They have room for 37 sleds, but 95 are booked to show. The race sled display may be reduced or cut. I'll update as soon as we know for sure.

PS - I hear Liv is going to be a mommy. Before any wild rumours get spread, just remember you can't prove anything, I wasn't there, and I won't submit to a blood test without a court order. Liv Tyler a mom. Wow. Does this mean I'll have to find a new Patron Saint?

Lynn Trapp's PDC Racer

7/12/2004
ANOTHER RAREBIRD
You're looking at a one of a kind race sled - this is the only original condition Yamaha PDC racer known to exist. This one was raced by Lynn Trapp, and is owned by Mike Johnson of Yakima Washigton.

Next up: the very first "factory" Polaris race sled. Coming to rarebirds on the VSN.

7/11/2004
HOLY ORDERS!
Looks like the new store is a hit! It will be very interesting tomorrow to hear from the boys at Snowtech - as we've accumulated an awfully big list of orders for their new "Snowmobile Racings Early Years" book. Thank you all for ordering - the more that get ordered, the more we'll see of the Race & Rally vault opening up to share more photos.

vintagesleds.com CD-ROM. Now available in the VSN store.

I actually drove to Alexandria this weekend, caught up with Kevin Beilke of Snowtech, and bought my own copy. Here's the official review: It's totally awesome. The photos are great, there are tons of them that I have never seen before, and the information on old sled ads, and sled manufacturers that do not exist is priceless. Never have I seen much information on the brands that went defunct. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED WITH THIS BOOK!

Also in the store is the CD-ROM version of the first 4 years of vintagesleds.com. It has become apparent that trying to update ALL that information to the new format will be too costly, so we've adapted it to work on a CD-ROM. It contains all the information from the site, including a few new items. Tons of pages, even more photos, archives, hot rods, rarebirds and more.

Okay, enough of the store stuff. Let's get back to the sleds! Next - up - a very, very rare Yamaha showed up last winter at Waconia. Let's take another look, shall we?

Mike Trapp's 1973 Factory Racer

7/09/2004
RAREBIRDS ARE BACK!
That's right folks. One of the most popular features on vintagesleds.com is on it's way back. We'll start slow - one sled at time... This is first one is really special - MIKE TRAPP'S 1973 SKI-DOO FACTORY RACER!

Seems Mr. Trapp has been hiding this baby all along in a shed. Master restoration guru John Jantsch sent in these before photos. As he give her the treatment, we'll all be able to enjoy the progress. When it's done, on this beauty is on her way to the Snowmobile Hall of Fame, where we can all enjoy it!

Thanks for the photos and story John!

THE STORE IS OPEN
Yep, you can order the Snowtech magazine bok directly and either pay with a check, money order or your credit card! There's more stuff available, and more stuff will be coming over the summer!

Please visit the vsn store today!

7/07/2004
THE BOOK! THE BOOK!
Ladies and gentleman! The wait is FINALLY over! You've asked for it! You emailed the snot out of them and they finally did it!

RACE & RALLY MAGAZINE HAS FINISHED THIER FIRST BOOK! 212 PAGES, OVER 450 PHOTOS! MANY, MANY NEVER BEFOR SEEN PHOTOS! IT'S HOT OFF THE PRESSES ON FRIDAY, JULY 9th!!!!!

The offical announcement from the guys at Snowtechmagazine.com - formerly Race & Rally:

Snowmobile Racing's Early Years 1967-1973
The Photo Book of Vintage Racing you've been waiting for! 212 pages with over 450 of snowmobiling''s most spectacular photos from snowmobile racing's vintage "Early Year's" (1967-1973). All from the exclusive, extensive photo archives of Race & Rally / SnowTech Magazine.

Even bigger news? You'll be able to order it RIGHT HERE ON THE VINTAGESLEDS.COM! Stay tuned we'll put up the link ASAP!

GIMME MY DAMN PIPES!
God bless vintagetwister.com for putting up this video of a Merc SnoPro running. Ahhhh I can almost smell the racing fumes...

7/06/2004
THE ROAD TO ROSEAU
Even more potos! Thanks to Alan Whitford - who has some of the most beautiful antique Polaris sleds anywhere, we have more photos from the Polaris 50th.

The 70 Charger doing the loop!

WHAT UP DOG?
Rude Dog put up some very, VERY interesting photos a few days ago - it seems someone is building clones of the Kawasaki Sharks, and the Skiroule SnoPros? Or are they REAL? What up Jay! You cannot keep us in THAT kind of suspense. It's TOO SEXY!

Take a jaunt over to retrosno.com, about half way down the page and take a look see. Jay, Jay, Jay. Nice job, buddy - keep it up!

Well, I can't quite top something as exciting as a completed Kawasaki Shark... But I do have a little teaser for you of a very special sled that is about to get restored - and this one is a bonified original superstar factory racer...

Guess what we have here? He he he, take that RUDE DOG!

7/02/2004
THE ROAD TO ROSEAU
I got the photos up. I wish I would have gotten more... this is just a fraction of the really cool stuff that was at the offical Polaris 50th celebration in the homeland of Roseau, Minnesota.

6/24/2004
VINTAGE SLEDS ON THE WEB
Two interesting new items on the web in relation to vintage sleds - Wahl Brothers Racing has opened up a new online store - so you can browse the Wahl catalog and order on line. Site manager Joel Howard says only about 1/3 of the Wahl catalog is online, but new products are being added nearly daily.

The SLEDS vintage racing circuit has a new web site as well at sledsracing.com. They've got updated rules, classes and other information regarding the SLEDS circuit in the Midwest. Pretty cool site.

6/23/2004
THE ROAD TO ROSEAU
Here's just a sample of what's to come of photos from the Polaris 50th Anniversary celebration in Roseau last weekend... Stay tuned.

Fantastic Antiques... Allen Whitford's 63	Celebrity photos - Don Omdahl and Jim Bernat pictured here.	Wild sleds - Paul Roer's TC "SnoPro"