Arctic Cat Kitty Cat
March 15, 2012
Arctic Cat Kitty Cat The second annual USSA World Series of Snowmobiling was held in March, 1971, in Boonville, New York. But race sleds weren’t the only snow machines in the public eye that weekend, as the pint-sized Arctic Cat Kitty Cat was unveiled to the public. Although youth-sized snowmobiles... Read more »
Vintage Snowmobiles: It’s a matter of perception
November 19, 2010
November 19, 2010 Vintage snowmobiles might be as popular today as when they weren’t “vintage,” you know, back when the sport of snowmobiling was exploding in the 1970s. Clubs, shows, special rides and themed riding groups are popping up across the Snowbelt so people can get together and celebrate... Read more »
Timeline: The Sno Jet Sabre Jet
February 8, 2010
Growing rapidly from a modest beginning in 1965, Sno Jet became one of the most successful of the smaller manufacturers of the Vintage era. In 1968, the Quebec firm was acquired by Conroy Corporation of Texas, who made it a subsidiary of its Glastron Boat Company. Sno Jet production peaked out at a little... Read more »
The Dawn of Snowmobiling: Inside The Waconia Ride
January 29, 2010
Editor’s Note: The 20th annual Waconia VSCA Midwest Ride In is this weekend in Waconia, Minnesota. Here’s a look at the event through Tim Erickson’s visit last year. The alarm clock intruded at a ridiculous hour, interrupting my haphazard – though pleasant – thoughts behind closed... Read more »
The Great Snowmobile Racing War
January 12, 2010
Snowmobile racing was booming in the late 1960s. Literally thousands of racers were running on fairgrounds and farm fields from coast to coast. Each weekend, hundreds of hopeful racers would gather from far and wide to cluster in the pits with those wearing the same colors: Ski-Doo yellow, Moto-Ski orange,... Read more »
Five historic Rotax snowmobile engines
January 8, 2010
Editor’s Note Snow Goer Tech Professor, Phil Mickelson, has a true bachelor’s pad in Duluth, Minnesota. Aside from various self-made, high-tech gadgets throughout his home, he also has a large mural in his entryway featuring Can-Am motorcycles in action in the 1970s. But most impressive is his Wall... Read more »
Timeline: The 1976 Arctic Cat Pantera was the birth of the Catillac
December 29, 2009
In 1966 Arctic Cat revolutionized the snowmobile with the original Panther. A decade later, the Pantera redrew the Cat blueprint to create a cross-country race sled for the trail. The Pantera name had been introduced in 1975 on a machine that was little more than a Panther with a mid-mounted gas tank... Read more »
Rear Suspensions of the Late ‘70s
December 15, 2009
There are approximately 1 .3 million snowmobile households in the United States. Of that number perhaps .3 million know how to properly care for their sled. That leaves an estimated one million persons who are not all that keenly aware of the machine in which they’ve invested a substantial amount. Most... Read more »
1994 Snowmobile of the Year: Arctic Cat ZR 440
December 15, 2009
Wait just a minute. The ZR 440? How about the ZR 580? Formula Z? Vmax — pick any Vmax? It’s not brand new. It doesn’t have the biggest engine. So why make it snowmobile of the year? Easy. The 1994 Arctic Cat ZR 440 did one thing better than any other ‘94 machine did. It caused a reaction. A... Read more »
The Long-Travel Revolution Continues…
December 15, 2009
It’s here! It’s really here! The long-travel snowmobile suspension revolution is really here! Oh sure, there was the Arctic Cat Trail Cat in 1979 and the Ski-Doo Blizzard 5500 MX in 1981, but those sleds suffered from high centers of gravity, narrow ski stances, poor shock absorbers and primitive... Read more »
