Thursday morning in northwestern Minnesota, a new chapter will be written in the history of the most celebrated snowmobile cross-country race in the lower 48 begins with the start of the Seven Clans I-500.
Not to be confused with the Soo I-500 enduro race, the traditional cross-country 500 takes riders down trails, along ditches, through the woods and across lakes over the course of three days. Its history dates back to 1966, when Herb Howe won the first I-500 – an adventure that started in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and ended in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Since then, various race bodies and sponsors have had their name on the event – from the original I-500 to the Jeep I-500 to the ISOC Grand 500 to FANS Warroad 500 to various names under the United States Cross Country (USCC) circuit. The route has varied as well – from a true point-to-point event connecting Canadian cities to the Minnesota-St. Paul suburbs to more focused, looped events that bring racers and teams back to the same starting point each day. This year the new United State X-Country (USXC) will sanction the event, and it will be based out of the Seven Clans Casino south of Thief River Falls, Minnesota.
But no matter what the sponsor’s name is on the front of the race bib, the I-500 has always been cross-country racing’s most prized trophy south of Alaska. And that has made it a major marketing vehicle for the snowmobile manufacturers over the years.
Thanks to our friend Jim Urquhart over at SledRacer.com, we’ve come up with a preliminary list of competitors for the ultimate Pro Stock 600 class which will determine the race’s overall winner, but racers will compete in several different classes – from Vintage to Sport to Semi Pro to age- and gender-based classes to Pro Open, and beyond. But, here’s the best Pro Stock 600 list we could get:
- Brian Dick
- Dan Ebert
- Ryan Simons
- Zach Herfindahl
- Wes Selby
- Justin Tate
- Ryan Faust
- Gabe Bunke
- Spencer Kadlec
- Aaron Christensen
- Jordan Torgerson
- Ryan Greening
- Chad Lian
- Cody Kallock
- Bobby Menne
- Corey Davidson
- Cole Nymann
- Nick Roehl
- Eric Gausen
- Cory Grant
- Travis Faust
- Jon Arneson
- Tyler Johnsrud
- Nathan Moritz
Quick, before the racers get lined up on the starting line, go to our Snowmobile Racing Challenge and sign up to play our fantasy racing game. You pick six drivers in the order you think they’ll finish, then gain points based upon how those driver’s actually finish the 500 on Saturday afternoon. It’s quick, simple, fun and free.
Also, as a treat, he’s a look back at all of the winners of this historic event. Here’s a link. We’ll be following it all weekend on the radio and Internet, and will post updates as we can here on snowgoer.com and on our Facebook page.
