2-stroke mountain and crossover sleds and the like. Instead of talking about which brand had the fastest 600, I remember way more conversations about stuff like rider-forward 4-strokes vs. I saw the OEMs putting less emphasis in grass drag races, which coincided with less spectator interest. It seemed to me that change to this mindset began to occur in the 2000s. Sleds soon took to asphalt at NHRA events aftermarket companies sold clutch kits by the truckload and everyday snowmobilers like me and you still seemed to care about who would be first across the lake. The fence along the drag strip at Hay Days was lined four-deep with spectators as the four brands battled for supremacy in multiple stock classes, with chest-thumping ads to follow in the magazines for those who won. The four remaining OEMs continued to build ever-more-powerful machines. Plus, there were all kinds of radar runs throughout North America. It wasn’t an organized event, but apparently it occurred most weekends. I remember going up to Forest Lake north of the Twin Cities one weekend, and there seemed like hundreds of riders who gathered just to race one another. In the 1980s I remember desperately waiting for the issue of Snow Goer magazine to arrive that had their annual Shoot-Out results. The factories were racing the speed run wars from early in the decade had produced machines like the Boss Cats and there was a progressive increases in engine displacement/horsepower from various brands that fueled the culture. I think back to when I got into this sport in the late 1970s, being the fastest was woven into the fabric of everyone’s snowmobile suit. Seems to me that the desire to be the fastest has evolved over the last decade, maybe even significantly. There were several comments in the 16 Things to Know About Arctic Cat for 2017 story last week that indicated that being the quickest/fastest was indeed very important, at least to some people. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about if you want to be the first across the lake? I’ve been thinking a lot about you guys (and gals): the readers of this site.
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