By Patti Tisron
Well, it’s December, and Santa is checking his list and, of course, checking it twice. This year (2020) has really been a rough time for everyone and, as they say, we are in this together. So, let’s get together and snowmobile.
MSA held its yearly convention in Traverse City with nearly 300 members attending. This year, the awards were plentiful — Presidents award, Club of the Year, Dealer of the Year, Snowmobiler of the Year and, of course, Almost Snowmobiler of the Year. A special award was given to Bill Manson, honoring him as International United States Snowmobiler of the Year.
A new board was elected at breakfast on Sunday. President Fred Egeler said goals for next season are to increase membership and to improve our trail system.
Polaris Industries announced a snowmobile that doubles the fun of the tremendously successful Indy Lite — the New Indy Lite GT. The Porsche red-colored Lite GT is one of the lightest machines in its class. This coupled with power provide by Polaris’ proven 340cc, oil-injected, twin-cylinder, fan cold engine with dual 30mm carbs means the Lite GT provides exceptional performance and superior fuel economy. A suggested retail price of $3,179 seems to be affordable for most.
Ski-Doo introduced the new 1991 Formula Mach 1, powered by a 617cc Rotax engine that has been fine tuned to produce an optimum RPM range of &,650 to as high as 8,600. Like the Ski-Doo Formula Plus X, it features enhanced aerodynamics in the cab design, which underwent wind-tunnel testing at the Canadian National Research Council. The drag of the Formula X models is lower than that of any competing snowmobile.
Rails to Trails in the Cadillac area is close to being a reality. The project is transforming the railroad to a recreational trail from the Grand Rapids area to Cadillac. Already 6 miles of rails have been pulled by the Department of Transportation to have trisection ready for the upcoming winter.
Drummond Island is popular as a very special, very accommodating spot for some of the best snowmobiling anywhere. Start the trip to the island with a ride on the Drummond Islander III, a 25-car auto ferry that takes you across the DeTour Channel. Once on the island, there are plenty of hotel rooms, resort cabins and beautiful lodges.
Snow-covered trees line many of the 120 miles of groomed trails. All are widened to 10 and 12 feet for a beautiful ride. Some of the most unrivaled features of Drummond Island snowmobiling are the two “ice bridges” to Ontario. Every tenth of a mile a tree marks the trail.
A 13-mile one-way trip to St. Joe, Ontario, is a wonderful and very interesting ride through the islands between Canada and Drummond Island. The 23-mile ride to Thessalon, Ontario, is longer but really is a “must-see.” Plan a trip as soon as the snow flies.
The 14th annual world watercross race was held back in July on Memory Lake in Grantsburg with more than 10,000 fans gathered on the banks surrounding the lake. A record number of racers, 145, came from all over the United States and Canada to this unique racing festival weekend event where they participated in Super Mod Drags, Mod Stock Drags, Novice Class and Sports Class. Something for everyone.
Roger City held its 5th annual Snow Derby last February and it was a picture-perfect weekend. Power and speed were the watchwords for this event, and finesse and pure driving skill provide the framework for perfect racing. Hundreds of speed fans, friends and pit crews for the drag racers line the red drag strip on Saturday. Hillman’s Flynt Schulze walked off with four class wins.
Years back you could find racing every weekend somewhere in Michigan or close by in Wisconsin. So many different kinds of racing, even summer racing. Sadly, we don’t have that anymore. Times have really changed in the snowmobile world.