Cast of Characters

So we're gonna do some racing this weekend. Most of the prep work has been finished, and we'll be brining 3 different snowmobiles to the event. If history is any indication, we should do fairly well.


Stroker will be making the trip. Stroker is our 4-stroke snowmobile, one of Yamaha's newer models. This is the snowmobile that I've mentioned previously and it's still listed on Yamaha's website. Some modifications have been made and we're getting some better times out of it this year, but it remains to be seen how things will pan out in competition.






Snappy will also be tagging along. He's mostly retired from the pro circuit and is starting to lose his place amongst the big boys because of technology advances, and mostly races the smaller races like this weekend and when he does make it to the races on the circuit, he usually runs in the semi-pro classes. He snaps to attention when the green light comes on, bring 700 cc's of grass eating fury, and is always eager to please.


Mad Dog is also coming out of hibernation for this weekend. This is really about the only event that Mad Dog participates in these days. She's way outclassed for the pro and semi-pro circuits, but does nicely in these unsanctioned events. A former World Series of Drag Racing champion, Mad Dog is definitely the woman of the bunch. She's very tempermental, and you definitely have to talk nice to it if you don't want to get bit. About 10 years ago she nearly bit off my Dad's leg...literally. An accident occured during testing that resulted in my Dad's leg getting caught under the steel studded track and getting his calf and ankle shredded to the bone, leaving a hole in his leg and a torn vein. To further illustrate the bite this girl has, a typical snowmobile redline's around 9,800 RPM's. Mad Dog doesn't even turn the track until it hits 6,700 RPM's. It's either idling or running wide open.



















Digi asked how we keep the sleds cool while running them in the summer heat. Most snowmobiles are liquid cooled, but they still rely on heat exchange through snow and moisture. We get around this in a couple of ways. First, we cart the snowmobile to the start line so we don't collect dirt, grass, and rocks in the suspension. After getting them up to the start line we warm it up by jacking up the rear of the sled and running through the RPM's a little, then we shut them down until everyone is ready. The race takes anywhere from 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 seconds, depending on conditions, then probably a 30 second to 1 minute ride back to the pit area, where we immediately cool them down with fresh water. After cycling cool water for 2-3 minutes, the snowmobiles are pretty much back to whatever the outside temp is, but it's a harder battle with the more heats you run, and how long you have between each heat.





















This is how we efficently cool the water between heats:




















Finally, a picture of Mad Dog's teeth, and an approximation of what my Dad's leg looked like afterwards:

















So there ya go, that's the cast of characters, but I wonder if anyone even read down this far? I realize most don't care about it as much as I do..