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Two Half Days In TRF – We Came, We Saw, We Didn’t Stay Long Enough

Last week, I took a quick trip to the TRF Factory. It had been nearly a year to the day since I had last visited, and it’s nearing one year since I haven’t been employed by the company and surrounded by the co-workers I thought of as home and family for nearly 16 years. The trip north brought a slight bit of sadness with it thinking of the past, but was all erased as I was greeted by smiling faces, great stories and a reminder talented people remain at Arctic Cat who are innovating some pretty damn cool current and future products.

Remember to Mike n Ike your road trips!

Due to my ongoing pursuit of a sponsorship from Mike and Ike candies, I’d be remiss if I didnt mention this semi-professional roadtrip started with two boxes of my favs before picking up my roadtrip buddy, and longtime snowmobile industry wordsmith, Pat Bourgeois.

Pat and his nine roller dogs!

We didn’t make it 20 miles before Pat needed to stop for a little snack. I found it hard to believe he ate nine rollerdogs at 6:30am! Pat started to sound like Sandberg when he said, “Nobody wants to admit they ate nine roller dogs, but I did. I’m ashamed of myself. The first one doesn’t count, then you get to the second and third, fourth and fifth which tasted like it was burnt with a blowtorch, but then I just kept eatin’.”

Caught up with a group of Ex- and Current- AC Employees

Half way to TRF, my phone rang and it was my friend, Gary Nelson, who used to be the Promotions Manager for many years at Arctic Cat. He informed me my timing was impeccable, as there was going to be a group of past/present employees meeting at the St. Hilaire liquor store (Broadway Station) for lunch at Noon. (Something they’ve been doing once a month) 

I’ll spare you the details on what everyone had for lunch, but we gathered the group for a photo before everyone departed. From (L-R) Front Row: Lyle “Popsie” Hanson, Ron Solberg, Marilyn Helgeland, Roger Skime, Mike Conely, Brian Dick, Alicia Martin. (L-R) Back Row: Tristin Ironi, Gary Nelson, Lynn Berberich, Andy Beavis, Mike Kloety, Kale Wainer (Author) and Pat Hanson. Plenty of laughs were had and one of my favorite stories came from Roger Skime. (Shocking) 

Roger, sitting next to me at the table, leans over and says, “Kale’r! I remember the St. Hilaire Liquor store. [looks around room] In the 70’s a group of us were headed to West Yellowstone testing. We left the plant, made it here, and never left! [Laughs] We were all having so much fun [makes drinking motion to his mouth with hand], we didn’t leave. Soooo, first day of traveling out West we made it 5 miles! Whaddya think of that?! [Laughs again]

2021 Blast ZR and LT are just that, a Blast

After our lunch, Pat and I followed Brian Dick (Product Strategy Director), Mike Conely (Project Manager) and Lynn Berberich (Engineering Manager) to the factory as they had a surprise lined up for Pat and I. They invited us to ride with them on five fresh 2021 models: Blast ZR, Blast LT, Riot X Alpha, Riot 146 and ZR 8000 Sno Pro 137. What a treat!

Ill share my inital impressions of these units in the very near future, but just want to take two seconds now to say, the Blast models were a true eye-opener…definitely NOT “Kids Sleds”. They are true performers and a model I havent stopped thinking about since our ride.

2021 Blast models on the line being built for events and demos

Once back to the factory, I took a quick cruise on the production line to see what was being built. At the time, Blast models were on the line being produced for upcoming Marketing events and demo rides, Rep and Dealer demos. Don’t forget to visit Arcticcat.com for event listings or the pages of AI.

2021 Blast 4000 Engines waiting to be loading on the line

The heart of the Blast lies right here waiting to be loaded onto the production line. The compact and lightweight (under 50 pounds) EFI CTEC2 engine delivers and impressive 65-hp (397cc) and an excellent throttle response and engine reverse. Ill go out on a limb and say this is one of the highest tech single-cylinder two-stroke engines currently being produced in powersports. (One of these sold as a crate engine to retro into a vintage sled would be pretty sweet.)

Tim Johnson stops for a quick photo as he installs wiring harness on the new Blast engine.

Above, Tim Johnson takes a quick smile break from installing wiring harnesses on the new Blast engine. Further down the line, employees installed these engines into the Blast chassis where you get a good look at the front clip.

New Blast engine installed in chassis.

Looking at the clock, I knew I could spend hours on the line, but had to keep moving and had some people to see before departing. I ran into this trio in engineering discussing drive systems, (L-R) Lynn Berberich, Kevin Thompson and Tristin Ironi. Kevin, who leads drive system teams for both snow and dirt products, is a wealth of knowledge and always takes the time to dumb answers down for me regarding my questions.   

Lynn Berberich, Kevin Thompson and Tristin Ironi

My next stop was the call center to visit some familiar faces including Joann Lundeen (Right Front), whom, if you look closely over her right shoulder, has a photo of me hanging on her cube wall that was created 15 years ago as a joke of my head photoshopped on Hugh Heffners robed body. This photo has changed various office occupants ever since. (Laughing)

Call Center

Next door to the Call Center, I was happy to run into these two (L) Keith Johnson and (R) Jeff Lane. I caught Keith a few days before he was retiring. Keith has been responsible for many of the sweet hard parts and accessories found on the pages of Arctic Cat catalogs and dealership showrooms for many years. I believe he started working at AC in 1995? Ive always admired Keith for his love of adventure motorcycle riding and hope he gets to do plenty of it soon. I believe Jeff has worked at AC even longer than Keith and has held various positions including time in the race department, Tigershark development and as long as Ive known him, has been involved in Accessories for Dirt, Snow and Oil products. Both are incredibly talented and a pleasure to talk with.

Keith Johnson (L) and Jeff Lane (R)

After leaving Keith and Jeff, I walked by one of ArcticInsider’s biggest fans, Troy Halvorson, who is Director of Operations. Troy is a face that longtime readers of AI should be familiar with. If not, Troy has held many lead roles at AC which have mostly revolved around Snow Engineering (Performance, Race and Mountain) and Snow Product Management.

Troy Halvorson Director of Operations

My time in TRF was far too short, and I wasn’t able to share all the people I talked to (with photos) here, but there will be more TRF trips. This one was a great first visit back after my employment with the company. And Im happy to see current and future product being developed by talented individuals. Excitement level for snowmobiling was at an all-time high, especially catching this photo south of TRF when we were headed home of the local club grooming.

Caught the groomer just south of TRF

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11 COMMENTS

  1. Took a close look at the blast sleds while in Eagle River. Pretty cool looking lil buggies. Was disappointed not to see more cat sleds and factory riders out on the track. We will see any new “big” sleds coming down the line? I hate to say it but seems like we are getting a lil long in the cat tooth! Thanks for the great article, looking forward to hearing more about the blast ride.

  2. Happy to see these TRF trip stories coming back. I missed seeing views inside the factory. Also good to see some familiar faces. Waiting patiently out east in hopes of riding a Blast this winter. Can’t wait to hear your input on Blast ride Kale. Can you paint a picture on the size? Or midsize? LOL. 65hp out of a single-cylinder is pretty impressive.

  3. GREAT Roger Skime story! A book needs to be written about him and his stories. Good to see Blast units on the line. Are Hot Tamales part of the Mike and Ike family? They’re my road trip go-to!

  4. When are you going to talk more about the 2021s? Frustrating no media are talking about them. Must not be getting enough ad dollars. Ride Reviews please! Ill be at ERX and looking forward to demo rides.

  5. There isn’t even any talk about the 2020 cats in the media.im still waiting for an actual review and impressions of the new 800 motor.

  6. At least the sleds are getting something, even if it’s hot air. What has the dirt side gotten? The XX is stale. No turbo, no four-seater, and they dropped the WC Trail and WC Sport, which were in dire need of an update and new powerplant anyway. Same old non-competitive ATVs. I have yet to see a new Prowler in the wild. There is one Stampede around town, and it’s one of the few that I sold. The Havoc flopped badly, and had terrible clutch issues at rollout, despite their claims of testing, testing, testing. It is just pitiful to see a company so totally adrift.

  7. I see that new single and all I can think about is my Dad’s old MOD 70 Puma 340 racer with the hot rod modified Hirth single in it. It weighed about 300 lbs wet with snow on it. We thought that was a mini rocket with what? 35 hp maybe? I’d gladly build a replica and insert this engine in it. You could hide a radiator in the big mouth grill and short extruders in the tunnel. Oh the fun, he he.

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