Recently Swedish Luleås Arctic Cat dealer Navis (Ronny Rönnberg) and SMP Performance shop (Patrik Löfdahl) put together a party at the local Måttsund ski hill that included 2017 model Arctic Cat sleds, Wildcats, hill-drag races (under the lights!) and more.

Erik Jönsson attended and sent the following pix. He reports that it was a fantastic event, with great people and excellent racing.

Click to see a few pix.

Recently I was fortunate to spend a couple days at Arctic Cat in Thief River Falls (and the surrounding area), where I checked in on some of the people who make our snowmobiles, ATVs and side-by-sides.

There was the usual buzz of production, engineers testing snowmobiles, interesting creativity and Team Arctic snocrossers pounding out laps in nearby Fertile, MN.

Click to see some of the action.

Last week eight friends and I gathered for day of snowmobiling on the CJ Ramstad North Shore Trail.

There were World Champs, I-500 champs and one media guy who has no credibility. In other words, we were a bunch of chumps.

As per usual, shenanigans ensued, hamburgers were consumed, animals were harmed in the making of the show and we somehow managed to log 120 miles without catastrophic failure (I think).

Click to read about our Ride with the Chumps.

Seriously impressive job by this guy who turned his Smart car into an enclosed sit-in snowmobile.

Guy walks into a store with an axe. Clerc asks, "Why the FXR gear?"

Click for more newsbits.

For the better part of 50 years, snowmobile one-upmanship has been predicated on who's fastest across the lake.

I asking you now: Does it matter?

Click to read and answer the question.

There's no way to fully honor a man who has so singlehandedly shaped both Arctic Cat and the snowmobile industry.

But there IS this stunning, cool and commemorative Roger Skime-Edition 2017 Arctic Cat ZR 6000!

It's (very) limited, it's in the new body plastic and it's just the kind of lightweight, premium-performance snowmobile that the legend himself has pursued for 55 years.

Click for the info.

At last, Arctic Cat has launched their 2017 line of snowmobiles!

It will be a year that throws more than one surprise, both for what machines it is offering (new Thundercat!) and for what it isn't (read the story).

There's a lot more to say about the 2017 Cats, and I'll have full-feature stories in the coming days and weeks.

For now, here are the 16 things you must know about the Arctic Cat for 2017.

I'm thankful the roving band of thugs who had been terrorizing innocent neighborhoods have been displaced by men on snow machines.

I'm thankful the streets are (finally) safe.

I'm thankful I'm NOT the guy sitting backwards on the Diablo Rouge that's leading this hit parade.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, Feb. 26, 2016.

Last week I had the great pleasure of watching 240-plus kids get to ride passenger on snowmobiles near Baxter, Minn., many for the first time in their life.

The kids, aged 7 through 20, were born with cognitive or developmental disabilities, and they were PUMPED about the day!

The event is called the Region 5 Special Olympics Winter Carnival and organized by Confidence Learning Center in Baxter.

Click to read about it.

I'm thankful for the close relationship between big engines and big, er, stuff.

I'm thankful for fast sleds and fast women.

I'm thankful that, for as long as men have dreamed up ridiculous photo set-ups for ther machines, there are always one or two women who agree to participate.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, Feb. 19, 2016.

You gotta LOVE it when high school students ride their snowmobiles to school! And it's even better when they do so with one of their instructors.

That's what happened yesterday when teacher Dave Guenther (second from left) and four students at Pequot Lakes (MN) High School rode to class.

In addition to being the school's art instructor, Guenther has taught snowmobile safety in the Brainerd Lakes area and is the President of the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame in Eagle River, Wis. Oh...and he's a HUGE fan/collector of Arctic Cat snowmobiles. And he's an awesome guy!

Guenther reports that he will retire from teaching this year (his 36th) so he can concentrate on doing more snowmobile-related stuff.

Thanks for being a great teacher and role model, Dave. I'm looking forward to hearing about all your upcoming adventures.

Last weekend marked the 33rd Annual Snowmobile Hall of Fame Induction ceremony and Ride with the Champs.

This incredible weekend event in St. Germain, Wis., delivers one of the truly great experiences for snowmobilers whose passion tends towards racing. And it just keeps getting better.

Three of this year's four inductees have STRONG Arctic Cat roots, which led to a decidedly Cat-flavored weekend. To see, ride with and hear Brad Pake, Steve Houle and Hubert Fixsen -- as well as fourth inductee Tom Zernia -- was an honor I won't forget.

Click to read the story.

They say art imitates life. Please, don't imitate some of this week's featured stories.

Avalanche videos are becoming almost regular nowadays thanks to the proliferation of GoPro cameras. THIS AVALANCHE VIDEO has a happy ending, but it's still a good warning to all mountain riders.

Snowing snowballs?!? While THIS STORY would be 100X better with a picture, it's interesting to know that nature can produce snowballs.

Please, don't ever be THIS GUY, who trespasses with his 12-year-old son on snowmobiles, then flees to leave his son to handle the police.

On the flipside, here's a great story about Team Arctic's Hubert Fixsen, who will be inducted into the Snowmobile Hall of Fame this weekend.

Click for more...

I'm thankful for that special feeling of going commando while wearing a one-piece snowmobile suit.

I'm thankful for the endless cycles of fashion, and that what once was cool shall be so again.

I'm thankful for furry feet and snow bunnies.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, Jan. 5, 2016.

Once a week or so in the winter, I swap the usual weekday lunch break with an hour of snowmobiling.

I call it my "Lunch Loop."

And dang, is it ever deliciously good!

Yesterday Tucker Hibbert won his 9th consecutive X Games Gold Medal (and perhaps his 1,234,456th Pro Final). Here's a link to watch the entire 20-lap final (or you can just watch it above) Congrats Tucker and team!

Man, they grow 'em tough and hardy in the farth north, as evidenced by this 71-year-old priest who survived a night at -43 C after his snowmobile ran out of gas.

Pretty brazen ride of this guy to ride an unfrozen canal near Cadillac, Mich. Interestingly, he was trying to do so anonymously, but then posts his video to YouTube.

This is a cool story and video showing the recovery of a sunken snowmobile in Latvia.

Click to see and read more...

An old sage once said, "If there's snow, then go!"

Even if it's not perfect conditions.

Click HERE for the NOAA site to get even more specific info about your area.

The custom 2016 Arctic Cat Soo 500/Enduro Sled project is complete, with five remaining machines now available to racers who want the ultimate turn-key ice sled for this and future seasons.

One of these machines has been tested for 500 miles on an oval, and raced 100 miles to prove the set-up (where it won). All have been updated with the latest EFI programming.

Pretty much just gas-and-go!

Click for more info.

I'm thankful for the wild, chest-pounding days of yesteryear, when snowmobile manufactures built over-the-top speed machines to promote cute little consumer sleds that were barely fasters than today's 120s.

I'm thankful that long before there were "SledNecks" decals on every 18-year-old's truck, sled and bedroom mirror, there were "STP" decals on every truck, sled and bedroom mirror.

Seriously, I'm thankful when ANYONE builds a sled that looks like a rocketship.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, Jan. 15, 2016.

There's an old saying that I often hear describing snowmobilers:

"We need snow in our back yard to believe that it's truly winter out there."

In the last week I been from the southeast corner of Minnesota all the way to the Northwest, and I can tell you the ground is white everywhere in between. And lots of snowmobilers are out enjoying it.

If that's not the case where you live, then I sincerely hope that it soon will be.