I'm thankful that, when it was time to park the sleds for the summer, Elmer was careful to take care of his precious fleet.

I'm thankful that vintage top deck systems are dang cool and badass (just like vintage snowmobiles).

I'm thankful that all these sleds will "run on spray," and that they'll be ripping along nicely just as soon as the snow flies.

And I'm thankful that I rose from my slumber on this, Friday October 28, 2016.

How fast is the new Arctic Cat Thundercat?

This fast.

David Johnson died this past Saturday at age 93.

Johnson was one of three founders of Polaris Industries of Roseau, Minn., along with brothers-in-law Edgar and Allen Hetteen.

Johnson is widely credited as the one who build the first Polaris snowmobile in 1955.

He was a humble, gracious man who left indelible tracks for the company and the sport of snowmobiling.

The world is a better place today because of David Johnson.

As if the sleds themselves weren't already incentive enough...riders who buy a new/unused 2013-2017 Arctic Cat Snowmobile from an authorized Arctic Cat dealership from Oct. 1-Nov. 30, 2016, will be reimbursed for the cost of a 2017 Canadian Trail Permit.

It's a sweet way to support the Canadian trail system and buyers of Arctic Cat snowmobiles.

Click for more details.

Watercross isn't just a sweet sport for U.S. champs like Dale Lindbeck...it's also an export that's grown huge across the pond.

For example, check out the sweet sled and results of Team Arctic’s Swedish watercross champion Joel Renberg.

I was at Arctic Cat’s recently expanded engine production (and engineering) facility in St. Cloud, Minn., earlier this week for a ribbon cutting featuring various dignitaries from the St. Cloud area and Arctic Cat.

The occasion was to celebrate the makeover and expansion of the St. Cloud facility; thank the great employees are designing machines and building engines there; and "rev the engine" of a company that's going full-gas down the patch set forth by CEO/President Chris Metz.

Based on what I saw on computer monitors of CAD designers at St. Cloud, and what I gleaned from conversations with several engineers, this is going to be a fun, wild ride! Yep, there’s A LOT of cool stuff coming.

Click to get your motor running.

The Snowmobile Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Germain, Wis., announced its four inductees for 2017: Burt Bassett, Bill Bickford, Pat Hauck and John Hooper.

Great men all...these four honorees will be inducted into the SHOF on Feb. 18, 2017, in St. Germain, coinciding with the annual Ride With The Champs and other events .

I might be a little biased, but I'm here to tell you that this event is great fun, full of human goodness and a special opportunity to be among awesome machines and people. Other than myself, everyone there will be really cool.

Click for the career highlights of the 2017 inductees.

Answers?!? I hope you have some!

Every year the Sno Baron's Hay Days serves up the first BIG taste of winter and snowmobiling.

With this being the 50th Anniversary and all, I thought I'd ask YOU some of the key questions about what EXACTLY will go down this weekend in North Branch, Minn.

Click to to join the curiosity.

How about a 5.16-sec./138.1-mph run in just 660 feet? Sounds pretty tasty.

How about doing that naturally aspirated? Delicious!

That's what John Reid's Arctic Cat Thundercat with a Hooper-built 1404cc triple hit this summer.

Click to read the details.

The Sandberg family was on vacation this past week, for a nice trip to Copper Harbor, Mich. During the 20-or-so hours of driving, I couldn't help but chuckle at how differently we see the world through our truck's windshield.

She sees cute houses, coffee shops, gardens, restaurants, school buildings (she's a teacher) and people.

Conversely, I see snowmobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, ATVs, trail signs and old cars/trucks.

Click to read a little more.

As noted in this recent story about a trip to TRF, Arctic Cat engineer and vintage sled business owner Greg Spaulding will auction off his collection of 140-plus vintage sleds.

The auction is set for Saturday, Sept. 17, near St. Hillaire, Minn.

Click to see a full list of machines that are going on the block.

Recently Amy and Stephanie Getz raced to top finishes among 450 competitors at the 79th running of the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby at the world famous Derby Downs track in Akron, Ohio.

Click to see a few pix.

Tis' the summer of Road Trips for some Arctic Cat people, and I got in on the action early this week with my friends Tom Rowland and Jim Dimmerman.

The stated purpose of the trip was for Rowland to pick up a couple "retired" race sleds for his collection, and for an evening BBQ with fellow Arctic Cat friends Greg Spaulding and Larry Coltom.

But like any good road trip, it's the stuff that we weren't expecting that was the most memorable.

Click to see the postcards from our trip.

Prediction: Six months from now, there's going to be snow on the ground and sledders making tracks.

And not just in the mountains.

I'm going to keep enjoying summer, but I'm officially in the weather forecasting game now, and my computer modeling shows snow on the ground six months from now.

Two. Hundred. Eleven. Horsepower!

When the 2017 Arctic Cat Thundercat hit 211 hp on the DynoTech dyno last month, it established a new record for a stock snowmobile engine, and it confirmed with a number EXACTLY what was felt in the seat-of-the-pants experience that journalists and a few other lucky riders know from having ridden it last spring.

Click to read a little more about the significance of that feat.

I'm thankful for the seasons of life and of the year.

I'm thankful that with the passing of summer solstice, the days are now getting shorter.

I'm thankful that sailing takes me a way, and that snowmobilers are reaching new heights when it comes to backcountry mountain riding.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, June 24, 2016.

The University of Minnesota Duluth Clean Snowmobile Challenge team is proof that the current generation of youth is doing great things and will shape our future in fantastic ways.

WAY more so than old dumbasses like me who fairly wasted the opportunity that college offered.

Click to see why our future sleds, ATVs, side-by-sides, watercraft, motorcycles and other stuff is going to be really, really cool (and why these are exceptional young men).

I'm thankful for challenge.

I'm thankful for courage.

I'm thankful for those times when I can just open 'er up, nail a wicked jump and let the chips fall where they may.

And I'm thankful it's Friday, June 10, 2016.

Before "ditch-banging" entered the lexicon of modern snowmobiles... before X Games and snocross... and even before the advent of independent front suspension... there was oval racing.

On snow.

With bumps that turned into jumps.

And the men and women who raced on such ovals called themselves "oval-bangers" on all of their social media channels.

Herein ends today's history lesson.

By all calculations I experience significant pucker-factor 47 times during a normal snowmobile-riding season

(Pucker-factor is that “holy-crap-this-could-get-ugly” thought that overwhelms my brain the same instant that my body involuntarily produces a strange contraction during which it flexes muscles I didn’t even know existed.)

Click for the fully-clenched story.