I apologize for being visibly absent here the past week or so. Ive had an incredibly busy workload outside of ArcticInsider, but have also been working towards some new site updates to improve the Arctic Cat content viewed/shared here that I think you’ll enjoy.
Before the digital era, The Arctic Circle was printed and mailed as a Dealer communication piece. Arctic Cat continues the same communication with dealers through a digital “newsletter” called Dealer Dispatch. This batch of Arctic Circle newsletters were displayed at the Arctic Cat 60th Homecoming Collectors Show recently by Joel Hallstrom. You’ll be able to read some of these on ArcticInsider soon!
Within the coming weeks, I’ll be adding a new dropdown tab at the top of ArcticInsider called Arctic Cat Legacy. This area will be a continual work in progress, but the goal is to build a library housing digital reproductions of Arctic Cat Marketing, Racing and Media materials from my personal collection, and collections of others. A recent trip to Thomas Sno Sports further fueled my fire to share these types of materials on Arctic Cat Legacy.
(L-R) Tom Rowland (Thomas Sno Sports owner), Pat Bourgeois and Eric Bergstrom opened up a tub of marketing materials from Tom’s collection and it transported us into an instant worm hole. An hour flew by looking at old slides, videos and printed marketing materials.Tom treated us to some videos from the John Sandberg Collection dating back to 1964. Even without sound, these were incredible to watch. In one of the videos, there was an Arctic Cat prototype snowmobile none of us had ever seen before, and it appeared a young Roger Skime was playfully piloting it.Here’s a crude look at the videos we watched. I believe this one was from the St. Paul Winter Carnival, January 1964. EVERY time I see/hear of an Arctic Cat ZL, I think of a member of the Arctic Cat sales team I worked with who nicknamed the ZL, The “Z Lady”. He’d say, “It’s the snowmobile 90% of trail riders should own, but its just not macho enough.” His joke referred to the vast number of owners who opted to buy a ZR because of its racy looks and winning heritage, but complained it rode too stiff on the trails.
While I was at Thomas Sno Sports this week, I went home with a 2001 ZL that I’ll “Rehab” as a display piece in the ArcticInsider tent at Hay Days (September 10-11 in North Branch, Mn). This ol gal should be the center of some fun attention. (Big engine, turbo and most importantly, a proper handlebar riser)
Arctic Cat teased the 2023 Wildcat XX Black Hills Edition a few weeks ago. We’ll find out its full feature list on August 23rd when it’s released with the rest of the off-road line-up.
2023 ARCTIC CAT OFF-ROAD PRODUCT LAUNCH– AUGUST 23rd
Nearly two weeks ago, I showed a few photos from the Wicked Wildcat Weekend in the Black Hills, SD of a supposed 2023 Arctic Cat Wildcat XX model. Turns out this wasn’t just a teaser, but will indeed be a production model special edition called Wildcat XX Black Hills Edition. Ive been (unofficially) told this unit, along with the rest of the 2023 Arctic Cat lineup, will be officially released on August 23rd. Stay tuned for full product info shared here.
Technically, it hasn’t entered the garage. (It’s sitting in the driveway) I wanted to show off the custom flame graphics before bringing it inside to modify the riser height. I think this is the year to take the title of Worlds Tallest Handlebar Riser.
Their product looks nice and the lineup looks great! But if you want to compete with the big dogs arctic cat needs to put more power/bigger engines in their product line and I do believe everybody knows this. Except for Textron?
I cant believe you would even allow a ZL in your garage with that weak bar riser… email me an address so I can send you a proper riser.
Technically, it hasn’t entered the garage. (It’s sitting in the driveway) I wanted to show off the custom flame graphics before bringing it inside to modify the riser height. I think this is the year to take the title of Worlds Tallest Handlebar Riser.
The old media stuff upstairs at the 60th homecoming was some of the neatest stuff to look through. So much history
Definitely looking forward to the legacy content!
New Wildcat Trail Tomorrow? Mine is a ’14 with many mods and 5k miles. Ready for a new one.
So, will textron FINALLY reveal a 1000cc quad, like Can Am and Polaris, or stick with the runt of the field?
Best sized wheeler Kevin. A 300 would be to powerful for you though. Ha ha!
You wish pal. I own a QUADZILLA. A 500cc 2 STROKE that would eat your tinker toy for a SNACK. Wanna race? Name the place.
Their product looks nice and the lineup looks great! But if you want to compete with the big dogs arctic cat needs to put more power/bigger engines in their product line and I do believe everybody knows this. Except for Textron?
Not according to jim. He’s just fine being a snack for the bigger badder ships out there.