WSA Hill X Season Wrap Up at Spirit Mountain

Spirit Mountain once again played host to the WSA Hill X event that took place April 10th and 11th. Racers and fans alike made the trip to Duluth, Minnesota to compete and experience the last WSA event of the season. [Read more]

WSA Hill X Double Points at Giants Ridge

Biwabik, Minnesota. A town nestled in the Iron Range that I know nothing about besides the fact that contains my most favorite hill of all time. I was able to visit that hill again April 4-5 for the WSA Hillcross race that took place there. [Read more]

Our Digital World

My history with SnowGoer magazine spans a decent chunk of my life: 12 years. A lot has changed in the snowmobile industry and in the magazine business since 1997.

Obviously, machines are different. Long travel suspensions were going strong when I started in this business, but subsequent evolution has been suspension coupling, rider-forward chassis configurations and viable, great-performing four stroke engines.

Behind the scenes, the magazine publishing business is vastly different due to new technology and innovation, too.

I remember, somewhat fondly, the days of coming back from a snowmobile race or event with a dozen rolls of spent film. We’d send them out for processing and a few days later we’d find a large envelope in the mail full of 35mm slides. Instead of spending hours magnifying them at a light table to check color and focus, I can do that at the racetrack using the camera. I can instantly delete the bad pictures.

In a way, photography is cheating now. I’m a little lazier now, knowing the camera and a good art director have my back. Having a 35mm slide of the correct exposure and in focus enough to turn it into a cover shot was a big deal. Now, a skilled Photoshop user can create something out of nothing or combine multiple images, change colors, highlight here, shadow there …

Production is different, too. We have the technology to keep the whole magazine digital, so there is not a single word of text put on paper until it prints. We have little excuse for spelling errors because of our vastly improved writing software. Advertisements used to come in the mail or by courier. Now they are downloaded. I’m still not sure what an ftp site is, exactly. Letters to the editor rarely come by mail. Email is the new medium.

Like sleds are better than they used to be, so is the magazine business. More color. Better pictures. Fewer errors. I know that because of technology, we’re creating a better magazine that we hope every one of our readers enjoys.

Pebble Creek Hillclimb is a Powder Challenge

The Pebble Creek Hillclimb held at the Ski Resort just outside Pocatello, Idaho was a powder filled challenge. So much so, the owners of the ski resort extended the skiing during the hillclimb. So, two great winter sports shared the mountain and everyone had a great time. The downhill skiers seemed to enjoy watching the powerful sleds take on the hill and I noticed many of the family member of the racers enjoying a day on skis. The wonderful sunshine was another plus.

David Sharp Jr.

The racing action was hot and Team Arctic turned it up all weekend. Out of the 18 class winners, 13 were from Team Arctic. All three of the Pro Kings of Pebble Creek rode for Arctic Cat.

Semi-Pro King: David Sharp Jr. was the one exception.  David is the World Champion Semi-Pro of Jackson and rides for Ski-Doo.  At 16, he is dominating this class.

[Read more]

Free Sleds For Racers!

Last week while on the track shooting pics of the Jackson hillclimb, I saw the inevitable: snowmobiles tumbling down the steep slope of Exhibition Hill. Gravity makes fine wreckage at someone else’s expense.

And just whose expense is that? I heard fans talk about wreckage and dismiss it casually, saying, “It’s OK, they’re pro racers they don’t pay for their sleds.”

’Scuse me? Let’s get some facts straight. While it’s true that some pro racers have padded contracts that include all the sleds and parts they need for a season (and a salary to go with it) it’s the exception rather than the norm. With the exception of Bubba Stewart, Tucker Hibbert and a few select others, it’s absurd to think people race and make money. Scores of people know that at the end of a racing season, breaking even was a great year.

The majority of racers – professionals or otherwise – pay for their race machines. Most drivers in a race program get a discount, but manufacturers don’t build between 300 and 500 race sleds to give them away. Because of the high performance parts, cutting edge design and small production, race sleds are more expensive for manufacturers to build. Racers buying machines even at a discounted cost is a big bite to chew.

Other outside sponsorships might help cover expenses, and it might even get snowmobiles paid off, but those, too, are rare. Most racing sponsorships are product, not cash. As many sponsor decals that can fit on the bodywork doesn’t cover all the expenses of racing a stock class. In hillclimbs, racing in the Improved Stock or Mod classes only makes the equipment more valuable, and little if any of it comes complimentary.

“At best, drivers have a product sponsorship. There aren’t many drivers who get cash sponsorships,” Nathan Zollinger said. He also told me that a driver’s typical factory support in the race program is a $500 parts allowance. Drivers can eat that up in a single weekend or in a supply of drive belts.

Drivers who get to race at a hometown track once a year are lucky. While on the road, they have hotel rooms. Does 2 rooms, one for a driver and a spouse and one for crew sounds about right? That’s 2 rooms at $85/night x 3 nights = $510. People stock up the race hauler with groceries for a few meals, but feeding the crew all the meals for the weekend is easily another couple hundred bucks.

Average race entry fees are $100/class, and so four class entries is easy math: $400. An entry typically covers the admission and pit pass for the driver and a crew member, but that means a driver’s family and additional crew members have to have pay gate fees. For drivers who use race fuel the going rate for 112 octane is about $7.00/gallon. Then there’s fuel for the truck. Drivers commonly travel 1,000 round-trip miles at 8-10 miles per gallon with diesel at $2.50/gallon. That’s more than $300 in fuel for the tow rig. Now multiply those expenses by the number of races on a calendar for a minimum annual race budget.

People don’t race for money. People race because they are passionate about competing. They love it. Some people will tell you they need to race. And spectators need to support it and support the companies and businesses that support racing. Because when sleds get wrecked, sure, someone other than the spectator pays the tab. But often it’s the driver watching the cost of racing growing even more expensive.

- Tim Erickson