Earlier in the season, I posted a ride story with Willie Ewing who is going to attempt logging over 1,908 miles, on a single snowmobile, with a single rider, in a 24 hour time period. Ewing’s world record attempt is a fundraising effort with 100% of the proceeds going towards providing the opportunity for kids to attend a life-changing bible camp no matter their financial ability. A large team of volunteers and sponsors are making this possible including professionals in the snowmobile industry (Pro Racers, Engineers, Technicians, Computer Technicians and Clubs)
Willie is an Arctic Cat enthusiast at heart, and I spent a day at his Shock Shop recently installing a 98 Rewind Wrap on both his 2022 and 2021 Arctic Cat Thundercats dubbed, “ThunderOne” and “ThunderTwo” respectively.
Weather and Conditions permitting, Willie will attempt his record next week in Grand Marais, MN on an 11-mile lake course.
I arrived at Willie’s Shock Shop (He rebuilds shocks if you are looking for that type of service) in Becker, MN to find two prepped Thundercats. (L-R) 2022 Thundercat with ATAC and EPS (ThunderOne) and 2021 Thundercat (ThunderTwo)The goal for me was to apply a 98 Rewind Wrap kit to both Thundercats which played off the retro Thundercat theme, but incorporated both reference names. (ThunderOne and ThunderTwo)It was fun to have Willie in the shop and a nice chance to have him talk about the work he’s put into these two Thundercats.Willie’s goal is to start the record attempt around Noon, so he has some daylight to start and finish the world record attempt. With 100mph avg speeds, it was important to Willie to light up the course during his night stretch, so he added two Rigid Industries LED lights. Adding the best protection from the elements (Wind/Cold/Snow) was one of the big focuses to reduce fatigue over a 24hr riding period. Willie found the RoxSpeedFX ASG Gauntlet was the best to protect his hands and forearms. The All Season Gauntlets work seamlessly with Rox Flex-Tec plastic backbones and billet mounts. They install easily and the large interior area allows easy access to controls. I snapped a candid photo of Willie sitting on ThunderTwo as he explained all the countless hours of testing he’s done alone on finding the best windshield.Willie shared a photo on 1day4Kids Facebook page showing all the different windshield variations he purchased and tested to find the perfect height to protect him. Willie chose the tall windshield with some modifications to venting and additional protection.The concept here is one much like those used on UTV windshields. The venting system Willie created helps minimize snow swirl.It’s not sexy, but it is extremely effective…Willie utilized a clip-on, multi-adjustable wind deflector from the motorcycle industry to help eliminate additional wind hitting his helmet. He claims it works incredibly well and eliminates helmet bolstering during high speeds. One more way to reduce fatigue on his head and neck. Another look at the clip-on wind deflector. A pretty ingenious solution for those of you looking for more wind protection. These are available from various sources from $50-70 each.Much like a cross-country race, every second counts in a 24hr mileage attempt. Willie spent plenty of time crafting this quick-fill neck on fuel tank. Willie said crafting this quick-fill neck was an extreme act of measuring many times before cutting. The execution was flawless though. Willie called in a few favors from some aviation engineering friends who helped supply a special epoxy from the aircraft industry to bond and seal the tank neck.I don’t remember the exact specs, but this filler neck setup can drain the 5 gallon jug in several seconds.Venting was added to both chaincase and clutch sides to assist in cooling these components when running 100mph for 24hrs.Communication for the World Record attempt are incredibly detailed. The fine products from Rugged Radios help keep Willie connected to the crew.The final details not shown in these photos were for Willie to reinstall the seat backrests created to help his lower back under acceleration, and the attennas for the Rugged Radios. Good Luck Willie and Crew! Follow them 1day4kids.com.
Literally everyone on this sight wants to know the date for the 2023 reveal and yet this is the content we get. A great representation of how arctic cat as a whole interacts with their “valued” customers, dealers, and team riders. They don’t listen to us and give us some stupid article no one cares about.
Sorry you feel that way Dug. Im not corporate Arctic Cat. Just a stupid guy who likes the stupid Arctic Cat brand and provides stupid content surrounding it. Ive said several times on this SITE to expect the 2023 new launch Mid March. When Arctic Cat announces the date, Ill be sure to share it here. Until then, stay stupid.
Kale you still work as the marketing communications Manager for Cat don’t you? I would guess anyone who has been at a company for almost 20 years has connections and hears the inner rumblings of what is going on. You can play it off like you don’t know anything, but then what is the point of this site? Might as well just be Arcticnews instead of arctic insider.
What part of middle of the month keeps going over your head Gud? The first? Middle? All of it? Give it a rest already. Broken records need to be thrown away!
What people get on this site are articles pertaining to Arctic Cat that many people either don’t cover or don’t know about. That doesn’t mean we get secret information that people aren’t allowed to talk about. Not only have key people signed NDA’s but even without one nobody is going to risk losing their job over something stupid like leaking information.
I’m thankful for what Kale does and that he’s willing to keep writing stories like this.
Hi Dug, I left Arctic Cat when our St. Cloud office was closed nearly three years ago. This site had gone dormant for nearly a year at that point, and I resurrected it via permission of John Sandberg. Last year, I purchased the site from him and then invested in a redesign/relaunch because I care about the Arctic Cat AND ArcticInsider brand still.
Having to share this update on my involvement with AI is a reminder that the followers/readers here are a diverse group.
Some of the “stupid” content may seem elementary to the hardcores, but believe it or not, I see people asking what height windshield or handguards are the best on forums (Info you can gather from this story) or even the people who don’t realize Arctic Cat builds Yamaha snowmobiles, or better yet, don’t realize how many changes the ZR line has undergone since the Procross intro in 2012.
Hope this gives you some insight. When I get the info from AC, Ill share it here. No different than Sandberg did before me.
Well there are people still waiting for there 2022’s. I am one of them. Could care less what 2023 brings. Bitching is not going to make it happen any faster than what they are going to do. Yamaha’s is March 22nd btw.
Great story and an unbelievable effort by Willie and his crew. What I didn’t realize until now is that he’s going to do the entire thing on a closed 11 mile course. Is that right? If so, that’s a lot of trips around the cabbage patch!
Good luck with the world record!!!! There is no way a 2023 polaris boost could ever do an event like this as it would probably only make it to 500 miles LOL!!!!!!
Cool article Kale! Did Willie do anything special on the clutching/venting to maintain cooler belt temps when running high MPH? How about nutrition/hydration for such and event? That must play a big part to keep mentally and physically on point. Are you going to be on the side of the track handing him roller-dogs? Maybe Sandberg will break into his cash of sardines for the special event???
This will be done after the colonoscopy? I hope he factored in a dump for this attempt. I would have Depends as one of the sponsors. 🙂 Good luck (Trying to add a little humor after the rough start to the comments.)
As a man who grew up with a 98 T-cat, I can say, those graphics turned out GREAT! Many complicated pieces means MANY hours on the computer designing! I still wish all the panels, spindles, rails, seat, and tunnel were black in the first place. The 21 came out better because of this. These rigs woulda turned out just that much better! Normally, I’m one for keeping the stock graphics, but peeling those off to replace them with the best looking AND FASTEST T-cat ever’s graphics makes me happy.
Are those titanium front springs? :3
Also, don’t anybody mistake me for Dug. I am DAVE man. Hey Dug, you know Sebulba?
Crazy endurance. You have to love the sport to do all the preparation it takes to accomplish this. And you need a reliable snowmobile. Go Arctic Cat! Good luck ??.
Kale, I love this site and the articles. I love arctic cat, they frustrate me but only because I have such high expectations for them and I wanna see them succeed the way they have in the past.
Never ceases to amaze me at how some people are. Dug, the comment, “stupid article”, on here is just not called for. Especially on an event like this. I am anxious for the 2023 release too just like everyone else, but this is not the article that it should be talked about. This is about individuals doing something amazing! To put this much work, effort and passion into something like this blows me away. The best part is that it’s for the kids!!
I can’t thank Kale enough for the great articles he provides us. I look every day to what he has to offer us. I enjoy every article and this article is one of the top ones. Thanks Kale. And thank you Willie and everyone else involved for doing this and bringing smiles to kids.
Dug, I have seen your negative rhetoric on this site for awhile. It would seem to me that you owe Kale an apology. Calling these articles stupid is a grave mistake. It’s clear that you don’t know that Kale does not work for Cat any longer and has a different full time job. He works hard to give us good information when he can. As a former racer, I enjoyed the story about Willies dedication going for that record for those kids. I will be waiting for future information on Willies task at hand. All I have to say to Dug is that he should remove himself from the site, and go buy that Polaris he always wanted.
Hi Kale—keep up the great work! Could some feedback be provided as to how the new clutch performs on the run? Would be an excellent data point to make an upgrade decision on my 2020 ZR 8000 for next year. Perhaps Dug should quit complaining about “stupid” stuff and is not looking down the barrel of a tank in Ukraine.
Great article, best of luck to Willie on achieving his goal. This is some serious durability testing that hopefully the Arctic testing dept is following.
Nice article! Is this the first attempt on the long distance record since Kawasaki took it in 1980 or thereabouts? Either way that’s very cool. At least with today’s suspension it should be easier on the body. I can’t imagine how those 440 Invaders felt to the team riders butt after 24hours flat out on an oval back in the day. The old Video is out there on Youtube if anyone wants a look. Stay safe and ride on. Go big!
“Great news!! We have a new location and have our permits all issued to ride Lake of the Woods out of Sportsman’s Lodge, Baudette, MN. We will ride from around noon March 13th – noon March 14th.
Thank you Arctic Cat – Snowmobiles for finding this location for us!“
Literally everyone on this sight wants to know the date for the 2023 reveal and yet this is the content we get. A great representation of how arctic cat as a whole interacts with their “valued” customers, dealers, and team riders. They don’t listen to us and give us some stupid article no one cares about.
Sorry you feel that way Dug. Im not corporate Arctic Cat. Just a stupid guy who likes the stupid Arctic Cat brand and provides stupid content surrounding it. Ive said several times on this SITE to expect the 2023 new launch Mid March. When Arctic Cat announces the date, Ill be sure to share it here. Until then, stay stupid.
Kale you still work as the marketing communications Manager for Cat don’t you? I would guess anyone who has been at a company for almost 20 years has connections and hears the inner rumblings of what is going on. You can play it off like you don’t know anything, but then what is the point of this site? Might as well just be Arcticnews instead of arctic insider.
What part of middle of the month keeps going over your head Gud? The first? Middle? All of it? Give it a rest already. Broken records need to be thrown away!
Hi, Dug – you must be new here:
https://www.arcticinsider.com/i-figured-out-how-to-add-a-new-story-welcome/
What people get on this site are articles pertaining to Arctic Cat that many people either don’t cover or don’t know about. That doesn’t mean we get secret information that people aren’t allowed to talk about. Not only have key people signed NDA’s but even without one nobody is going to risk losing their job over something stupid like leaking information.
I’m thankful for what Kale does and that he’s willing to keep writing stories like this.
Hi Dug, I left Arctic Cat when our St. Cloud office was closed nearly three years ago. This site had gone dormant for nearly a year at that point, and I resurrected it via permission of John Sandberg. Last year, I purchased the site from him and then invested in a redesign/relaunch because I care about the Arctic Cat AND ArcticInsider brand still.
Having to share this update on my involvement with AI is a reminder that the followers/readers here are a diverse group.
Some of the “stupid” content may seem elementary to the hardcores, but believe it or not, I see people asking what height windshield or handguards are the best on forums (Info you can gather from this story) or even the people who don’t realize Arctic Cat builds Yamaha snowmobiles, or better yet, don’t realize how many changes the ZR line has undergone since the Procross intro in 2012.
Hope this gives you some insight. When I get the info from AC, Ill share it here. No different than Sandberg did before me.
There’s a time and place for this kind of stuff ‘Dug’… and this one isn’t it.
STFU
Sincerely,
The Resident A$$hole
Well this is about Arctic Cat Gud but it is not an Arctic Cat site. Grow up!
Thanks for the update Kale. Can’t wait to see the results of his try. How do we contribute to the cause?
I share your frustration, Dug.
Well there are people still waiting for there 2022’s. I am one of them. Could care less what 2023 brings. Bitching is not going to make it happen any faster than what they are going to do. Yamaha’s is March 22nd btw.
Dug. Hear that?? Mom’s calling and it’s time for you to run upstairs for dinner. Mmmm it’s meatloaf and green beans your favorite.
Ha! You nailed it Bogboy… we’ve got a regular Will Farrell on our hands here… “Mom!! The meatloaf!!”
Great story and an unbelievable effort by Willie and his crew. What I didn’t realize until now is that he’s going to do the entire thing on a closed 11 mile course. Is that right? If so, that’s a lot of trips around the cabbage patch!
Correct. Willie will do this by himself. That truly is a lot of laps…at 100mph!
Good luck with the world record!!!! There is no way a 2023 polaris boost could ever do an event like this as it would probably only make it to 500 miles LOL!!!!!!
Cool article Kale! Did Willie do anything special on the clutching/venting to maintain cooler belt temps when running high MPH? How about nutrition/hydration for such and event? That must play a big part to keep mentally and physically on point. Are you going to be on the side of the track handing him roller-dogs? Maybe Sandberg will break into his cash of sardines for the special event???
This will be done after the colonoscopy? I hope he factored in a dump for this attempt. I would have Depends as one of the sponsors. 🙂 Good luck (Trying to add a little humor after the rough start to the comments.)
As a man who grew up with a 98 T-cat, I can say, those graphics turned out GREAT! Many complicated pieces means MANY hours on the computer designing! I still wish all the panels, spindles, rails, seat, and tunnel were black in the first place. The 21 came out better because of this. These rigs woulda turned out just that much better! Normally, I’m one for keeping the stock graphics, but peeling those off to replace them with the best looking AND FASTEST T-cat ever’s graphics makes me happy.
Are those titanium front springs? :3
Also, don’t anybody mistake me for Dug. I am DAVE man. Hey Dug, you know Sebulba?
I for one applaud this effort, and this article.
Thank you Kale!
Good luck, and safe ride.
Crazy endurance. You have to love the sport to do all the preparation it takes to accomplish this. And you need a reliable snowmobile. Go Arctic Cat! Good luck ??.
Kale, I love this site and the articles. I love arctic cat, they frustrate me but only because I have such high expectations for them and I wanna see them succeed the way they have in the past.
Never ceases to amaze me at how some people are. Dug, the comment, “stupid article”, on here is just not called for. Especially on an event like this. I am anxious for the 2023 release too just like everyone else, but this is not the article that it should be talked about. This is about individuals doing something amazing! To put this much work, effort and passion into something like this blows me away. The best part is that it’s for the kids!!
I can’t thank Kale enough for the great articles he provides us. I look every day to what he has to offer us. I enjoy every article and this article is one of the top ones. Thanks Kale. And thank you Willie and everyone else involved for doing this and bringing smiles to kids.
Those sleds look amazing with those graphics.
Great article and I’m not even an Arctic Cat guy. Still a cool story.
Dug, I have seen your negative rhetoric on this site for awhile. It would seem to me that you owe Kale an apology. Calling these articles stupid is a grave mistake. It’s clear that you don’t know that Kale does not work for Cat any longer and has a different full time job. He works hard to give us good information when he can. As a former racer, I enjoyed the story about Willies dedication going for that record for those kids. I will be waiting for future information on Willies task at hand. All I have to say to Dug is that he should remove himself from the site, and go buy that Polaris he always wanted.
Hi Kale—keep up the great work! Could some feedback be provided as to how the new clutch performs on the run? Would be an excellent data point to make an upgrade decision on my 2020 ZR 8000 for next year. Perhaps Dug should quit complaining about “stupid” stuff and is not looking down the barrel of a tank in Ukraine.
Great article, best of luck to Willie on achieving his goal. This is some serious durability testing that hopefully the Arctic testing dept is following.
Arctic Cat (Engineering & Mktg) has been helping Willie.
Nice article! Is this the first attempt on the long distance record since Kawasaki took it in 1980 or thereabouts? Either way that’s very cool. At least with today’s suspension it should be easier on the body. I can’t imagine how those 440 Invaders felt to the team riders butt after 24hours flat out on an oval back in the day. The old Video is out there on Youtube if anyone wants a look. Stay safe and ride on. Go big!
According to the FB page on March 4 (today), delayed due to terrible snow conditions on the lake. Looking for a better area.
Update from the FB page:
“Great news!! We have a new location and have our permits all issued to ride Lake of the Woods out of Sportsman’s Lodge, Baudette, MN. We will ride from around noon March 13th – noon March 14th.
Thank you Arctic Cat – Snowmobiles for finding this location for us!“
Best wishes and support to the 1day4kids team!