This was my 30th year attending Hay Days, and the first time ever, I had my own display as a vendor. The timeline leading up to Hay Days is a story in itself, but it all pulled together. I can’t thank Thomas Sno Sports enough for allowing us to be a guest in their display as well as the TREAD Company for bringing to life our new tent, flags and table coverings. They were incredible!
The introduction of our Rewind Wrap Kits were a major draw this weekend. The new kits will be available for BLAST, ZR200 and ZR120 with designs spanning the ZR years 1994-1998. Look for them this week when new site launches along with the new AC1 online store.
Team Arctic Racer, Matt Feil (L) brought in his SOO I-500 ZR. Every time he fired it up, it brought in onlookers! Look for some SOUND SERIES Videos on our social pages soon and follow Matt and Ross Erdman’s Enduro results this winter.
I met a “metric ton” of ArcticInsider followers over the weekend, including some celebrities I couldnt pass up the opportunity to have my photo taken with. Above is Team Arctic multi-time watercross champ, Dale “29er” Lindbeck. I was bummed we didn’t get to talk very long, but I always enjoy being around Dale to hear of his riding adventures!
No matter what age, it makes me feel good to see kids excited about snowmobiling. Hay Days is such an awesome family event. I met many (More than I expected) families who follow the website, who were Hay Days first-timers, and they couldn’t believe its vast size!
It was great to see Brett Turcotte! We caught up on our families and had a few laughs talking about working together on Black Cats team, and projects, like the first two Arctic Cat Destination Elevation videos. Good times.
Team Arctic Pro Cross-Country racer and multi-time champ, Zach Herfindahl (seated), stopped with Ben Langaas, who is lead of the Arctic Cat Engineering Performance Team for Snow. These two friends discussed the upcoming cross-country season, racing the new ZR R-XC, and Ben making a more focused effort to race the MIRA enduro series this season. It always excites me to see racer/engineers at the Factory. IMO, nothing accelerates R&D development quicker than racing.
I always appreciate talking to Donn Eide and hearing of his retirement adventures. Donn was head of 2-stroke engine development for MANY of Arctic Cat’s legendary performance snowmobiles.
Mike Kloety, Team Arctic Race Manager, stopped by to visit and even shared a couple stories about the 90s ZRs which triggered his memory after seeing the 94 Rewind Wrap on our 2022 Blast XR.
Jesse Hallstrom (R) always has incredible hair. I had to wait 18 minutes for him to get it just right before snapping this photo of himself and friends from Taggert Racing. Jesse has been an up-and-comer to watch in the COR Powersports Cross-Country series and pretty much every other race he enters.
I was fortunate to work with all the Snowmobile Media while employed in the Marketing Department at Arctic Cat. I made many friends along the way including Kevin Beilke from SnowTech Magazine. When it comes to logging miles in a single season, not many can say they compare to Kevin. His riding ability, knowledge of product and snowmobile history is unmatched. I was happy he stopped by to take an interest in what Im doing.
Brody Boese (L) and Jeff Fischer (R) always make me laugh. Brody is an amazing young talent who captures/edits a good portion of the video for SledHead 24-7, ISOC Snocross and the Champ Off-Road series. Fortunately, Brody is the responsible “grown-up” since he has to keep the antics of Jeff Fischer in check. Jeff is the frontman of the SledHead 24-7 show, and can haul some serious mail when riding a snowmobile. Jeff is a world champ watercross racer, as is his son, David Fischer who won both Pro classes in Grantsburg, WI this year.
This visitor is someone whom you need to follow, and one Ill share info on as we progress through the season. Willie Ewing has a plan, and goal, to log over 1908 miles, on a single 2022 Thundercat snowmobile, with a single rider, in a 24 hour time period. This would be a new WORLD RECORD! This event is happening as a fundraiser with 100% of all proceeds going towards providing the opportunity for kids to attend a bible camp no matter their financial ability. A great list of sponsors are helping make this possible, including our Hay Days host, Thomas Sno Sports.
Sunday morning I walked through the Arctic Cat display to see if I could find David McClure (L) and Riley Kincaid (R), but no luck. I was highly disappointed I missed them, and thought they had flown home. Imagine my surprise as I walked back to the display with my face stuffed full of turkey sammich, and here they were!
Im truly proud of these two and their accomplishments, whether on the track racing, or as stewards of the Arctic Cat brand via the Black Cats ambassador program. All their success is hard-earned and well deserved. I also admire their adversity to adapting to life without Rob Kincaid, who was an incredible friend and backcountry riding partner to Dave, and father to Riley.
Im shedding a tear now thinking about the loss of Rob and how much I miss him, but we shared a bunch of great laughs reminiscing about his mouth and personality that seemingly bounced off the rev-limiter, and has crazy antics. Both Dave and Riley will be involved in avalanche training promotion this winter and look forward to sharing content on their M8000 Alphas via the Black Cats program. Please follow their social pages to learn more.
Well, I think this Hay Days post has gotten long enough…I did get a brief chance to get out of the display. Ill share PART 2 tomorrow and share a bit of what I saw including the new race sleds, Team Arctic racer announcements and new teams.
Thank you to all who stopped by to say HI this weekend. You made my day and I appreciate you supporting/following ArcticInsider! – Kale
