Yeah, I know some of you were clamoring for more newness to be unveiled at Hay Days by the Cat crew. I get it, we all like shiny new things, but all things considered Arctic Cat has been giving us plenty to get excited about the past two years. I mean c’mon, Cat stole the show at Hay Days the past two years, and judging by the crowds at the corporate booth, along with big dealer booths from Country Cat and Thomas SnoSports, there seemed to be a lot of interest in Arctic Cat once again this year. This year marked my 34th year in a row of attending the dust fest we lovingly call Hay Days…and as always it was filled with lots of excitement, anticipation, a few cold ones, and lots of conversations with like-minded souls. Here’s a look back at my visit.
There was once a time when the Hay Days swap was filled with treasure. Now it’s more beer and broken dreams, but we managed to still unearth some goodies amongst the aluminum cans including this package deal featuring three generations of Cat.Be still my beating heart…oh the memories made on this corner hugging beauty. Still one of my favorite Arctic Cat snowmobiles.Back when I worked at Supertrax under the tutelage of CJ Ramstad, I remember the snow-mo-media being critical of Arctic Cat for their less than exciting graphics. The following year these bold designs told everyone to zip it. I was happy to see several aftermarket shops showcasing Cat buggies as part of their display. This is a harbinger of sorts, signaling that the performance shops are also expecting a surge in Arctic Cat snowmobiles into the hands of enthusiasts with the new CATALYST platform along with the proven and venerable ProCross chassis variants.The latest shenanigan video from the Backwoods crew attracted a sizable crowd at day’s end…unfortunately they were fresh out of Betamax versions by the time I got there.I ran into Snowmobile Hall of Fame member and owner of Country Cat – PJ Wanderscheid late Saturday afternoon. His report for traffic and interest in Cat buggies at North Country’s sprawling booth was two thumbs up.High-Performance snowmobile Engineering Manager Ben Langaas was doing his best Owen Wilson impersonation after a long and busy day working the corporate Arctic Cat display.I’ve been to a lot of autograph signings over the years, including those during the heyday of terrain racing in the mid to late 1990s. None-the-less, this year’s collection of Team Arctic racers was one of the largest I’ve seen…not to mention those custom jersey style shirts were on-point. Hey marketing team…lets offer these up for sale.A couple of future Arctic Cat legends…Arctic Cat’s Direct of Product Strategy, Troy Halvorson (right) and 8-time cross country champ/5-time I-500 winner Zach Herfindahl (left) chatted it up as Troy made a trip through the autograph line.There was little question as to which snowmobile was the star of the show at this year’s Hay Days. The CATALYST 858 was the one that everyone wanted to see, touch, ogle, and sit on. Like many of you, I can’t wait to get this sled on snow this winter. This year’s corporate display focused almost exclusively on snowmobiles and associated accessories.The Black Cat sleds were once again part of the display, and McClure’s all black CATALYST was completely drool worthy.Probably one of the biggest, yet most overlooked advancements on new Arctic Cat snowmobiles has been the introduction of the ADAPT clutching. There was a nice active display within the booth at Hay Days that showcased the workings of the ADAPT CVT system. I’ve got an in depth look at updates to the ADAPT in the works that will be posted soon.This fancy display allowed you to “feel” the difference between the different settings found on the AC5S shock. I’ve secured some charts that illustrate the difference as well and will be posted soon with an accompanying story.Just so damn sexy… check out the oversized ATACH accessory bag that has a multi-day saddlebag ride written all over it.You could also win some Cat swag this year at Hay Days if your arm and aim were on-point.Just like the Country Cat booth, the Thomas SnoSports booth had lots of traffic, track kickers, and buyers. Here Dave Ambrose (who’s always looking dapper) looks to close another deal.
I kept watching for you, Pat, but we didn’t connect. I thought Hay Days was good this year – went on Sunday for the first time. While some vendors were actually packing up by lunch time, the lighter crowds were much less stressful. Had great conversations with several vendors and at the G8 corner of the Arctic Cat factory display, and learned a lot. Cat’s cutaways and displays were very cool.
Seemed like a lot of the Cat people took Sunday off, or at least took the opportunity to roam and weren’t glued to the Cat tents. I didn’t mind, since there was a lot more room to stand and look at stuff, instead of needing to stay in motion. Would’ve liked to connect with people that I know were there on Saturday, so maybe we switch back to Day 1 next year.
Catalyst-related aftermarket stuff was everywhere, which is great to see. I suspect that with any amount of snow this year, on-snow development time is going to cause an exponential rise of accessories and offerings from even more vendors.
I agree on Dave McClure’s sled – Riley’s was really sharp, but I gravitated to the slightly less flashy graphics on Dave’s sled. Both were very sharp. Rox SpeedFx had a blue-wrapped M that was sharp, as well. The pretty voice in the passenger seat for the ride home thought I should put that wrap on our Catalyst. 🙂
Cat had a lot of great people in their booth and lots of interesting stuff to see. The new gauge display was great so was the clutch display, learned a lot. Talked to Troy for a while lots of good info on past and present sleds, Thanks Troy.
When did they say that? I see a couple of dealers shut down over 50 plus doo’s and poo’s carry overs. Not good. Glad Cat kept inventory on sleds in check.
It was posted by AC on facebook, they later went and edited the post to remove mention of it. If you read the comments you’ll see people talking about the release still.
The dealers you are talking about got shut down for fraud, nothing to do with their inventory..
But check out Moorhouse Motorsports and their story.
I kept watching for you, Pat, but we didn’t connect. I thought Hay Days was good this year – went on Sunday for the first time. While some vendors were actually packing up by lunch time, the lighter crowds were much less stressful. Had great conversations with several vendors and at the G8 corner of the Arctic Cat factory display, and learned a lot. Cat’s cutaways and displays were very cool.
Seemed like a lot of the Cat people took Sunday off, or at least took the opportunity to roam and weren’t glued to the Cat tents. I didn’t mind, since there was a lot more room to stand and look at stuff, instead of needing to stay in motion. Would’ve liked to connect with people that I know were there on Saturday, so maybe we switch back to Day 1 next year.
Catalyst-related aftermarket stuff was everywhere, which is great to see. I suspect that with any amount of snow this year, on-snow development time is going to cause an exponential rise of accessories and offerings from even more vendors.
I agree on Dave McClure’s sled – Riley’s was really sharp, but I gravitated to the slightly less flashy graphics on Dave’s sled. Both were very sharp. Rox SpeedFx had a blue-wrapped M that was sharp, as well. The pretty voice in the passenger seat for the ride home thought I should put that wrap on our Catalyst. 🙂
I don’t even know what dapper means, but I still laughed haha
Cat had a lot of great people in their booth and lots of interesting stuff to see. The new gauge display was great so was the clutch display, learned a lot. Talked to Troy for a while lots of good info on past and present sleds, Thanks Troy.
How did the Wildcat XX Turbo look?
AC said they would be releasing 2 new machines at haydays, what are they???
When did they say that? I see a couple of dealers shut down over 50 plus doo’s and poo’s carry overs. Not good. Glad Cat kept inventory on sleds in check.
It was posted by AC on facebook, they later went and edited the post to remove mention of it. If you read the comments you’ll see people talking about the release still.
The dealers you are talking about got shut down for fraud, nothing to do with their inventory..
But check out Moorhouse Motorsports and their story.
Fraud was proven to be incorrect. Just sayin.
Fraud was claimed to be incorrect, by the people accused of said fraud..
So you are one of those New York Liberals, who think guilt before Innocent. Got it. Thanks Sun and Snow for hiring such a model citizen.
Make ArcticWear great again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sounds like we have a Cat fight brewing ! ( pun intended ) take it easy LADIES .
Dapper Dave! I think we have the beginnings of a new nickname here!