Random Photos, March Edition

Here’s a composite of some of the early Project F4 sketches from Nathan Blomker, Industrial Designer at Arctic Cat, and they guy who designed the 2012 Arctic Can snowmobiles. These are only a few of the many, many drawings that Nathan and others created at the onset of the project.

I love looking at this kind of process, detecting elements that were actually included on the final version, as well as elements that seemed to have origins in previous Arctic Cat snowmobiles.

This image is of Arctic Cat’s Jamie Edwards, calibrating the fuel management system on a prototype 2012 Arctic Cat F800. It was a crisp -8 F on this day, and that tall window was nice and cozy.

This sweet Arctic Cat Prowler is the creation of Jared Ford, who explained it with the following info:

“The back end was fully caged in so that we could build a custom soft top to enclose the whole cab.  There are two fold down seats in the bed facing the rear.  We hand fabricated the doors and purchased the winshield.  We also mounted a nice heater and the removable winch comes in handy.  It gets most of it’s use in central Oregon and if it wasn’t for the tracks and 1000cc’s we wouldn’t be able to make the fifteen mile trek into our Cabin.  We can get up to six feet of snow and it can go through it without a problem.  It’s mostly for play but when the tracks come off and I’ll be using it to prerun my race course in Paisley, Oregon.”

Here’s another photo of Ford’s Prowler and cabin. Nice combo!

How’s this for random?

Those Ski-Doo riders are always confusing me with their bass-ackwards approach. First of all, if this scene were to be remotely believable, the guys would be mostly naked and the ladies would still be sporting the bibs. Then, if this were truly real, the dude on the right (who appears too whiped-out to get anything going with the hottie), would not be staring into her eyes.

I wonder how things eventually worked out for these four? Happily married and living in Valcourt?

The Ski-Doo gang drinking cocktails reminds me of liquid refreshments…

This is the refridgerator (spelled this way for Charlie Plueddeman) in my shop. It’s part of the sponsorship package I’m trying to get rolling for this Website. So if there are any people from companies who are interested in providing some decals that I can later give away for contests, please send them to me.

In the meantime, I’ll send some prize decals to the first person who can tell me the name of the racer who used to use the EXACT #50 shown here. I’ll give you a couple hints: He (first clue) is a dork (second clue).

These sleds are owned by Swedish Arctic Cat madman, Bengan Westerlund. The Sachs-powered contraption on the right is like a monster-sized Diablo Rouge. Wild.

Thanks for sending all the stuff, Bengan. Keep it coming, you’re eye for “cool” is spot-on.

BTW, Bengan is helping U.S. Team Arctic snocrossers Garth Kaufman, Cody Thomsen and Logan Christian contest the 2011 FIM World Championship of Snocross competition in Finland. Good luck everyone.

One of these guys won’t drink Monster. The other drinks too much of it. One is a farmer, the other a snowmobile dealer. Neither is in agreement about why the fastest snocross racer on the planet is getting crummy holeshots.

A random pack of stickers to the first person who can name both.

I hadn’t seen this guy for more than a decade when, all of the sudden, I’m standing next to him at the ISOC snocross in Elko, Minn.

More decals to the first person who can name him, and the snowmobile company he was associated with.

Love this photo of Gabriel Dragan, grandchild of Rodney and hopefully recipient of grandpa’s awesome humor. (Rodney is the Webmaster of that site, and the guy who needs more PBR.)

Since the 1990s-era images of big-haired ladies seems to be popular here, I thought I’d share this image. Careful that the pink doesn’t burn your eyes, or the hair poke you in the face.

Here’s the rest of the image, swiped out of Arctic Cat PRIDE magazine. I absolutely love Donny Shetler’s look, and the fact that this image was undoubtedly taken out behind the plant on a sunny, summer’s day. By the way, this was one of the more popular and iconic Arcticwear suits of the day.

As long as I’m doing vintage, here are a couple images from the snow oval race at ERX Motorsports Park in Elk River, Minn. I’m bummed I missed the race last week (I was too busy getting my son and myself ready for the Warroad XC race), which I’ve been told was a huge hit.

Really, I see a future for snow ovals…maybe even once again becoming the standard at Eagle River. Call me crazy, but there’s merit to the idea.

Since the X Games, Zach Pattyn of the Team Arctic/Christian Bros. Race team has been styling on the sweetest-looking Sno Pro race sled. Dolled up in white, black and splash of green, this sled is absolutely stunning.

Tucker goes into a heart-felt rendition of “Proud to be an American” in front of his dad (background). Serious respect.

I’m not sure what’s more troubling here… the fact that someone actually invented such a means to haul snowmobiles, or that the same person used bungee cords (BUNGEE Cords!) to strap it down. I’m sure the lawsuit that resulted from this situation wasn’t cheap.

And finally, since it’s pretty much spring time now and the snow is rapidly melting, I thought I’d share some images sent by Dan Skallet (top) and Todd Ulschmid about the dangers of riding near open water.

P.S. Don’t buy seats from either of these guys when you see them at Haydays this summer.

Thanks for reading.