I 500 Coverage

[Matt]

RAINVILLE! YOU MADE IT! Here are the vintage results:

1 167v Micheal Fugelberg Vintage Polaris
2 591 Peter Behm Vintage Arctic Cat
3 275 Mike Bedard Vintage Polaris
4 24 Jim Wilson Vintage Polaris
5 110 Gerry Mattison Vintage Arctic Cat
6 130 Andy Storbeck Vintage Polaris
7 30v Gary Smetana Vintage Polaris
8 163 Steve Wosick Vintage Polaris
9 301 Chris Coffield Vintage Polaris
10 7 Karl Mattison Vintage Arctic Cat
11 323 Michael Wood Vintage Arctic Cat
12 747 Jake Mattison Vintage Arctic Cat
13 99 Richard DeCoursey Vintage Polaris
14 8 Jacob Langenbach Vintage Polaris
15 621 Joseph Rainville Vintage John Deere
16 169 Chris Reeves Vintage John Deere
17 690w Halli Winter Vintage kawasaki
18 440lf Wade Bennet Vintage John Deere

[Matt]

Here is the DNF list as well:

No. Name Class Make
1 Dave Chambers Vintage kawasaki
724 Nick Gustafson Vintage Polaris
854 William Young Vintage Arctic Cat
559 Mike Hedlund Vintage Polaris
987 Andrew Wichlacz Vintage Polaris
33x Joey Potucek Vintage Arctic Cat
522 Paul Sillerud Vintage Arctic Cat
312 Mark Young Vintage Arctic Cat
317 Mike Mattison Vintage Arctic Cat
95 Brett Lessman Vintage Yamaha
139 Jim Mattison Vintage Arctic Cat
286 Derek Frie Vintage Polaris

[Matt]

Vintage Legends:
1 110 Gerry Mattison Vintage Legends Arctic Cat
2 276 Randy Bedard Vintage Legends Polaris
3 46 John Dusek III Vintage Legends Arctic Cat
4 30V Gary Smetana Vintage Legends Polaris
5 357 Dale Mattison Vintage Legends Arctic Cat

DNF Vintage Legends:
442 Pete Mattison Vintage Legends Arctic Cat
55 Philip Crick Vintage Legends John Deere

[sledhead16]

way to go Joe!

[sledhead16]

Nice job wade! Bleed green!

[mn.deereguy]

Good job guys

[snowkat79]

Congrats you guys! I bet it was a blast!!!!

[gumbofarmer]

75 percent of the Deeres finished!!!

[skoalmint]

Good Job guys , Brock

[jdsledsrgr8]

I do not know Chris's last name that rides with Wade. Was he driving a JD this year vs his Yamaha? Congrats to Joe and Wade. We need some more representation, but I am not sure I have the skills to compete. Still so exciting to see the results and anxious to hear the stories.

[400brian]

I had not intended to be the race reporter when I got up on Saturday, but I was wondering how it was going, so I started texting and calling guys. Eventually Dustin Elder provided a phone number for Wade and Joe's race crew, and once I had that, I was in the loop.

First time JDJR's crew has actually had to do anything! Congrats to Wade and Joe for finishing, sounds like around a third of the vintage did not.

[JRC ETD]

Good job guys, now scrub your times against the winner, include your crashes, mistakes, fueling times, google changes, wrong turns, slow rolls up to stop signs or crossings and calculate the cost of quality. Next year eliminate and contend for the checkers......really nice job! Just got the Deere Snowmobile book from Ron and Dick, great read, can't put it down, very well written. See you at the HOF.

[JDT]

Some of my observations from yesterday at Thief River Falls...

It was a pleasure to carry Joe's gas cans back to the truck from the fuel stop yesterday because for the first time they were empty.
Yes, our prodical son JDJR is in fact in the books as a finisher.

And once again Wade crossed the line also. In fact he crossed the line twice. More on that later.

It was a spectacular morning. The sunrise from the window on the second floor of the room Dustin and I shared was a moving site.
The wind was still, the air crisp, the snow glissened as the sun illuminated the course and allowed better visibility for the drivers.

By the time we got to the fuel stop the temp was actually above zero. What a relief from years past. Although the wind did pick up later in the afternoon.

Wade's sled looked good sitting in the starting line. It started right up.
Joes's sled looked good at the stating line. Started right up? Not so much.

Dustin, Wade and myself were standing around waiting for the National Anthems and we realised that Joe had not been seen since breakfast.
Where was Joe??? I suggested he was jawing with other drivers. We split up and went looking for Joe. Then he was spotted as he emerged from a rolling cloud of Klotz and 110 octane exhaust fumes.
He was white as a ghost. "Joe are you alright?" I asked. Turns out Joe is allergic to maple syrup that does not come from Vermont. Or something like that. He assured us he would be fine.

When Joe arrived at the first fuel stop and jumped off his sled to walk it in I notice his right leg was not working correctly and I said to Dustin "Joe's hurt".
When he stopped to gas up I asked him how he was doing. He said he hurt all over but was good to go. And off he went.

While Dustin and I were waiting for our guys to make the second loop back to the fuel stop we talked with a spectator that had been watching the race earlier out on the course.
He said he saw Joe take a terrible spill. Joe lay motionless on the snow so he and a couple of other people approached him and asked if he was ok.
He said Joe jumped to his feet and gave them a thumbs up and looked around for his sled. And he was off.

Talking with Joe after the race reveiled that he had taken three unschedeuled dismounts on his way to finishing.

Wade rolled in to the fuel stop the second time and I asked him how he felt. "Fantastic!" was his response. And off he went.

Turns out Joe passed Wade three times and Wade passed Joe twice while out on the course. Talking with Wade after the race he started that the blood on his helmet was Joe's.
I had no idea there was such a rivelry between the two of them. Yes Joe was hurting.

Speaking of Wade crossing the line twice....
Dustin and I were sitting in my car waiting at the finish line for our guys to come in. The announcer calls out "Here comes the John Deere of Joe Rainville."
Dustin sprang into action and snapped the now viral picture of Joe's celebration as he took the checkered flag.

A few minutes later the announcer said that Wade Bennet was missing and not accounted for. If anyone knew where he was to talk to the nearest race offical.
I told Dustin that I was going to look for Wade. Then Dustin said he saw him over by the Race Offical 's trailer. Sure enough Wade had crossed the line.
But Dustin missed the photo op. Wade was only more than willing to recross the finish line for a photo of his accomplishment. And off he went.

Dustin got his photo but at the exact moment Wade's transponder went acroos the line a second time there was a shift in the time continum.
The USGS atomic clock in Colorado lost 5 seconds. GMT hicupped and the line shifted two degress towards Sochi.
The USXC computor now shows Wade's Deere on the course at next weeks race in Park Rapids. Wade will truly be unaccounted for at that race as he will be at St Germain.

As for the lack of Vintage race coverage there are only 4 hours of air time on the radio station. The Pro drivers start at 9 AM and leave at time intervals based on there standings after two days.
The first driver to leave the starting line was at the first fuel stop before the Vintage guys even started. And Brian Dicks had crossed the finish line before Wade and Joe even got to the first fuel stop.
So it is not that they ignore the Vintage guys it is just that they start so late. That and the fact that the modern machines might be a little faster that our beloved classics.

So to recap it was a great day. Wade and Joe did very well. JD did very well. And we all had fun. In the end that is what it is all about.
Next year will only be better.

[mn.deereguy]

Thanks for the write up Todd I have to make it up there next year to watch the small town I grew up in a lot of my friends dads and a lot of my friends used to race I500 back in the day on jd's and we would watch old videos of them coming into fuel stops and finish line on their liquidators and liquifires and their wives had cigarettes lit for them when they got in pretty cool considering the video is from before I was born.

[lwb140]

Thanks guys for all the positive comments it was really a blast , Rainville and I played the turtle and the hare about all day one more of his wipe-outs and I maybe would have caught back up to him , I really need to figure out my suspension . It's like racing a barge , yes I did cross the finish line someplace between 169 and halli on the kawi but crossed it again before heading to the trailer !! Oh well , lol would have been cool for all Deeres to be scored together , thanks to our fantastic crew Todd and Dustin. They are 2 terrific guys to come help us as they do !!