HOF Ride with the Champs: 2009

Danzig · Post by **Danzig** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:33 pm

When Boetie83, 427Cobra, HoosierDeere and myself were out all on 80 L-fires and one trailfire, I think our speed averaged about 40 mph, we were slidding into and out of most corners, it was a great ride. Might have gotten to 60 or so on Catfish lake to.

I still have to get my pictures developed too. I forgot.

Post by **JRC ETD** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:37 am

I think we under estimate the real durability of these sleds, refurbished correctly they will be dependable on the trails around the HOF......My quest is that the Deere riders develope the "Vintage" HOF ride standard with Loren.....then watch the "Cats Pride" group, the Midnight Blue Express group, and others come over and join the fun. If you have noticed there are a lot of vintage rides and weekends developing around vintage members......why not develope the HOF Champs weekend as the best vintage ride on the ticket! I am going to ride my 3 cylinder prototype Liquifire or my 80 Liquifire Winnepeg sled....with studs and carbides, with #'s on them! Anyone want to join me....? Only 10 months away! JRC

Post by **WinnipegStPaul9** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:14 am

Looks like us 340/S guys better burn the midnight oil if we're going to keep up with Jon's LF's. Hey Chuck, got my #9's ready yet? Let's load up! DA

Horicon Joe · Post by **Horicon Joe** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:39 pm

Loren ...... you are correct in the fact we will need chase vehicles. My club has been doing this for years and you can not predict every failure. A CDI can go out or any electrical failure etc. at no fault of your own. If our club tags along we will have spare sleds shadowing us on the ride. Last year our ride consisted of 14 guys and 21 JD snowmobiles. We used all the spares. This year we had the same numbers and had only one electrical failure (180 miles in two days). Hope for the best and plan for the breakdowns.

Jon .... I agree that Deere should set the standard and make a strong showing
every year.

When our club stoped at Bosacki's Boat House I think I counted 28 JD Sleds on the
ice including ours. Lets double that number next year!

Joe

427cobra · Post by **427cobra** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:07 pm

I think the FAST VINTAGE RIDE would be fun. I would definatly give it a try. I think Paul is right...we were riding the sleds pretty hard. Had to slow down over the bumbs towards the end though...

GOOD TIMES!!

JoeRainville · Post by **JoeRainville** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:50 pm

Hi Guys,

Horicon, I agree with you on the spares part totally. Would be great if your Horicon Deere riders joined us for the entire weekend. 50 Deere's over run St. Germain!

The NY Posse is already planning a few things to increase our chances of a sucessful ride. First is to bring sleds we have rebuilt and shook down in NY. Second is to bring several spare sleds and ride Friday all around St. Germain to shake them down again. Third is to bring a few spare Prestolites!

So Jon is going to bring a 'big gun' tripple proto or his 1980 Winipeg sled? Rats, another year of eating his dust across the lakes! looks like I will be studding a vintage sled for the first time. Cari Deerest wants to come along again, so if I can teach her ride fast enough by then I will put her on my 84 Liquifire since it's already studded up and gone through.

Pray for snow Guys, this should be fun. I totally agree we should set the "vintage standard" and build upon the last two years at the HOF. Looks like the Deere guys are getting a good reputation for being a cohesive and organized group. Cool.

Later Liquidator,
-Rainville

HoosierDeereMan · Post by **HoosierDeereMan** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:48 pm

Rainville,

Its funny you should mention Cari wanting to attend. My wife Amy has already told me that she wants to go next year as well. Maybe we should get a 20 MPH wife's club started. (Seeing as you will have one by then

). I'm sure there are some other wives/girlfriends that might want to attend as well. I know there are a million things that could go wrong with this but maybe they could be our tow or rescue sleds for the fast ride. We can ride fast and they can bring up the rear and pick up any stragglers that we may have. Maybe they only ride half way depending on how far we plan on riding and the time factor involved. Just a thought. You guys shoot some holes in this and see what we might be able to come up with. It just a thought I'm throwing out here for discussion.

Troy

TOYMECH · Post by **TOYMECH** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:03 pm

All sounds very good!
As Jon pointed out, so long as the sled has been gone through mechanically and made "sound" there generally isn't any issues as my Trailfire exhibited (other than the owner who FORGOT to be sure there was a vent hole in the NOS fuel guage he decided to show off)...... :wacko:
The Liquifire is all studded up with carbides and runs champ - just needs to have a cosmetic "go-over" this summer.
Joe: Next year i will PROMISE to be a good boy and not attract the attention of those NICE guys with WARDEN on thier sleeves. THEN what will you call me? - The Liquifire LAWMAN?

B)
Greg

400brian · Post by **400brian** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:12 pm

Jon

Might we all have Union Carbide numbers so we can pretend to be CC racers?

If the REAL racers are OK with this, perhaps us pretenders should run Roger Ebert's number as a memorial.

Any thoughts guys?

Don't want to get distracted with trivial issues, the real goal must be to stay off the " Trailer of Shame".

Post by **JRC ETD** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:37 pm

Brian, I am remiss in not telling the famous Robert Carlson story with the rabbit carbide stickers....at tech inspection at Winnepeg, Carbide reps were slapping rabbit decals on all the sleds going through inspection! Starting line next day Dad sees these blue rabbit decals on the team sleds at 35 below and blows a gasket..."No damn fake oil decals on team sleds" and starts ripping them off the team 340/s's! Carbide rep. grabs him and says ..hey you can't do that, we are supplying the oil, Dad replies, BS, I'm supplying the sleds! And there won't be some decal on here other than a Deere decal. Carbde rep. says who are you? Dad says "John Deere"! All at -35 with the race starting in 10 minutes! All I heard for 3 days was "Damn fake rabbit oil" JRC

400brian · Post by **400brian** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:36 pm

Does the rabbit oil decal tie in with the "Run with the Rabbit" logo?

OK, no rabbit oil decals on my 340S!

Post by **WinnipegStPaul9** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:49 pm

Rich, we were told to get all gas mixed with the rabbit oil out as soon as possible once the race was over. Definately do not let it sit in the engine as it will rust. To be honest with you though Brian, my repro I500 sled will have the rabbit decals because we were forced to run with them on. Yes, there was contingency money but overall, UC provided the oil. Now, had Mr. Carlson asked me to the take them off, I would have in a heartbeat. Jon is definately a "chip off the old block" and that's a good thing. DA

Post by **Wildfire II** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:06 am

Our motto back in the testing days was GO FAST -- MAKE JUNK

69camaro · Post by **69camaro** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 12:58 am

Sounds like a great time!!!!!!!!

Count me in. Duane

The S Man · Post by **The S Man** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:11 am

One of the 340/Ss' I had, had the rabbit on the tunnel BEHIND the seconardy clutch and the other one on the other side BEHIND the PIPE

ROn