Deere Racers at the Vintage I-500

[BU1]

The +50 legends will be a return of the monumental battles of the mid to late 70's with JRC, Brian, Archie Simmonson, Doug plus other racers from back in the day that made the I-500 the legend that it is. In the main class, no doubt some major riders will show up to join Aaron and the rest of us regular guys.


-Joe Rainville
#621 Liquifire

It will be interesting to see what kind of times the legends can turn, as I believe some of them will enter both classes. They just might put a little whupping on the young guys.

[kenwaters]

We fully expect they will in both cases; enter both classes, and put a whooping on us. I'm not traveling from NY to MN for the joy ride though.......My wife is convinced I must be having an affair, always on the phone with my race team, not to mention the strict diet.

[JoeRainville]

BU1,

I have had the fortunate good luck to have ridden snowmobiles with many of the I-500, oval and SnoCross greats in the past 4 "Ride with the Champs" events at the HOF. I've been honored to east snow dust from JRC, Rodger Skime and Joey Halstrom, Stan and Doug Hayes, Brian Nelson, etc on these events, and fully expect to get whupped upon by them again. I will at least hope to put up a valient attempt to hange with them. I also plan to wear full body armor in case I miss judge my ability's to keep up or corner.

Kenny and I are changing some of the features of my small practice snocross track to better mimic road crossings and the kind of terrain we might see in the race. The best we can do it prepare out sleds, body's and minds to be best we can make them. And hope we get good early snow in NY so we can practice mogals and jumps. Let the race begin!

-Rainville

[lwb140]

ill stick to fuel can duty wade

[deereoftheyear]

Being as I have never been in or to a snowmobile race, how many people would you expect to race in an event like this? Is the course typically well laid out too? I'm just wondering things I should expect other than it being very competitive, being as I only do trail riding. I know it will be tough, but I've rode 250+ mile trips multiple times on my trailfire, so I think I can maybe do this as well.

[ICCSF 108]

For all you would be racers, this is some free advice, once it snows find yourself a 5 mile stretch of ditch that has road approaches, rocks, small trees, phone boxes, a ditch or 2, & a fence running next to it, then run everyday until you have holes or ruff moguls beat into it & the snow is as hard as Ice & when you can fly the road approaches, cross the ditches & rocks & run next to the fence wild open dodge the phone boxes & have your sled prepared so it doesn't break or that you don't get thrown off you will be ready..
You must expect to drive like this.
http://www.snowpod.com/popup_image.php?pID=339
http://www.snowpod.com/popup_image.php?pID=60 And still stay on..
Or if you can't hang on, or overdrive your ability this could happen
http://www.snowpod.com/popup_image.php?pID=393
As these will be what the old time ICCSF racers will look like..
OH yes did I forget to mention back problems in your later life, LOL

Kenny

[400brian]

For all you would be racers, this is some free advice, once it snows find yourself a 5 mile stretch of ditch that has road approaches, rocks, small trees, phone boxes, a ditch or 2, & a fence running next to it, then run everyday until you have holes or ruff moguls beat into it & the snow is as hard as Ice & when you can fly the road approaches, cross the ditches & rocks & run next to the fence wild open dodge the phone boxes & have your sled prepared so it doesn't break or that you don't get thrown off you will be ready..

And that's why us pretenders have little chance of even staying with Carlson or Nelson.
These guys raced in the ditches FOR A LIVING! For a number of years by the way.
Go have fun, ride hard, don't over drive your abilities, and avoid getting hurt and wrecking the sled.
I'd love to run the course to say I'd done it, but it seems unlikely at this point in time.

[Danzig]

I noticed nobody posted the safety gear required, race rules and sled setups/rules .

[lwb140]

For all you would be racers, this is some free advice, once it snows find yourself a 5 mile stretch of ditch that has road approaches, rocks, small trees, phone boxes, a ditch or 2, & a fence running next to it, then run everyday until you have holes or ruff moguls beat into it & the snow is as hard as Ice & when you can fly the road approaches, cross the ditches & rocks & run next to the fence wild open dodge the phone boxes & have your sled prepared so it doesn't break or that you don't get thrown off you will be ready..

And that's why us pretenders have little chance of even staying with Carlson or Nelson.
These guys raced in the ditches FOR A LIVING! For a number of years by the way.
Go have fun, ride hard, don't over drive your abilities, and avoid getting hurt and wrecking the sled.
I'd love to run the course to say I'd done it, but it seems unlikely at this point in time.

preach it brian maybe we can hang out somewhere and watch ,eat donuts drink coffee . i would love to be able to do this and not be a danger to others and myself but i will make for a kick ass spectator !! wade

[AirborneX4Special]

A retired Bombardier racer once told me in order to be competitive, you must throw yourself into the situation in such a manner that your life depends on your ability to drive out.

Another told me oval racing essentially involved the following steps since you can't see where you are going:

1) Mash throttle
2) Count to three
3) Turn left
( repeat )

Now that is different from CC racing, but the anecdotes are of similar spirit.

Pat

[WinnipegStPaul9]

For all you would be racers, this is some free advice, once it snows find yourself a 5 mile stretch of ditch that has road approaches, rocks, small trees, phone boxes, a ditch or 2, & a fence running next to it, then run everyday until you have holes or ruff moguls beat into it & the snow is as hard as Ice & when you can fly the road approaches, cross the ditches & rocks & run next to the fence wild open dodge the phone boxes & have your sled prepared so it doesn't break or that you don't get thrown off you will be ready..
You must expect to drive like this.
http://www.snowpod.com/popup_image.php?pID=339
http://www.snowpod.com/popup_image.php?pID=60 And still stay on..
Or if you can't hang on, or overdrive your ability this could happen
http://www.snowpod.com/popup_image.php?pID=393
As these will be what the old time ICCSF racers will look like..
OH yes did I forget to mention back problems in your later life, LOL

Kenny

I don't think I could have put it any better. NOTHING will prepare you like running ditches with road approaches, utility poles inches way, rocks, broken machines. If you're truly serious about running this event you must find ditches in your area and practice, practice, practice!

If you think trail riding a sled 250 miles in a day will prepare you for a cross country race you're just kidding yourself but... the other competitors will thank you for the entry money they'll win from you.

DA

[BU1]

I noticed nobody posted the safety gear required, race rules and sled setups/rules .

It's all here.


www.usccracing.com

[ICCSF 108]

Brian & Wade, after my surgery I won't be able to do much for months SOOO Maybe I'll be up there to watch also.. We'd better be thinking about Motel rooms I can't sleep in my Pickup like I used too, LOL

Kenny

[JoeRainville]

Kenny,

Good advice for anyone that plans to run this race hard. Unfortunately for me, the only CC race I have completed in was a lake eduro. While a ton of fun, it does not give me any insite on running ditches. We generally don't get those wide, deep ditchlines in NY, but luckily I do have about a 1/2 mile to a mile stretch at home in NY were the field to the west of road is higher that the pavement, and it drifts in nicely. I played on it last year, so I hope we have snow over Christmass to practice.

While I have lots of practice getting crosses up in the air, it was always on sleds with 13.5" inches of travel. It will be something new to race hard on a sled with 6" of travel. Remember how many sleds died on the Vintage Challenge last year? And we weren't racing! Aside from proper safety gear which every racer should know about, I am having some concern over the weather. -20 deg F is pretty cold if you are not dressed (and jetted) for it.

Back in 2008 I rode the RWC with JRC, and tried to hang with his F7 Cat on my little 440 Sno Pro Fan. After a steady diet of snowdust, I comented to Jon how his is still a very fast and smooth rider. He put it very clearly when he said "it's how I made my living for 4 years." Needless to say, the Watersboy and I will be doing well to even keep these guys in site for a few miles. Doesn't mean we won't give it our best however.

-Rainville

A NY SnoCross on my then new 2005 Cat:


Having a little fun at Cortland, NY race. I think I won a qualifier...

[JDT]

I think that CC racing is like bull riding but insted of 8 seconds the abuse goes on for hours.

The guys that are competive are in shape beyond what most of us would think that in shape means.

The beating your body takes at speed on the course is bruttle.

It is dangerous yes. The rewards last a liftime but so does the pain.

No, I have never done it but I have seen what is involved and it hurts just to watch.