JD 500 Factory Racer

tieszo6 · Post by **tieszo6** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:22 pm

ah thats right, the memory was a little fuzzy

Spitfireguy · Post by **Spitfireguy** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:36 pm

can we see more pics of that kitty cat?. thats very interesting to bad deere didnt go for it. lol

Post by **JRC ETD** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 7:01 pm

I'll give you a update over x-mas.....Kitty is stock Artic with a green hood, Best Jon

Post by **Matt** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:24 pm

The Kitty Deere is cute, but still would just be a rebadged cat. How about a mini Liquidator? lol.

Did that 500 have CDI too?

75rat · Post by **75rat** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 10:04 pm

Jon.

I have to disagree with you regarding which seat John Orvis used on his 295/S for the I-500. There are some photo's showing the trunk/set set-up on John's 295/S; including a real good one in Race & Rally magazine in a 1974 article about the development of the 340/S. I'm pretty sure it's also shown in Deere's video about the 1974 race. (Has a few good clips of you too!)

If you look closely at the sled today it still has the snaps down both sides of the tunnel for the race seat and mounting holes for the trunk, exactly like mine does. As I recall, most the factory backed sleds were set up this way.

Also, the photo seems to show it has molded track with a bogie/slide suspension.

Jim

Post by **JRC ETD** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 10:59 pm

Jim, I had exactly the same question for John last Thursday, and his words were," I wasn't comfortable with the boggie slide in handling, and I wanted the stock seat" John was very involved in setting indusrty standards for seats as a engineer......so Jim I don't remember John's sled, but he piloted both of them to finishes in the 500! I know I also had the stock seat on my 295/s........I will research further, but that is John's reply to my question on his set up as I assumed he used the larger seat and trunk. Regardless, it is very good to have theses historic sleds available for reconsrtuction, and I am trying to be respectful to all memories 35 years past.

75rat · Post by **75rat** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:54 am

Jon,

Thanks for your comments. It's hard to believe this all happened over 30 years ago....and yes, memories do fade (I'm living proof of that!).

I'm not trying to be a hardcase, it's just one of the things I remember most from that race. I asked Jim Dano about the trunk (I thought it might be a fuel tank), he didn't think it was a fuel tank, probably just a backrest. I'm guessing they were only used for the I-500 and everyone just took them off and ran the standard seat (as Dano did) for the rest of the racing season.

Just to be sure, I watched the '74 I-500 race again for the um-teenth time last night and Orvis definantly had the trunk/seat set up, as did most the factory sleds in the video. Unfortunately, there were no shots of your sled; apparently you broke the first day. However, there's an awesome shot of Orvis pulling both skis of the ground leaving the starting line at Alex. Too cool!!!

Is there any way I can contact John Orvis? If so, please PM me. I would sure like him to fill in some of the blanks....

Thanks for the memories!
Jim

JD340S · Post by **JD340S** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:28 am

75 RAT is there any way you could make copies of the 74 race? Would be more than happy to compensate for your time. thanx AWZ

Horicon Joe · Post by **Horicon Joe** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:21 pm

Here are the pictures I have. Hope this helps.
You can see the raised tank on the second photo with the cut out in the grill.
Cool stuff!
Orvis told me Deere gave him the sleds for finishing the race!
These sleds deserve to be displayed. I would like to see a museum built
in Horicon where they were made along side of the early lawn tractors.

Joe

Horicon Joe · Post by **Horicon Joe** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:23 pm

More ..............

Horicon Joe · Post by **Horicon Joe** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:24 pm

End .............................

greenblood · Post by **greenblood** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:03 pm

Hey Joe,

What is the little Deere under the bench in the second picture? Looks like a John Deere kid's sled? Would that be a 'campfire'?

75rat · Post by **75rat** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:25 pm

Joe, nice photo's! Boy, those sleds are just dying to be restored, or better yet.....preserved.

AWZ, VHS copies are do-able. However, the quality of the copy I have (converted from old 16mm film) is not very good and additional copies of my copy won't be any better. I was in the process of converting it to DVD, but my hard drive took a dump and now I have to start over. Oh well...

Think snow!
Jim

75rat · Post by **75rat** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:31 pm

"These sleds deserve to be displayed. I would like to see a museum built
in Horicon where they were made along side of the early lawn tractors."

Joe, I couldn't agree with you more. Unfortunately, Deere chooses to ignore this part of their history. Go figure........

Jim

yzboy99 · Post by **yzboy99** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:08 pm

Tried to upload a couple of pics from our trip to Moline in April of '05, but it wouldn't go. Not sure what's wrong. Anyways, there was a Snowfire and a 400 at World Headquarters when we dropped by. Very nice, but definitely could be a lot more hardware on display in my opinion. So many models that were on top of the game from that era, and i think they should do more to show it off. Just my $0.02....Kevin.