blackwell achieves victory

Mark Blackwell, most recently Arctic Cat vice-president of Marketing and one of the top Cat executives, moves over to arch-rival Polaris Industries Inc. to take over as general manager of the Victory Motorcycle Division.

Key to the appointment appears to be Blackwell's 20-plus years of motorcycle industry experience.

Blackwell's bike career includes a run as a professional motocross rider and instructor. After his successful racing career that included an American Motorcycle Association (AMA) National Championship, he joined U.S. Suzuki in 1975 as motocross school manager and eventually was promoted to racing manager. In 1981, he joined Husqvarna Motorcycle Company as their product manager/regional sales manager before being named vice president of marketing. Blackwell returned to Suzuki in 1986 where he rose to marketing director for Suzuki's motorcycle and marine division before moving to Arctic Cat in 1992.

"We're thrilled to have Mark join the team," said Tom Tiller, Polaris CEO. "He has an outstanding leadership track record and brings a wealth of motorcycle experience to Victory."

Polaris launched Victory Motorcycles on July 4, 1998, the first major American company to enter the motorcycle market in more than 60 years. Since that introduction, Polaris officials have acknowledged that sales and growth of Victory Motorcycles have fallen below company forecasts despite the product being named "Cruiser of the Year" by two leading motorcycle industry publications.