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Race weekends are, well, not all that different from any weekend family get-together for members of Team Bauerly Racing.
When they're all together in one spot, there are 14 team members and you'll notice a familiar ring to their names.
First, there's Kurt and Paul Bauerly, the racers on the team that compete on the World PowerSports Association's national circuit. Chad and Ross Bauerly ride on the WPSA's Minnesota State Championship circuit. All ride Ski-Doos.
Other stalwarts of the team include Paul Greenwaldt who will race in the WPSA Midwest Hillcross series; Nathan Bauerly who handles daily race operations; and physical trainer Paul Hinz of Corrective Exercise Specialists in Minneapolis.
Others pitch in when needed, including mom and dad, Marge and Brian, who run a construction business (Bauerly Companies). But it's the boys' team. They started it, own it and run it. Chad, Kurt and Paul are brothers, while Ross and Nathan are their cousins.
"We got the work ethic from our parents. That's why we started our own team," says Chad, 30, the eldest and first into the racing scene, a couple years ahead of Kurt. Paul is youngest at 19.
Team Bauerly runs out of its hometown of Sauk Rapids, Minn., and has seen a good amount of success for a private team in its sixth year.
The 2004-'05 season was its strongest and Bauerly's was named World Snowmobile Association Privateer Team of the Year, running 48 snocross and hillcross events.
"We like to run with the big teams," says Chad, who not only races, but does the marketing and secures sponsorship for the team. "We get a lot of respect from them too. They like our family and professional image," he says. What the big boys may not like so much is the strong competition from the Bauerlys.
Last season, for instance, Chad was third in Pro Stock and Pro Open in the Minnesota Regional series. Ross moves up to the Pro series this season after sweeping the Semi-Pro Stock, Semi-Pro 600 and Semi-Pro Open championships last year, again in the Minnesota series.
On the national side, Kurt finished sixth last season in Semi-Pro Stock and ninth in Semi-Pro Open. Paul swept the Pro Stock and Pro Open championships at the regional level and moves up to the national level this season. Their team made all the finals in the nationals that they ran last year.
How does Team Bauerly remain so consistently competitive across circuits?
"Years of experience on Ski-Doos," says Chad, 30, who has been riding since he was about 8 years old, "always on Ski-Doos." His dad also ran a lot of cross-country races on Doos back in the early 1970s.
"We do all the setups and tests ourselves ... we've learned a lot and we know to try the right things." Each rider also has one mechanic (not full time) dedicated to his equipment, plus everyone works on his own sled. Chad says the work is four nights a week during the season and one or two nights weekly in off times.
None of this is cheap.
Chad says laying out $50,000 just to form a racing team and get it on its feet isn't unusual. Yet Team Bauerly has moved well beyond that, running at least four racers most weekends. It now seeks sponsors, part of Chad's responsibility.
This year it lined up at least 10 who each pay in the range of $5,000 to $10,000. Plus the team gets some help from Ski-Doo with parts and clothing. But it's nothing like a factory team.
"We run like a business. We have to show sponsors a return on their investment. We've got to work for them as much as we work on the track to make it all go," Chad says.
And the Bauerlys plan for it to go on for years as they each work their way up through the circuits' levels.
"We like our size team and we like doing it as a family," Chad says.