Arctic Cat's second annual Snow Blast in West Yellowstone, Mont. produced plenty of action last weekend under clear mountain skies.
The extravaganza lasted Friday through Sunday and drew enthusiasts from across the country. Arctic Cat had demo machines representing the new 2007 lineup on display and in action around town. In conjunction with the event, the WPSA ran a national snocross race and on Saturday night the entire town could hear the sounds of country singers Blake Shelton and Jo Dee Messina at a huge outdoor concert north of the business district.
The New SledsCat's new twin spar chassis and its new engines were a hot topic around town during the weekend. Drawing the most attention at the huge heated Cat display tent was the Jaguar 4-stroke. But the 800 and 1000cc engines in both the Firecat and Mountain lines also received plenty of comments.
Celebrity RideI took a ride with Arctic Cat freestyle rider and new Cat DSM Chris Burandt and Cat hill-climb rider and mountain demo tour facilitator Bret Rasmussen on Saturday and both were excited for consumers to ride the new machines.
"There is simply no other mountain line that can compete with the M-Series," Rasmussen claimed, but then he is a Cat guy. "Cat will move even further ahead of the competition this year," he said.
Both Burandt and Rasmussen put on a mountain climbing show and powder exhibition for the more than 30 sleds that accompanied us into the hills through three feet of new snow.
Also along for the ride on Saturday was NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Busch Series and Nextel Cup Series driver Jack Sprague. He drives the No. 60 Con-Way sponsored Toyota Tundra, but Arctic Cat also is a personal sponsor of Sprague's. In the mountains Jack took to the slopes like a mountain goat let out of a cage and he was all smiles at the end of the ride. "This is an absolute blast, and I really wish I could do more of it," Sprague said.
The RaceFlying high in front of hundreds of fans, the Crapo men were the racers to beat in West Yellowstone. Must have been fate, but both are sponsored by Arctic Cat.
Kurtis Crapo won the Pro Stock National and Shaun Crapo won the Pro Open National. Cat actually grabbed the top three spots in the Pro Stock National, which helped make for a happy Snow Blast weekend.
The ConcertKeeping perfect rhythm with the songs sung by country radio superstars Blake Shelton and Jo Dee Messina were thousands of hand-clapping die-hard snowmobilers.
There was plenty of Arctic green to be seen at the concert, but there were also several groups of Yamaha, Ski-Doo and Polaris riders in the sea of snowmobile suits. Both Shelton and Messina kept the crowd tuned-up with new and old favorites. The 2-hour-plus concert was capped by a professional fireworks display.
I talked with Shelton just before his first snowmobile ride of the weekend and he was stoked. But he promised to heed my advice to keep the rubber side down.
For more information on the new Arctic Cat line see our Cool News section
www.amsnow.com/sno/default.aspx?c=a&id=2431. For more race information see our race results section
www.amsnow.com/sno/default.aspx?c=ss&id=45, or
www.wsaracing.com or
www.arcticcat.com