snowmobiling pioneer hetteen and pole explorer plaistad to lead first legends ride

Snowmobiling pioneer Edgar Hetteen and North Pole explorer Ralph Plaistad will lead a group of four International Snowmobile Hall of Fame members in the inaugural Ride With The Legends. The Legends will leave on their ride at 10am, February 24th from the Rainbow Inn in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

Along with Hetteen and Plaistad, other snowmobiling Legends joining the group in this annual ride will be hall of fame members and ISHOF board of directors Jerry Bassett and Larry Koch. Trailmaster for this first-ever event is ISHOF founder and president Elmer Cone.

The Legends invite all snowmobilers to ride along with them and join them for memories and sled talk at scheduled pitstops along the way. A charitable donation of $25.00 to raise support for the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame is requested.

This first "Ride with the Legends" features Edgar Hetteen, the founder of both Polaris Industries and Arctic Cat. Hetteen introduced the first commercially viable Polaris SnoTraveler in the mid 1950s and began Arctic Cat in the early 1960s.

Joining Hetteen is Ralph Plaistad who rode Ski-Doo snowmobiles to the North Pole in the late 1960s. It is most likely that Plaistad and his expedition were the first ever to reach the true North Pole.

Jerry Bassett, a 1996 inductee into the hall of fame, is a noted snowmobile journalist and historian of the sport who has authored two books about Polaris and its history. Rounding up the cast of Legends is fellow hall of fame inductee Larry Koch who entered the hall in 1999. His unselfish promotion of snowmobiling as a volunteer has led to worldwide exposure for the Sno-Baron's and its annual HayDays event.

If you would like more information and would like to be part of the inaugural "Ride With The Legends" event on Saturday, February 24, 2001, contact the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame at 218/245-1725.