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For several years, the Nielsen team was sponsored by Valvoline, giving it high visibility and making it one of the top independent efforts.
“That was really the most exciting time for oval racing,” Nielsen recalls, “with major sponsors like Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Skoal and others getting involved. There was a high level of interest in the series, including TV coverage of some of the biggest races.”?Ted, daughter Christie and son Jeff were actively involved in the race scene, traveling all winter. “I wasn’t just the sponsor, I was the team owner,” Ted says, “so Jeff and I were at every race, standing in the cold and freezing along with everyone else. I had the privilege of working with so many great drivers over the years, really an elite group. Every one had his own personality and quirks, as well as particular strengths. There were a lot of long hours in the shop and on the road, but it was challenging, interesting and enjoyable in its own way. It was a tremendous experience and I wouldn’t have done it any differently. Jeff and I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together and that’s something I cherish as a father.”
Christie, who worked for a time with Ehlert Publishing and later with the NDI clothing business, has plenty of memories of those days. “I had a different perspective and it was really interesting, because I’d hear people talk about my dad and refer to him as the Roger Penske of Sno Pro.”
Her recollections of the racing scene are especially vivid. “When oval racing was in its heyday with all those national sponsors, the atmosphere and pageantry were incredible. We would spend hours designing color-coordinated uniforms to outfit the entire team, all the way down to what style of turtleneck they’d wear. When the sleds were brought out to the starting line at Eagle River, it created a lot of excitement for spectators, seeing all those teams and colors. It was like being at the Indianapolis 500.”
Ted recalls how his association with Valvoline raised some eyebrows with Ski-Doo. “Valvoline was paying us $150,000 a year to be our sole sponsor. They wanted our uniforms and race sleds to be in their colors of red, white and blue, with no other sponsors or stickers on the machine. At Eagle River one year, Pierre Beaudoin from Bombardier took me aside and said, ‘Ted, if we’re helping you and providing Ski-Doos to your team, they should be yellow.’ I told him, ‘Pierre, these people are paying the bills and they want their name and their colors on the sleds. You’ll just have to accept that,’ and he did.”
The Sno Pro effort continued through the 1996 season, when the popularity of oval racing began to wane in favor of snocross. But a Nielsen racing team achieved one more monumental victory that year, when co-drivers Mike Campbell and Greg Goodwin won the 24-hour endurance event at Eagle River.
“The 24-hour race was held three years in a row,” Nielsen says, “and we finished second the other two times. It was the hardest, most difficult sort of racing you can imagine. Those drivers averaged over 50 mph and ran more than 1,200 miles, which is an incredible distance under any conditions, let alone on a rough course.”
Although no longer competing on track, Nielsen maintains high visibility by sponsoring the ISOC snocross season finale, dubbed the Nielsen Enterprises Grand Finale weekend. This three-day mid-March competition on the ski hill at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis., is popular with fans and competitors alike.
Because of its proximity to Milwaukee (40 miles) and Chicago (65 miles), and the fact that season championships often are decided in the final race, the Grand Finale always draws a huge crowd. In addition to the racing, the next year’s snowmobiles from all four manufacturers are on display, giving fans an opportunity to see what’s new and offering Nielsen Enterprises an opportunity to reach new customers.
Though deeply involved in sponsoring snocross, Ted is still an ice oval racing fan at heart.
“It’s like comparing NASCAR to Indy cars,” he explains.
“The snocross guys put on a great show. It’s definitely challenging for the drivers and fun for the fans with sleds flying through the air, bumping in the turns and all that. I don’t mean to take anything away from what they do, but oval racing on ice is completely different. The way the sleds are prepared and driven requires incredible precision and the slightest mistake could cost you the race. Watching them go so fast around that track, lap after lap, sometimes three or four abreast, working through the turns a foot or two apart, that’s unbelievably exciting.