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Starting in 1966, one of the last races of the season was the “Roundup” in West Yellowstone, Mont. This organized speed run used North American Championship Drag rules, and snowmobile companies brought whatever their engineers could think up to make their brand the fastest.
In those days, it was hard to find an engine with good power that would work in a snowmobile. Multiple-cylinder engines were built by hand.
More cylinders!
In 1968, Cat used twin Hirth 600cc engines with megaphone exhausts. Polaris and others used a West German-made JLO 744cc modified motor.
In the fall of 1968, Bill Ness from Arctic Cat Racing had his friend, Dick Schellbach of Rush City, Minn., make a three-cylinder engine. Ness sent Schellbach 11 new-in-the-box 372cc JLO single-cylinder engines to work with, boring them out to 396cc for more power. Schellbach made a wood model of his crank case to make a sand-cast one for his new 1188cc three-cylinder engine. Using single-cylinder cranks, he put together a three-cylinder crank and mounted the engine in a 1969 Arctic Cat Panther with a jackshaft and megaphones. He brought it to Cat in mid-season to test how competitive it was in real racing.
That same year, Wayne Burkel spent the season racing for Polaris. Wayne borrowed his dad’s TX 500 with a 744cc JLO engine for a jump at Roseau, Minn. He flew 84.9 feet with that heavy sled! In 1969, Wayne switched to Arctic Cat, racing a 744cc Cat until this new sled from Ness came along. Wayne was a smaller guy at 145 lbs., but at 23 years old, he sure liked the power and speed of the monster three-cylinder Cat. Schellbach said this engine produced 90hp using handmade crimped megaphones.
The new sled from Ness had a lot of power, but with few traction products available, it was a handful to steer. Wayne said it was still really fun!
At season’s end, everybody went to the West Yellowstone Roundup for the racing and speed runs.