Hey Snowcat fans-
Chapter 1-
The Sun Valley Snowcat Serenade
While some of you were stuck at home to watch NASCAR last weekend, or sulk about the lack of snow, or hid inside due to the impending doom created by the importation of that poor Chinese knock off of Corona.....a bunch of us gathered to witness the snow trials. Thee Competition! That's right, the winner take all, 2nd Unvitational Trials of Soiled Conservancy....put on by Royalty, and attended by actual Snowcat Royalty.
Fans flew in from as far away as New York and Massacheesenips, and everywhere in between. Competitors (and Snowtracs) from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, California, Colorado, and the oldest one was even from B.C.! No not "Before Christ", A.D., well, maybe A.D.D., but not quite A.D.H.D., but from the Hockey homeland, British Columbia, in an Oregonian machine, but legal because the speedometer (slowometer) was in Kilometers per Hour (which averaged out at 12.....yeah, KPH, so like 8 in America).
The honored guests were Snowcat Royalty, the brothers Eskelson, direct heirs to mad cat inventor and low PSF genius, Sir Ross Eskelson (their father). Yes, the brainchild of the 2 track snow cat, imitated to this day, but never duplicated. These two were all smiles, for they had three ponies in the race, which were all favored machines, the number #1 contender (Frandee Snoshu), #2nd in points (Red Hot Imp), and a new spit polished Sprite spilled out of some shop in Salmon. All three were inventions of their Father. They literally had no chance of losing!
Scott Eskelson was all smiles, knowing the family dynasty was well protected, and the win was virtually in the bag
Hosting (and the full planning) of the event was none other than Pontoon Princess, our own Royalty. Additional events of Pomp and Circumstance were also included (horse drawn sleigh rides, fancy dining, pizza parties, bowling, etc.), plus lunch was provided both days at the event. All attendees were grateful for her mastery of the festivities. The event was so big that the local stores were emptied in Sun Valley, Ketchum, and Hailey, no joke. It was something to do with the Corona sponsorship. My opinion, they were poorly prepared.
Attendees gathered for the lunchtime festivities both days
Well known Forum names attended this herding: Pontoon Princess, Track Addict, Backyardski, Snow-surfer, Blackfoot Tucker, Logger1965, Archmage, GlacierSean, Mikemikelle, Gmoose, , Ktalley, Mill666er, JimVT, Cidertom, poijnty chops, Mother Tucker, 4Trackcat, 1boringguy, it’s all about downhill, and many many more …..
Loads of tension hidden behind all those smiles. Their handles were as varied as their machines and their attire, obviously in effort to throw off the competition. Examples like Blackfoot Tucker- feet weren’t black, but his sidekick’s eye was? 1boringguy- Not so boring, turns out he owns 3 machines, and he and his beautiful babe took a bird to Boise had a baby boy in-between events. Serious dedication!
There was a large contingent from the heavy favored Tucker brand (To clarify- not heavily favored, but heavy favored, meaning those who like a bit of "extra" in the trunk). Both rubber tracks and steel tracks, 2 doors and 3 door models, older, newer, mid-engine, front engine......and as expected, the illegal engined! Yes, long time forum contributor, Blackfoot Tucker, with his sidekick Scott (why are they always named "Scott"?) had their hotrod rigs disqualified before even departing the P.R.O.U. (Utah), due to outlawed repowering. Yup, the hopes of the Tucker fans were dashed, Thundercat and Snowzilla were both out. Another young hopeful had arrived in the wee hours, from Veil Colorado, Archmage, but proved to be too Tuckered out from attending the Colorado Snowcat Jamboree the week before. It was reported later on that he was so distraught afterwards that he was cooking leftover hotdogs on the side of the road on what appeared to be his spare pontoon? Can’t make this stuff up!
Behind those smiles- The Ruthless “Blackfoot Tucker” and his sidekick Scott “Black eyed Gorilla”, trying to look so innocent- Definitely not as confident without their corked cats, “Snowzilla” and “Thundercat” . Those Utah folk always have that “friendly on a bicycle” look, but watch out!
Sort of on the down low, but another source of tension was the fact that two of the powerful cat families were represented. Both the Tucker mafia and the Snotrac mafia were seen, Dons and Enforcers. It’s thought that the whole event may have been a ruze to throw off the authorities about some meeting between the big bosses. Turns out one of them has crossed over into the others territory, and may now own three of them…my lips are sealed. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe the meeting was about how they were going to deal with the boundary dispute.
The Snotrac mafia had a huge show of force with six machines present. It was obvious they were not playing around. They were still up to the same old tricks though, complete with “breakdowns” and “equipment failures” to throw off the others, but still manage to make it to all the events? Sir Scott Eskelson wasn’t having any of it, and donated “fuel Additive” to the fastest Trac’s tank to help with their so called “problem”. Think he said it was a real sweet blend, newly developed out of some cane byproduct? Shows true integrity by helping out the adversary….and also from Utah.
Sir Scott Eskelson spotted “helping out” a rival rig with some sweet new fuel additive
Stay tuned for Chapter 2 - more action and suspense, competition details, close calls, accidents......and remember "Rubbin is Racing"
