If you were to have walked through and glanced over the
entries at a recent snowmobile race in Utah, you would've thought you had taken a step back in time.
And that was kind of the point. More than 50 competitors
showed up with their pre-1980 snowmobiles to Powerhouse Motorsports' first
annual vintage snocross Feb. 9 in
Fairview, UT,
hearkening back to a time when sleds were more noise than speed.
"The Disney movie Snowball Express from the early '70s is
what inspired the race," Dustin Sweeten, race organizer and owner of
Powerhouse Motorsports, said. "It is my favorite movie and I have wanted to do a
vintage race for years, so I finally did it."
To qualify for the snocross, sleds were required to be model
year 1980 or older, have a leaf spring suspension and a fan-cooled engine
smaller than 500cc. The oldest sled was a 1967 Johnson Skee Horse.
Racers were divided into three classes: Pro (anyone over
16), Ladies and Youth (anyone under 16). The oldest racer was 67-year-old
Charlie Sweeten, who raced in the first-ever Winnipeg-St. Paul 500 cross-country
race in 1969. "He said as long as he can still get
himself on the seat of a snowmobile he won't miss the race," said Dustin
Sweeten.
Below are listed the top
finishers from each class.
Pro
1.
Logan Sweeten
2.
Derek Burgener
3.
Dustin Sweeten
Ladies
1.
Shylee Sweeten
2.
Holly Murphy
3.
Stacie Barton
Youth
1.
Frost Campbell
2.
Ammon Sweeten
3.
Hunter Sweeten
Next
year's race is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2014, in Fairview,
UT, and will include a Masters
class for racers 50 and older.
"Almost everyone came up to me after and said
they had the time of their life and want to do it again," said Dustin Sweeten.