Print | Back December 20, 2009 2010 Shocker Burandt Switching Sleds? CHRIS BURANDT For those of you who are NASCAR fans, you would have found the commercial with Dale Earnhardt Jr., announcing he was changing his number while a person was in getting a tattoo of his old number kind of funny. Well I did (though I wasn’t getting a tattoo). Earnhardt would have been crazy to leave what he had and have to switch numbers to a different team right? Well he saw an opportunity and shook the entire NASCAR community by moving over to Hendrick Motorsports and sporting the number 88. What a move. Then there was the whole Brett Favre thing. After a couple years of the Favre circus, he ends up playing for the very team he worked so hard to beat for years. Favre also saw an opportunity and it had to feel pretty cool to have an entire football franchise and fan base welcome him with open arms. And by the way, at 40 years old, he is having one of the best years of his career. Pretty cool. So where is this conversation going with regard to me? Well, I also see an opportunity and I’m going for it. For 2010, I will no longer be riding an Arctic Cat. Starting this year my family, crew and sponsors will be supporting me and my move over to Polaris. The times I have had with Arctic Cat have been unbelievable. The support and all the great people I have met in my 10 years with Cat truly has been a pleasure. I have one more NASCAR analogy. Sorry, I really dig that sport, something about 850 hp and going really fast is appealing. Anyway, in NASCAR you can be the best driver in the world but without the support of the team you will go nowhere. This stands true for me as well. Throughout the years I feel that I have assembled the very best team which has been instrumental in getting me to where I am at today. It was very important for me to be able to bring my team along in the switch. One very important piece of the puzzle was going to be keeping my sled builder (crew chief) Erik Woog from Vohk Performance on board. Woog has built me some of the nastiest, lightest sleds and is one of the big reasons I am able to do what I do on a snowmobile. Woog and I have always been a team and it will be no different with me on a Polaris. With the words, “Wherever you go, I’m going.” A new page has been turned and the future will forever be changed. Look out trees, there is a new color in town. Along with Vohk Performance, here is a look at the rest of the team that I have brought over with me in the new venture. By now you all know that I have become addicted to boost. So of course I will be rocking Boondocker Turbos as well as Fox Shox, Speedwerx, EZ Ryde, SLP, Timbersled, Arctic FX, Sled Solutions and Black Diamond. In addition to all of the sled product sponsors, I can’t forget about the rest of my sponsors like Monster Energy, Slednecks, Scott USA, HMK, Klim, Skull Candy, Edge Products, Kicker and ATS Performance. With snow on the ground now I can’t wait to take a rip on my Vohk-built boosted Dragon. I have never been so excited for an upcoming season as I am for this one. The new challenge, the new people, the new sleds and my new team at Polaris … what a way to start the year. Let it snow! © 2013 SnoWest® Magazine http://www.snowest.com