Meet The 2023 Inductees:
Richard DeSantis
14-year-old Richard began racing in 1974 racing a 340 Rupp on Friday nights at Owls Speedway, Bedford New Hampshire. In 1975 he began racing in USSA sanctioned events in Junior #2, on Rupp & Mercury 250’s taking six 1st place wins & two 2nds plus grabbing a World Series title for J2 Masters class at St. Paul MN!
Richard entered the men’s classes at 16 in Stock B and Super Stock#1 taking five 1st place wins in B Stock, with three 1st place wins & five seconds in Super Stock#1! He was the seasons High Point Champion in B Stock, earning #12 gold bib for the 1977-78 season!
For the 77-78 season racing 250 & 340 IFS Ski-doo Blizzard’s in Super Stock & Super Mod, DeSantis grabbed six 1st place wins in SS#1, three 1sts in SM#1, five 1sts in SS#2, & a 1st in SM#2! He was the New England High Point Champion in both the Super Stock 250 & 340 classes for the season, was 4th in points nationwide in SS 250! He was voted, “Driver of the Year” for 1977-78 earning gold bib #8! The highlight of the season was qualifying for SnoPro in Portland taking two 6th place finishes against factory teams!
Richard continued his winning ways for 1979 racing Ski-doo Blizzards in the 250, 340 & 440 Super Stock, Super Mod & 440X classes, taking many 1st & 2nds in all classes! DeSantis tied the track record at Jackman, Maine held by Bobby Donahue & J.R. Tozier! Richard led most of the 440X race in the Paul Bunyan Open but came in 2nd to Gilles Villeneuve!
Richard DeSantis won two more titles at the 1979 Snowmobile World Series in the Super Stock 340 & 440 classes at Fulton, NY & was voted, “Driver of the Year” in the New England Division for the 2nd year in a row, was the High Point Champion in the Super Stock 340 & 440 classes, earning SnoPro bib #31 & gold bib #1 in the New England Division for 1979-80!
Frank Dodge
Frank purchased his first snowmobile in 1965, an 8 hp Ski-doo.
It didn’t take him long before desiring more speed, so he bought a faster sled and soon went racing and winning at small events around the north country.
Flagman Ted Winot noticing Frank’s talent, told him he should join USSA. He did and New England snowmobile racing had a brand new star!
In his first USSA event, Frank took 1st place in both the Mod I oval race and speed obstacle! He was hurt in a crash in 1969, but finished in the top three positions for most of the events he entered in 1968, ’69 and 1970 seasons!
Timberland Machines Inc., came knocking on Frank’s door in the fall of 1970 looking to add another top eastern driver to the team. Dodge again was constantly finishing in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions all thru the ’71 season earning
Bib #132 out of 5,000 active drivers in USSA East!
But it was when they sat Frank on the 1972 Blizzards, that he would make New England racing history. After team captain Bob Fortin was involved in a season ending accident while testing a new race sled behind their shop, he asked Dodge if he’d like to race his 295 & 340 triples, besides the 440 & 800 classes? He said yes!
Frank either won every class he entered or took second, ending the 1972 season with 3422 points, qualifying him in all four classes for the World Series in Ironwood, MI! He decided to take only two, his Mod III & Mod V sleds.
As luck would have it, the 440 wouldn’t start for the Class III feature and although he drew for 1st position in the Class V final, that big 800 triple had so much power and traction off the line, it snapped the triple roller chain off as if it was a bicycle chain! Frank Dodge did something no other New England driver ever did and that was to win the coveted #1 Gold Bib for 1973! He raced four times in 1973 taking three 2nds and a win, but a new contracting business was calling so he retired. Littleton, NH presented Frank with “Businessman of the Year” in 2012!
Jacalyn Dewitt Roland
16 year old Jackie Dewitt began her racing career in January of 1971 and tallied enough wins and top finishes to place 3rd in points for the USSA Eastern division in the women’s 400cc class!
For the 1971/72 season, she won her class at the New York State Championship, in Boonville and garnered enough points to qualify for the World Series in Ironwood, MI., where she was pitted against the best woman racer in the country at that time, Dorothy Mercer, beating her in the final and winning her first World Series title!
Jackie continued her winning ways for the 1972/73 season, by posting wins at Weedsport, Brewerton, Malone, Waterloo and in Greenville, where a man jumped into the ladies class after winning his event, just to show the girls how it’s done. But he was the one who was shown the door by Ms. Dewitt! She was leading in the World Series final that year on her Mod I Rupp Machine when it overheated and she finished 3rd!
Jackie took 1973 and 1974 off for College, but returned to the track in the winter of 1975 with a vengeance, winning her class at the New York State Championships, the Pennsylvania State Championships and Syracuse, NY! With Jackie’s Dad as the mechanic, she raced her Snow-Twister hard to win another World Series title at Weedsport, NY in Women’s Mod III class!
Her final season of racing in the 1975/76 season found her again in the winner’s circle with 7 first place finishes including another World Series win in Women’s Mod I! Jackie also grabbed 2nd place in Mod II and her combined point total for the year gave her the Eastern Division points title in both Women’s Mod I and Women’s Mod II! She also got married during this time, known now as Jackie Dewitt Roland.
She credits her win laden racing career to her family’s support, especially to her hard working parents, or none of it would have been possible.
Richard Dean De Witt
Dick won his first Snowmobile World Series title at 14 years old in Boonville, NY easily winning in Junior III. He also grabbed 2nd place in Junior II and finished third in USSA points for the 1971 season!
De Witt swapped wins at the 1972 Snowmobile World Series in Ironwood MI. by winning in Junior II and taking 2nd in Junior III!
The 1972/73 season for Dick De Witt was one for the record books! He won eight 1st place titles in Junior II, six 1st place titles in Junior III, with only three 2nd place and one 3rd place finish for the year! His 802 point lead was 350 points over the second place finisher! Richard topped the season off with an unprecedented 3rd Snowmobile World Series win in a row, winning in Junior II, taking 3rd in Junior III and was the
first person to win back to back
World Series titles in the same class!
Dick entered the men’s classes for the 1973/74 season and grabbed top points in Men’s Stock D, second in points for Stock B and Second in points for Men’s Mod I! This earned him the #51 Gold Bib for the 1975 season!
Due to the gas shortage, the De Witt family didn’t make the trip to Eagle River, WI for the 1974 Snowmobile World Series.
Richard Dean De Witt never got the chance to wear the top bib in stock racing #51, nor to ever race snowmobiles again. He was killed in a tragic car accident in 1974. He was only 17 years old. But in his short time here, Dick left us with the kind of win record that is nothing short of legendary. Although he never had the chance to race again, this record of his, has provided us with enough substance of proof which we needed and the board believes in our hearts, that Mr. De Witt deserves to be inducted into the Eastern Snowmobile Racing Hall of Fame.
Everet Regal
Engine/Chassis Bulder/Team Owner
Known as “Super Wrench” by his peers, Everet was a self taught machinist, design engineer and inventor. He ran a world class race team with as many as 12 sleds from his small one car garage, in Phoenix, NY.
Regal was building Rotax racing engines in 1967, winning dozens of events, including the New York State Championship in Boonville, NY! He wrenched for the Polaris factory in 1968, but was approached by Fay Parmley and Ken Young in the summer of 1969 about starting a race team with Arctic Cats. With Richie Sharp joining soon after, they met with Bob Schwartz of Nero Equipment, the Arctic Cat Distributor and a deal was struck. The new team was dubbed, “The Widow Makers.”
In the first USSA Snowmobile World Series against major factory and distributor teams, Ken Young won Mod IV with a “Regalized” Hirth 634cc twin cylinder engine! By the end of their first year, the Widow Maker team had earned the #1 and #2 Gold Bibs in the Eastern Division!
Arctic Enterprises soon after, offered Everet the position as head of their factory race team. After much deliberation, he declined this great offer because of family reasons.
With Wayne “Chip” Elwood now joining the team, the Widow Makers won Mod I, Mod II, Mod III and Mod IV at the Oswego Speedway in 1971, winning a combined $4,000!
In 1972, Everet’s genius was no more evident than when he combined two twin cylinder engines, a 250cc and a 340cc making it into a 295cc hybrid engine and in their first race at Marion Lake, PA, Ken Young won Mod I, Mod II and Mod III with that sled! After Kenny won Mod I with this engine at the World Series in Ironwood, it was impounded and the officials spent hours deliberating before calling it legal for the class!
Young went on to win the Pennsylvania State Championship, and the #2 Gold Bib!
Ken Young II won the 1974 JI World Series title in Eagle River, WI! Richie Sharp was named the 1974, “Driver of the Year!” After he retired the “Widow Makers” in 1974 Everet helped his son garner Gold Bibs #60, #70 and was track champion at Weedsport in 1975! Never having the luxury of dynos, of high tech equipment, or a highly financed team, Everet “Super Wrench” Regal’s engines and sleds, could beat those who did!