Inductees to The Eastern Snowmobile Racing Hall of Fame Archives

2022 Inductees to The Eastern Snowmobile Racing Hall of Fame: 

James “Jim” Sul

Jim first began racking up wins in 1967, racing Sno-Jets for a local Pennsylvania dealer, who then offered him a ride on a 650 Sno-Jet “Honker” at a race in Orchard Park, NY. He was leading the race when he fell off. Gathering himself up, Young Sul jumped back on, caught the pack and won the race!

After a few successful seasons of racing Sno-Jets, Sul was offered to race the Polaris brand. He so dominated Pennsylvania and New York snowmobile racing on his TX machines that the fans nicknamed him,”The Flying Farmer!”

During the first race of 1970/71 season, Jim Sul took first place, in Mod I, Mod II, Mod IV and took 2nd in Mod V at Monticello, NY!

At Honedale, PA, Sul won Mod II, Mod III! In the Mod V event, Jim nearly lapped the field and won going away! He won every race he entered at Corry, PA., taking firsts in Mod I, Mod II, Mod IV and Mod V!

Jim won both the Pennsylvania State Championship in Honesdale and the New York State Championship in Boonville! He amassed a point total for the season of 318, more than doubling the second place point total of 150!

Jim Sul was presented with the USSA “Driver of the Year” trophy by none other than Bob Eastman! On a side note; His racing budget for the entire 1970/71 season was $5,000.00. Today’s racers could not even build a competitive engine for that!

Sul had what can only be described as one of the most incredible seasons in USSA History, winning a total of 25 times, finishing 2nd dozens of times and 3rd only once!

In 1973, He outdistanced 170 drivers to win his second Chatauqua Cup, in Mayville, NY! Jim Sul raced until 1976. Came out of retirement in 1994 winning several more races on Sno-Jets and Arctic Cats. He retired again in 2006 at age 60, amid cheers of relief from his much younger competitors!

Anthony “Butch” Consolini

With much early success as an independent racer, Butch began racing in 1968 for the Tri-State Power Sled Team, a Ski-doo distributor from Lee, Massachusetts.

After making a name for himself in some of the smaller races around the state, Consolini’s breakout moment came at the 1970 Massachusetts’ State Championship where he took 3rd in “B” Stock, 1st in Mod I and 1st in Mod II making him the overall winner for the prestigious, “Governor’s Cup!”

Butch grabbed the 1st place win in Mod I at the 1970 “High Chaparral Races”  in East Jewett, NY, and kept up his winning ways by winning Mod I in both the Oval and the Cross Country tying him with Bob Martin for most points at Laconia International, in Loudon, NH!

For 1970 he wound up 3rd in points for the Eastern Division in USSA! 

In 1971, Butch was unbeaten in Mod I at Plainville, CT!

At West Springfield Mass. Consolini lead the way in Mod I and grabbed a 3rd in Mod II!He took 1st place in Mod I and 3rd in Mod II at Montecello,NY!

With a 2nd place finish in Mod I at Bangor, ME; Butch continues his winning ways by garnering 1st place in Thompson, CT! After a 2nd place finish in Mod I at Barre VT, Consolini tied with Timberland Machines Team Captain Bob Fortin for “Top Points” in Mod I, in the Eastern Division of USSA, with 78!

Driving the new 295 and 340 three cylinder Blizzards, Butch raced to five consecutive wins in Mod I! 1st at Canton, CT; 1st at Scarborough, ME; 1st at Bangor, ME; 1st in both Mod I & Mod II at Lancaster, grabbing a Kilkenny Cup and 1st in both Mod I & Mod II at North Hampton, MA!

Anthony Consolini was a force to be reckoned with in the Mod I & Mod II Classes. He was #1 in points for the 1972 season in the USSA Eastern Division with 1812. Due to canceled events of a warm 1973 winter, he still wound up #1 in points again in Mod I with 1315, including a Mod I win at the Penn State Championship! Butch held the “Top Points” total three years in a row in Mod I, competing in a class that totaled thousands of active drivers! He wore Gold Bibs #20, #12 & #6 during his totally dominating career!

Lawrence “Larry” Buerman

Larry was the first eastern snowmobile racer to earn USSA’s #1 Gold Bib for the 1970 season by winning more races than any other driver in 1968/69!

In 1970, Larry won both the New York State Championship and the Pennsylvania State Championship.

While racing Ski-doo in the 1972 World Series in Ironwood, MI Beurman won all heat races and semi-finals in Mod IV but he unfortunately hit the wall in the feature. In Mod V his choke stuck on one cylinder during the feature, but Larry still came in 3rd! Grabbing 5th in points for the
Eastern Division in Mod V, earned him Gold Bib #11!

Beurman was high points man for both 1972 & 1973 seasons at the Weedsport Speedway, in Weedsport, NY!

Larry cleaned house at Coudersport, PA in 1973 by winning in Mod II, Mod IV, Mod V & 340 Stock! He went home with over $4,000 and still holds the average speed record on this half mile track in Mod IV & Mod V!

For the 1972/73 season Larry Buerman made history again by becoming the very first racer to earn two #1 Gold Bibs and is only the 2nd person to do so, by taking high points in Mod II, Mod IV, and 5th in Mod V!

Larry was offered a spot as driver for the Alouette factory team by Gilles Villeneuve in 1974, but he decided instead to become a USSA race director, which he was for 1974 & 75.

Larry Buerman raced for Costich Ski-doo, Dufranes Moto-ski and Elliot & Hutchins Ski-doo, all New York Distributors.
He was regarded as, “The Man to Beat” by his many competitors during the Golden Era of Snowmobile Racing!

Ronald “Ronnie” Ouimet

Ronnie Ouimet owns one of the nation’s oldest snowmobile dealerships, established in1965 with Moto-ski and he won the very first Adirondack Cup in 1966 on this famous brand!

As a new Ski-doo dealer, while racing out west for Tri-State Distributors in 1968, it was here that Ron was introduced to a prototype of a Yamaha snowmobile! Yamaha invited him to try two of their prototypes on snow back in Massachusetts, however, after he gave them a failing grade for very poor snow flotation, Ron was then commissioned by Yamaha to use his parent company, H&R Machine to redesign the problem! His store became the first Yamaha snowmobile dealership in New England in 1969!

Ronnie grabbed 2nd in Stock “C,” 2nd in Mod II, 1st in Mod III and 2nd in Mod IV at the Bershire Hills Championship, in Pittsfield, MA. and won Stock “D” at the Massachusetts State Championship in 1969!

Now racing for the Yamaha factory team during the 1970/71 season, Ronnie took a 1st place trophy in Mod V at Scarborough ME., 2nd place finishes both in Mod III & Mod IV at the Eagle River World Championships! He also won the 440-B Main at the West Yellowstone Roundup!

During the 1971/72 season Ron won Mod I at West Yellowstone, took another 1st in Mod V at Scarborough ME! Ronnie’s racing skills and mechanical expertise provided him with many 1st & 2nd place finishes during the 1973 to 1975 seasons earning him a #6 Gold Bib in professional snowmobile racing!

He took two seasons off to work at H&R Machine, making pipes for the Brutanza snowmobile company, as well as many parts for several top racing teams!                                                                                                                                

But it was in 1978 at 42 years old, when Ronnie showed us he still had it, by winning in both Super Stock III and Mod III at Troy, NH on his beloved Yamaha!

Timothy White

17-year-old Tim White’s first win was on a 7 hp Ski-doo at the 1964 Lancaster Grand Prix! During the 1964/65 season, he began racing for the oldest snowmobile racing team in the history of the sport, “The Lancaster Snow Drifters!”.

In 1966, now racing for Roberts Motors Racing in Class “B” White raced to a close 2nd in points at the Grand Prix, took two 1st place wins in St. Johnsbury VT, and grabbed two 1st and 3rd in Plymouth, NH!

Tim took a 1st,  3rd & 4th in Class “A” to win the 1968 Vermont State Championship, in St, Johnsbury, VT!

 White was the first snowmobile racer in history to capture both the, Kawartha Cup and the Bourbon Cup in the same year, at the 1968 Laconia International, against Team Arctic’s best drivers!

He raced his Class I, 250cc Ski-doo to win two more big trophies at one race by winning both the Paul Bunyan Open and the Maine Governor’s Cup at Bangor Me. in 1969 racing a Cassady built, 1965 Rotax engine against others with much larger displacement engines, as well as the Ski-doo factory team!

Tim Began racing for Timberland Machines, “Big T” Ski-doo team in 1970, scoring 1st place wins at the Balsam’s in Dixville Notch, NH, and Berlin, NH!

Timothy Gary White left the sport he so dominated in 1971, after a horrific unavoidable accident at the Lancaster Grand Prix, when another driver fell off his sled directly in White’s path, severely injuring his fellow competitor. He continued racing for the remainder of the season, but the effects of that one trying event were just too much and he retired at season’s end, taking along with it his amazing driving skills which produced some of the finest, most memorable moments in the rich history of this great sport!

 

2021 Inductees: 

William “Bill” Abold

Engine / Chassis Builder / Team Owner
Bill began winning with Rupp snowmobiles in 1973 with driver Ron Hall.
Team Abold is the only race team in history to win three Adirondack Cups!
Ron Hall, Rupp, 1973; Ron Hall, Arctic Cat, 1975; Herb Yancey, Arctic Cat, 1978

Bill’s Engine and chassis building prowess was never more evident than when team driver Wayne “Chip” Elwood, stricken by the flu, invited independent driver

Herb Yancey to race his Mod IV sled at the 1974 Snowmobile World Series in Eagle River, WI. Elwood’s Cat, arguably the fastest 650 in the country, helped to provide him with the advantage needed, as Yancey became the first non-factory driver to win a SnoPro race!

Team Abold opened the 1975 season by sweeping all four Super Mod classes, with the newest team member Her Yancey capturing the Governor’s Cup at Canaan, NH in December of 1974! Herb Yancey also won the 440 class while racing in the PDC series, (Professional Driver’s Circuit) both days at Peterborough Ontario in 1975!

Ron Hall won his 17th consecutive race in the Super Mod class, taking home a Kilkenny Cup at the 1975 Lancaster Grand Prix and became the USSA Eastern Division, “Driver of the Year” for 1975!

For the 1976 season, Ron Hall wore Gold Bib # 1, Herb Yancey wore #2 and Chip Elwood wore #11, even after a horrific injury half way through the season in 1975!

Team Abold was one of a handful of teams chosen to race Arctic’s new IFS Z-Bar suspension system in 1978! Herb Yancey was voted, “Driver of the Series” at the 1978 Snowmobile World Series in West Yellowstone Montana driving this new sled!

Team Abold has won 8 World Series 1st place titles, plus 13 top five finishes with three different drivers in six consecutive Snowmobile World Series between 1974 and 1979!

From 1973 until 1980 Team Abold drivers Pat Abold, Chip Elwood, Ron Hall, Dave Heitzhaus, Ray Riznyk and Herb Yancey won more Eastern Titles and Championships than any other eastern snowmobile race team in the history of the sport, thanks to their superb talents and the amazing talents of the one and only, Bill Abold!

Diane Baker

Diane’s first race in 1968 ended in a crash driving her future father-in-law’s brand new Ski-doo 12.3 Olympic! But in her second race, a drag race on the same day riding on her future brother-in-law’s 640 TNT, she finished with a big win!

When her husband was deployed to Vietnam shortly after, it would be three long years before she raced again.

Diane finished 3rd in points during the ’72-’73 season in USSA, won two races and was the only woman in the east to qualify for the World Series that year, grabbing a 4th at Malone, NY!

After a series of top wins during the next three years, Diane became High Point Champion in women’s #1 for the first time in 1977!

She was voted “USSA  Eastern Woman Driver of the Year,” received a “Sportsmanship Award” at Malone and grabbed 3rd in women’s #1 and 2nd in Women’s #2 at the World Series in Fulton, NY in 1979!

From 1979 to 1981, Diane made second in points and grabbed 2nd in the ESRA Division World Series at Cobleskill, NY!

Diane made “Women’s High Point Champion” in Mod #1, ESRA Division from 1981 to 1986!

She took second in points for the 1986/87 season and grabbed 2nd in the World Series at Skowhegan, Maine!

In the 1987/88 season Diane was High Point Champion in women’s #1 and #2 and made “ESRA Woman Driver of the Year!”  

She was High Point Champion 1988 to 1991 in women’s #1 and #2! She won 1st place in the World Series at Schroon Lake, NY!

Became Overall Champion in the Men’s Division in Mod #1 and Mod #2 in 1991!

In the 1992/93 season she took a year off from racing and worked as a Race Official in the paddock.

From 1994 to 1997 Diane was again, High Point Women’s Champion” in Mod #1 and Mod #2!

She began SnowCross Racing from 1998 to 2000 picking up wins at Tupper Lake, NY; Vernon Downs, NY; Stephentown, NY and Pulaski, NY!

Diane was on the USSA Driver’s Committee, on the Eastern Board of Directors in WSRF, ESRA and PRO! She was the secretary for the board and was a NYS Snowmobile Safety Instructor for 14 years!

Robert J. Bottoms

Promoter

Bob was employed by Timberland Machines, Ltd. of Woodstock, Ontario. In 1956 after thoroughly searching Northern Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine for a second facility, Bottoms chose Lancaster, NH as Timberland’s newest branch due to its location and the fact that it was the County Seat.

Bob was a natural salesman and many have described him as being a marketing genius! He was responsible for the success of the Bombardier line of logging equipment as well as the Timberjack Log Skidder!

But a phone call in 1958 from another Canadian genius by the name of J. Armand Bombardier would forever change our New England winters as we knew it, when he was invited to Valcourt, Quebec to check out a small over the snow vehicle he was working on called the “Ski-dog.” As Bottoms and and Bombardier looked on. he gave the go-ahead for his young salesman Paul T. Crane to drive this new machine. It was a ride for the ages.

Bob agreed to take just one to see if it would sell. Bombardier saw it as a vehicle to replace the snowshoe for trappers and loggers, but far thinking Bottoms saw it as a potential recreational wintertime bonanza!

Bob was the motivating force behind Ski-doo’s early sales success and as Timberland Machines Inc. quickly outgrew their old facility, they built a huge new complex on North Main Street to house a sales inventory of over 10,000 snowmobiles a year at their peak!

Bob was a charter member of the oldest snowmobile club in the United States, The Lancaster SnowDrifters. He was instrumental in helping to develop the Lancaster Grand Prix, (A name that he came up with) into one of the most prestigious racing events in North America as well as developing a world class Ski-doo distributor race team known as the, Big T!”

Wayne “Chip” Elwood

Chip’s first race was in 1969 at a local event near his home, on a borrowed 399 Ski-doo. He won first place against more seasoned riders!

This caught the attention of a local Polaris dealer who asked him to race a TX during the 1969/70 season!

At Malone, NY Chip won 7 out of the 8 races he entered and took first places in Liberty, Redfield and Forestport, NY!

Late in 1970 Elwood changed to Arctic Cat and was the only Arctic Cat driver in the 440 finals in two Snowmobile World Series, taking 5th place at Rhinelander in 1970 and 5th place at Ironwood in 1972!

Now racing for the famous Team Abold, Chip won two 50 lap Norwich Opens on his Mod III Arctic Cat in a field Mod IV sleds in 1973 and 1974!

He set a track speed record at the Weedsport Raceway that was held until it was broken by a stock car in the mid-1990’s! Elwood’s Mod IV Arctic Cat was widely regarded as one of the fastest, if not “The” fastest in the country!

Chip won Super Mod IV at the 1974 Northeastern Championship in Malone, NY on Saturday, but half way through a heat race on Sunday he stopped to help an injured driver, losing his chance to win the race, but instead he won the, “Sportsmanship Award!”

After getting severely injured at Bangor, ME half way through the winter of 1975, Chip was so far ahead in points in Mod III and Mod IV classes, he still wound up with the #11 Gold Bib at the end of the season!

An estimate of well over 300 first, second and third place wins can be tallied in the always flamboyant Wayne “Chip” Elwood’s snowmobile racing career!

Steven Fenoff

Steve began his racing career in 1969 on a Moto-ski for Benoit’s of St. Johnsbury. After watching him at a race, Paul Calkins of Calkins’ Cat offered Steve a sponsorship racing for his company.

At the 1970 Lake’s Region Open in New Hampshire, Fenoff in only his second race on an Arctic Cat, took 2nd in a four hour endurance race and the following day, took first in the 57 mile cross-country, winning first overall!

When Steve finished 5th in Class II at the Balsams against larger dealers and distributors on a non-competitive machine, Arctic Cat distributor owner Rod Hughes stated, “This boy has got to have some engine!”

Putting Fenoff on a competitive sled, was the best thing that ever happened to Calkins Cat! In 1970, Steve won the Devil’s Bowl in Fair Haven VT., winning in both Class I and Class II!

He raced to a first place win with his Mod II Cat at the prestigious Schaffer Open Modified race in 1970, winning the Schaffer’s Cup!

Steve qualified for the first USSA Snowmobile World Series in Rhinelander, WI!

Driving the race of his life at the 1971 Lancaster Grand Prix, Steve won overall in Mod II, having his name engraved on the famous Kilkenny Cup!

Steve finished first in Mod I and Mod II, winning overall points to take home the Governor’s Cup at the Massachusetts State Championship! Steve also grabbed a first and second at the Paul Bunyan Open in Bangor, ME. two years running!

Steve Fenoff had won a countless number of other races, both sanctioned and non-sanctioned events during his career, making him one of the State of Vermont’s all time top snowmobile racers of the Golden Era!

2020 Inductees: 

Joe Wilkinson
Joe Wilkinson began racing Ski-doo for the Tri-State Power Sled Team from Lee MA, from 1966 to 1973. Joe cleaned up at the 1969 Berkshire Hills Championship by taking first place in Stock “B” Stock “C” and Mod I!

He grabbed first place wins in Stock “B” Stock “C” ModI and Mod II at the 1969 Massachusetts State Championship! Joe was the overall Stock winner at the 1970 Massachusetts State Championship Wilkinson went on a tear in New York State in 1970, by taking three firsts and one second at four different events!

1971 was no different as he took several first places in New York and Connecticut! In 1972, Joe’s Blizzards were hard to beat! He took two first places at the Lancaster Grand Prix, winning the coveted Kilkenny Cup!

Joe took second place in Mod II at the World Series at Ironwood, MI and was second in USSA points in Mod II for the season! Joe’s Mod II sled for 1973 took first at Bangor ME, at Northampton MA and he won the Pennsylvania State Championship! Joe Wilkinson always wore a gold bib with the #5 gold bib being his highest!

Roger Poulin
Roger Poulin began racing in 1967 on a 340 ss Ski-doo displaying an early talent for going fast! He jumped to a big 669 Ski-doo for 1969 always placing in the top five at every event he entered! Roger swept all four events at Bethel Vermont in 1970 taking first places in the oval, drags, cross country and slalom! In 1971, Team Rodco made a good choice when offering Roger a chance to race Arctic Cats. Besides winning many smaller races He grabbed two first place wins in Mod II and Mod III at one of the premier NH events, the Bourbon Cup at Laconia! Changing to Polaris in 1972, Roger was unbeatable in “C” Stock and Mod IV at every race he entered plus grabbing many 1st and 2nd place finishes in Mod I and Mod V! Roger sometimes raced four different classes in one day! He returned to Rodco Cats for 1973 and continued his winning ways by taking two firsts at Ludlow,VT in Mod III and the open class, but it was at the New Hampshire State Championship in Wolfboro where he got his name on the Big Cup, becoming top point Champion! In 1974 and ’75 Poulin won back to back Mass State Championship titles and came away with the #7 Bib in USSA racing! He was invited to the Snowmobile World Series at Eagle River WI, in 1974 where after holding the lead in the early going he blew a clutch!. Roger worked as tech adviser for Rodco and sponsored many local races near his home town of Randolph, VT. in April of 1976, at 25 years old, Roger Poulin was diagnosed with cancer, cutting short his incredible racing career of 60 top wins in only eight years of racing! it was however for Mr. Poulin just another win!

George Gordon
George, during his first year in competition, earned the fourth lowest bib number for stock classes, was the season’s high point winner in “B” Stock and second high point winner in “A” Stock!

He dominated every class he entered at the 1974 New England Snowmobile Open in Greenville Maine, winning all first place finishes in “A”, “B” and “C” Stock!  George won first place in “B” Stock at the 1974 World Series in Eagle River WI. During his second race in the 1974/75 season George was injured in a crash, ending his season.
In his first race back in 1975, he won three firsts and a second at Jackman Maine! For the next three years straight, George enjoyed a perfect attendance record by never missing one single race! George had garnered over 75 trophies in just the first three years of racing, attaining the #2 Gold bib!
His impeccable gentleman like conduct both on and off the track earned him the, “New England’s Sportsman of the Year” award for 1978!  George grabbed three firsts, three seconds and a third at the inaugural Granite State Open Championships in Berlin, New Hampshire in 1979!  George worked tirelessly to improve racing, both as a member of the USSA New England Board of Directors and as chairman of the safety committee.

Ted Winot
The late Ted Winot was a long time USSA Official, he was our Flagman for all Major New England Snowmobile Championship events and a tireless promoter of the sport of snowmobiling and snowmobile racing.  Ted began his flagging career in stock car racing, during the early 1960’s. In 1966 he was invited to flag at the Lancaster Grand Prix and never looked back, until he flagged his last snowmobile race at Whitefield, NH, in 1984! 
His flags, made for him by his wife Doris were treated like gold. Each one displayed in a certain order and when the event ended, were folded carefully and particularly.
Ted’s career as a USSA official and chief starter took him to the most prestigious racing events in the eastern division of the United States Snowmobile Association, including several Maine SnoPro events!
Ted’s fairness as a flagman earned him the utmost respect from both the competitors and spectators alike! Whenever anyone who has ever passed under one of his checkered flags gathers in conversation and Ted Winot’s name comes up, along each story told, there are many accompanied smiles! 
He was a Yamaha representative, from 1969 to his retirement. A job he took very seriously, treating his many dealers more like family than business associates, often going above and beyond for them!

Paul Lamontagne
Paul began racing snowmobiles in 1969 for Rupp Distributor, “The Harris Company,” from Portland Maine. He won in both the cross country and Mod I at the “Lake’s Region Open” in Wolfboro, New Hampshire and won first place in Mod III at Berlin, New Hampshire in 1969!  He received full sponsorship from “Bardahl Oil Company” for the 1970 season racing Rupp snowmobiles! At the 1970 “Maine State Championship,” he won first place in both the cross country and in Mod IV oval competition!

Paul broke through the “Timberland Machines Inc.,” sea of yellow by winning in Mod III with his Rupp at the 1970 “Paul Bunyan Open” in Bangor, Maine!  At the 1970 “Lancaster Grand Prix” he took first place in the cross country and first place in Mod II !

He grabbed first place wins in the 400 Stock Class and in Mod II at the 1970 “Pennsylvania State Championship!” Paul not only began racing Chaparrals for “Nelson and Small Company” from Portland Maine in 1971, but helped to set up over 30 new dealers throughout New England!  In 1974 Mercury shipped him two brand new Sno-Twisters. He went undefeated in both classes and was a shoe-in for the World Series, but was involved in a horrific crash at Boonville, New York, breaking both legs, an arm and needing multiple skin graphs!

Paul came roaring back in 1975 winning five out of six races at the season’s first event in Jackman Maine against hundreds of top New England drivers! He won most points and the Championship! With nothing more to prove, Paul Lamontagne retired at years end.

Tom Peters
Tom was a small town independent driver who raced entirely within the borders of the State of Maine during his five plus years of professional snowmobile racing!  He rode to a third place finish in cross country at Mapleton aboard a 1966 370 twin cylinder Ski-doo and to a first place finish in cross country in the Class “C” division at Island Falls in 1968!
Tom competed with the best eastern drivers at the 1970 “Paul Bunyan Open” taking second in the 650 Class and as eventual winner Cal Reynolds told later, “Tom Peters gave me the race of my life!” 
Tom raced to a first in Class “A,” a first in Class “D” and a second in the Open Class, at Ellsworth in 1970!  He won both Mod III and Mod IV in the speed ovals, plus first place in the Mod IV Drag Race at Limestone, in 1971!

Tom won first place in both Mod I and Mod II at Houlton and captured the prestigious, “Buckingham Trophy” at the “Maine Maritime Snowmobile Championships,” in 1972!

Coming out of retirement in 1976, he won another cross country race in Presque Isle against much younger riders!  Tom Peters was recognized for his achievements and is the only snowmobile racer in the State of Maine’s history to be inducted in 2018, into the “Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame!”

Judy Rinaldi
Judy began her racing career in 1973 and by 1980, she was considered by most, to be the best woman racer in North America!  When she was only 17, she set the Women’s Land Speed Record for snowmobiles at 72.4 mph and nearly set the men’s record of 94 mph but blew a piston 20 feet from the finish line!

Racing Rupp sleds from her father’s dealership, Judy won 10 Snowmobile World Series Championships!  She was the youngest woman to win the title and after her ninth Championship, became the first person,  man or woman to win nine titles!

From Warners New York she also drove Mercury, Sno-jet, Arctic Cat and Ski-doo sleds.On the very same day in 1980 that our USA Olympic Hockey Team beat the Soviet Union to advance to the Gold Medal round, Judy Rinaldi won the World Series of Snowmobiling in Waldheim, Saskatchewan, Canada!

2019 Inductees: 

Claude Hebert (Racer/Promoter) showed exceptional racing talent in the early 1960’s which was noticed by the local Colebrook NH Moto-ski dealer and was hired as their driver. He soon caught the eye of Moto-ski distributor Rockwell Inc., for whom he not only raced, but soon becoming their New England sales manager. Claude also worked closely with the Moto-ski factory on engine development and rule requirements for racing. He played a key role in product testing and development along with committing to full racing schedules each season that contributed greatly to Moto-ski’s success. When Rockwell ceased as a snowmobile distributor, Claude accepted the job as New England regional manager for Snow-jet. now owned by Kawasaki Motors. He was soon promoted as National/International sales manager and moved to Grand Rapids Mi., where he was involved in product testing and product development and was involved in the development and promotion of the T. O. C. Tournament of Champions!
But it was on an icy Sunday morning at the 1969 Lancaster Grand Prix that made Claude Hebert a household name in northern New Hampshire and helped to sell more tickets the following year than any major add campaign. Driving a 634 Moto-ski,Claude tangled with an Arctic Cat racer high in turn one and delivered to the snowmobile racing world the first real glimpse of the element of danger to this new sport and will always be remembered as, “The guy who cut of a telephone pole!” The pole came smashing down across the track, wires and all! Hebert was rushed to the hospital, found to be okay and he returned to finish racing that afternoon!
He didn’t know it then, but this was his first gig at promoting. The following year at Lancaster, Team Arctic’s big race trailer had to be escorted by a State Police cruiser from town to the fair grounds on the left hand side of the road because the traffic was backed up for a mile and a half!

Ralph “JR” Tozier (Racer) began racing in 1967, retiring 13 years later in 1980. After soundly beating Ski-doo distributor, racing juggernaut Timberland Machines, JR was approached by team Captain Bob Fortin, who demanded that he begin racing for them! Wearing Gold bibs number #2, #7, #10, and #15 during his career JR had won a conservative estimate of 200 first, second and third place trophies. He set track speed records both at Jackman and Scarborough Maine, which held for 10 years and 8 years respectively! He was a member of both the USSA drivers committee and the USSA board of directors for a number of years.
Tozier was well known as a very tough competitor, competing at six World Series, but bad luck each time kept him out of the winner’s circle, taking a couple of thirds and a couple of fifth place finishes.
During the 1976 Lancaster Grand Prix, JR not only won the Kilkenny Cup in Mod Stock II against a huge field of hot Mercury and Yamaha racers, but grabbed second place with his Mercury SnoTwister in Mod II behind none other than Gilles Villeneuve, on his built from scratch, revolutionary IFS Ski-roule!

The late Great Bob Fortin, Captain of the famed New England racing juggernaut, Ski-doo distributor Timberland Machines, Inc., began racing in 1964. His first race, the Lancaster Grand Prix and in 1966, became the second person to have his name engraved on the now famous Kilkenny Cup. He also won the Maine State Championship in 1966 taking three firsts and two seconds. In front of a standing room only home town crowd, Fortin set a world jump record of 67 feet 6 inches at the 1967 Grand Prix! He won the 1969 New Hampshire State Championship in Wolfboro. In 1970, Bob won the Balsam’s Cup, a Kilkenny Cup, Vermont’s Essex Grand Prix, both Mod I and Mod II at Bangor and was nearly unbeatable in these classes during both 1970 and 1971 seasons. Wearing Gold bibs #2 and #3 Bob Fortin was a stickler for perfection and is widely regarded as the best New England Ski-doo racer of his generation!

Ron Hall began racing in 1970 at local upstate New York tracks. In 1973, Ron started racing Rupps for the legendary “Team Abold” and later switching to Arctic Cats. He is still the only driver to win the coveted Adirondack Cup twice! Ron took first place in Mod III at the 1975 World Series and was voted 1975 Driver of the Year! Wearing Gold bibs #1, #3, #4, #8, and #22, he still holds the record for most USSA points in one season and still holds the record for 15 straight feature wins in Mod I !
In 1977, while racing in five different classes, Ron took 22 first place, 12 second place 7 third place and 7 fourth place finishes! Ironically, in his first year of racing stock, he broke a spindle, crashing into the wall at Eganville Ontario Canada on February 5th 1977 ending his amazing career and left the sport with over 150 first second and third place trophies in just seven years of racing!

Herb Yancey (Racer) raced an astonishing 30 years, from 1964 until 1994! He wore Gold bibs #2, #3, #7 and #20 during his career! Herb began racing in 1975 for “Team Abold” which became the most successful team in the history of eastern racing! In 1974, Herb became the first independent driver to win in SnoPro when he took first place in the 650 class at the World Series in Eagle River WI! In 1975 he won a Kilkenny Cup at Lancaster in Mod II and also won the 440 class in the 1975 PDC “Professional Driver’s Circuit” at Peterborough, Ontario both days! Counting the ’74 win, Herb has won six World Series events: Three first places in 1977 at Weedsport, NY; Won two in 1978 at West Yellowstone MT; and was voted “Star of the Series!” Out of 99 races he entered in 1977, Herb won 77 of them! Herb won the coveted Adirondack Cup in 1978 and became “Driver of the Year” in 1978! In all, Herb Yancey garnered an amazing number of trophies, estimated to be between 1200 and 1500 during his racing career! His record as an independent non-factory snowmobile racer is unmatched by anyone’s standard and may never be surpassed.

The 2018 Inductees: Bruce Beaurivage; Lewis Lunn; Calvin Reynolds; Edward Stabb; Kenneth Young.

2017 Inductees to The Eastern Snowmobile Racing Hall of Fame

The 2017 inductees: Bob Clark, (Promoter) from Barre, VT. – Bruce Dunham, (Racer) from Avon, ME., – Bob Martin, (Racer) from Lancaster, NH., – Conrad Rollins (Racer) from Abbot, ME.

SAVE THE DATE:
2020 Induction Ceremony – May 16, 2020 at 1:30 pm