August 28, 2004 - Princeton, MN - Scorpion Trails unveiled their new trailer as a record number of snowmobile enthusiasts dropped-by to swap stores and admire the large number of antique and vintage machines on display, including an extremely rare circa 1960 Trail-A-Sled air-sled. An excellent event, through Outlaw Grass Drags the Rum River Trail Association and the Open Trails ATV Club continue to build a highly organized weekend for both snowmobile and ATV enthusiasts alike.
ROC Grass Drags - 2004
August 21, 2004 - Brainerd, MN - Scorpion Trails collaborated with the ASCOA for an excellent display of antique and vintage snowmobiles at this year's ROC Grass Drags. This exciting event's second year saw a significant increase in attendance. See you next year!
July 4th Parade - 2004
July 4, 2004 - Crosby, MN - For the first time in many years Scorpion snowmobiles once again graced Crosby-Ironton's July 4th parade as a large contingent of enthusiasts from the Moose Lake and Willow River areas of Minnesota collaborated with Trail-A-Sled, Inc. co-founder and president Glen Gutzman along with his wife Judy. Together they presented a wonderful display of these fine machines. Set upon three floats, seventeen beautiful original and restored Scorpions were shown, some as old as 1968.
Milbank 2004
June 5, 2004 - Milbank, SD - Scorpion Trails traveled west to enjoy a glorious weekend of South Dakota sunshine at the Whetstone Valley Antique and Vintage Show in beautiful Milbank. The largest such event yet, the casual atmosphere and hospitality assured a good time was had by all (not to mention the wide range of award-winning Scorpions in attendance). Plan on attending next year's event - already scheduled for the first weekend in June, 2005.
Jason Davis Rendezvous
March 7, 2004 - Pequot Lakes, MN - KSTP TV posts the transcript of Jason Davis' Rendezvous visit this past January. Titled "That thing got a Hemi?" the post also included a fascinating video link.
ISHOF Induction
February 28, 2004 - Grand Rapids, MN - A busy ten days of antique and vintage activities concluded with the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame's annual induction ceremony. Scorpion Trails and Dick Harrison were on hand to join in congratulating 2004 inductees Don Lumley of Ontario and Bob Persson of Sweden. Long-time Minnesota legislator Bob Lassard was also honored with the Allen Hetten Award of Merit. Organized in conjunction with the Antique Snowmobile Club of America, the event culminated a week which saw a large number of quality machines prominently displayed within the Central Square Mall. Area residents and co-founders of Grand Rapids' own ASV Inc, Gary Lemke and Edgar Hetteen were on hand for the evening with Edgar (past inductee) lightening the mood and congratulating the new inductees. As always, the event was well covered in the ASCOA's Iron Dog Tracks (Vol. 19, No. 5) member newsletter.
Bonanza Valley Trailblazers Snowmobile Club
February 7-8, 2004 - Glenwood, MN - Presented by the Bonanza Valley Trailblazers Snowmobile Club, the 4th Annual Vintage Snowmobile Rally-Show & Swap Meet was held on the shores of beautiful Lake Minnewaska (sans the Glenwood Ballroom) amid a strong showing from feature sleds John Deere and Massey Ferguson. The Saturday evening banquet included a fascinating review of John Deere's cross-country success in the mid-1970's and a few words of Scorpion history from Randy Harrison. Next year's featured snowmobile? Arctic Cat
The Stinger
February, 2004 - Forest Lake, MN - Richard & Barb Lund release the first of what we hope will be many issues of The Stinger, a fledgling publication devoted exclusively to Scorpion snowmobiling!
14th annual Waconia
January 31 - February 1, 2004 - Waconia, MN - Hosted by Midwest Vintage Snowmobile Shows, the 14th annual Waconia 2004, VSCA Midwest Ride-In brought thousands of vintage enthusiasts to the south shores of beautiful Lake Waconia. This year's rally featured cross-country racers and Yamaha. The fine folks from the Snowmobile Hall of Fame were on hand and Dick Harrison displayed a number of items from his personal collection. Highlighting the Internet's positive impact upon the hobby, Saturday's evening banquet featured a few words from Larry Preston of VintageSleds.com, Loren Anderson of the Snowmobile Hall of Fame and Randy Harrison of Scorpion Trails. As always, the VSCA provided excellent coverage of the event (Vol. 17, No. 1). Next year's event will feature mini-snowmobiles and is scheduled for late January 2005.
Star Tribune Article - Back on Track
January 28, 2004 - Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN - The Minneapolis - St. Paul Star Tribune published a Home & Garden feature highlighting the collectibility of Scorpion snowmobiles. Titled Back on Track - Vintage Snowmobile Collection Restores a Legacy, Reunites a Family, the article featured the Dick Harrison family (Dick was one of three Trail-A-Sled, Inc. founders) along with quotes from Dave Guenther, President of the Antique Snowmobile Club of America and long-time Minneapolis-based Scorpion collector Mike Linnenkamp. The story also included, a brief history of Scorpion. Upcoming events, resources and an on-line slide show were also featured. With a weekday circulation of nearly 400,000 papers and daily Internet page views of 2,000,000, the Star Tribune story provided an pleasant boost to the antique and vintage hobby. Numerous additional media outlets also picked-up the syndicated story.
The Star Tribune article was well received and became the topic of considerable discussion on Joe Soucheray's AM 1500 KSTP Garage Logic radio show this afternoon. Randy Harrison (a contributor to the Scorpion article) called-in for an impromptu interview on the popular Twin Cities program with Joe and the rest of the Garage Logic team. The two spoke for many minutes, outlining the background of the story while discussing the vintage hobby and Scorpion snowmobiles in particular. The upcoming rally in Waconia was also mentioned several times. Somewhat uncharacteristically (Joe writes for the competing St. Paul Pioneer Press), Joe was thoroughly complementary of the topic and the Tribune's coverage.
