31st Annual Antique Snowmobile Rendezvous - 2025

January 18, 2025 6:00 PM - Pequot Lakes, Minn.

Transcript of Randy Harrison's thoughts delivered to attendees at the 6:00 PM program, Pequot Lakes American Legion.

A Debt of Gratitude

Good evening!

My name is Randy Harrison and I am the youngest of Dick Harrison’s three children. As many of you know, my father was co-founder of Trail-A-Sled, Inc. A firm that also included my grandfather Stub Harrison and Crosby-area businessman, Glen Gutzman.

I want to thank the Pequot Brush Pilots and others for another successful Antique Snowmobile Rendezvous and for featuring Scorpion snowmobiles, this year. It has been a wonderful January day, and to see so many Scorpions and to finally have a bit of snow and cold weather is well, it’s a beautiful thing.

As many of you know, we lost my father just over a year ago, and with his passing a foundational chapter of snowmobile history, came to a close. While he lived a long and large life, his absence is bittersweet and looms large for myself and my family. We are grateful that so many of you in attendance here tonight, were able to meet him, swap stories and take measure of the man I was fortunate enough to call, father.

I will never forget our family’s introduction to antique and vintage snowmobiling. It was late 2001 and my mother was concerned about a gentleman calling from Glenwood, Minnesota. She said he wanted dad to make a visit and attend something called an “antique and vintage snowmobile show”, scheduled for a few months out. Mom wanted me to look into it and try to determine if it was legitimate or not. After all, the family knew nothing of the burgeoning hobby. I did some digging and spoke with Jim Anderson (coordinator of the event) on numerous occasions and ultimately decided this must be the real deal. The family booked our hotel rooms and traveled to the old Glenwood Ballroom on the appointed day. To our collective amazement, the ballroom stage sported several gorgeously restored and original Scorpions. These were machines my father and the family, hadn’t seen in decades. As we approached the stage, it was like walking into a time portal. As I sat on a 1969 Scorpion, I was suddenly a kid again. Carburetor in my gut, smelling the two-stroke haze, leaning hard to keep the top-heavy machine upright. My father nearby was on his knees, inspecting a 1965 model. I could see his brain rewind and the memories began to flow. As people asked him questions, and he sensed their genuineness of spirit, he began to open up. There was a clear, and visible change in him.

There was a gentlemen at the Glenwood show by the name of Les Pinz, former Scorpion dealer and racer, and as he spoke to the crowd about Scorpion history, innovations and contributions to the sport, I felt a renewed sense of pride and gratitude for all that dad and others had contributed. The blood, sweat and financial risk weren’t forgotten but rather were cherished.

Not long after Glenwood, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in the Deerwood Auditorium. Many friends came and spoke on their behalf, but a highlight for me was when unannounced, Dave Guenther and Les Pinz from the Antique Snowmobile Club of America stopped by to present dad with a lifetime membership. I’ll never forget what a special moment that was for him and from then on, he was a full-on, unabashed fan of vintage and antique snowmobiling! Soon, dad began collecting (or should I say recollecting) a few Scorpions.

I recall a particularly insightful trip he and I took to Forsyth, Montana to buy a 1969 Scorpion from Jerry Eve. During that trip, I had him drive and I brought my laptop and asked him every possible question I could think of, as it pertained to Trail-A-Sled, Inc., Scorpion snowmobiles, and the like. From that, a website was born (trailasled.com). As a family, we began attending antique and vintage events, including this very-same event, Pequot’s Antique Rendezvous. Along the way, we were encouraged to facilitate a collector’s event in the brand’s hometown of Crosby-Ironton, Minnesota and from this, the Scorpion Homecoming was born. Together with the Cuyuna Lakes Chamber of Commerce, we saw hundreds of Scorpion fans unite with the same sturdy individuals that designed, built and raced these very same machines. I know it brought my parents great joy to see this unity of common cause and interest. It was truly a win-win for everyone. As the years progressed our Scorpion collection grew and my siblings, particularly my sister, were lynchpins in making this a success. Now, fully 23 years since that Glenwood show, the website continues to tell an accurate story of the firm’s history while Facebook and other social media outlets sport many followers. A on-point example of how technology can benefit our collective hobby.

When I first spoke here at the Rendezvous in 2003, I gave a rather thorough review of the company’s history and accomplishments. I don’t want to repeat much of what was said, but I felt it pertinent to highlight a few of the firm’s watershed moments and chronology, for the record.

In 1959, Trail-A-Sled, Inc. was formed in Crosby, Minnesota. The firm joined together area businessman Glen Gutzman and my father and grandfather, Richard and Eugene Harrison. Now at that time, Glen was already producing aluminum-based air sleds. These air sleds used surplus WWII aircraft engines, something that was plentiful at the time. What the Harrison’s brought to the table was significant experience in manufacturing and fiberglass fabrication. As a result, a new version of the air sled emerged, one that was unusually stylish, even futuristic, for it’s time. While production numbers were modest, and the air sleds were expensive to buy, the uniqueness and novelty of the air sled brought the small company a good amount of notoriety. In those early days, Trail-A-Sled, Inc. built other fiberglass-based components, they even made parts for Polaris and had such a good relationship with the company and its founders that many Trail-A-Sled, Inc. air sleds were sold under the Polaris name and likeness.

While air sleds were certainly impressive, they were difficult to manufacture. At the time, Ski-Doo’s forward-mounted engine and single-rider machines (not yet even called snowmobiles) particularly impressed the founders and after buying and reverse-engineering a 1961 Ski-Doo in Aitkin, Minnesota the company began work on the industry’s first, 100% fiberglass snowmobile. While the machines had much in common with their peers, the fiberglass construction allowed for a sled that was particularly stylish, nimble and fun to drive. This allowed Trail-A-Sled, Inc. to benefit from a very important shift in the snowmobile marketplace. From what was primarily functional and utilitarian, to one of sport, enjoyment and family fun.

Along the way, Trail-A-Sled, Inc. invented and manufactured their own in-house rubber track. This new track was faster, quieter and more maneuverable. When combined with the fiberglass design, the company had a winner and began growing exponentially, residing in numerous buildings throughout the Crosby-Ironton area. And while many of the iron ore mines were shutting down in the region (resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs) these same people often remained in the community, finding new careers at Trail-A-Sled, Inc.

Many challenges were faced, the most significant of which was the 1967 fire which destroyed the firm’s primary assembly building. It was a time of despair, not only for the company, but the community at large. However, with an unprecedented amount of support from the local area and the industry at large, the company was able to continue production in a makeshift, city-own Quonset hut, just one week after the fire. Even Edgar Hetteen of Arctic Cat provided a large number of Tillotson carburetors to help the struggling firm survive. This remains a textbook example of the industry cooperation that existed, in those days.

As the firm recovered from the fire and moved into a large, multi-purpose manufacturing facility, more and more companies were taking a dive into the snowmobile business. Some of these were large, established companies, like John Deere, OMC, Johnson Evinrude. These firms had resources and capital that could ultimately put Trail-A-Sled, Inc. out of business. As such, in 1969 the founders sold to Fuqua Industries, a Fortune 500 conglomerate out of Atlanta. Fuqua owned Snapper lawnmower at the time, and there were plans to transition manufacturing of the brand to the Crosby-Ironton facility, providing more full-time jobs and badly needed diversification.

The early 1970’s were difficult for the snowmobile industry. A string of brown winters, the Arab Oil Embargo and other factors took their toll on the business. Even mighty Fuqua, struggled. While chairman of the board J.D. Fuqua was a legendary financier, it was obvious that the firm’s foray into the snowmobile business wasn’t going so well and ultimately, Fuqua sold to an internal management team, led by Harvey Paulson. A period of profound innovation and change followed, as the firm experienced a good amount of success on the racetrack and in the marketplace. However, the continued economic struggles of that late 1970’s eventually took their toll and the firm was sold to Arctic Cat who intended to market Scorpion as their own, in-house family-oriented product line. Such plans came to a halt, when Arctic Cat themselves entered bankruptcy in 1981.

Oddly enough, through all of this, my family kept but a single Scorpion Whip. When dad got out of the snowmobile business, he went into other ventures and assumed that those early days of snowmobiling’s genesis were lost to history. But when we attended the Glenwood show, all that changed. The interest shown by the vintage and antique snowmobile company deeply impacted both my father and mother, and the family in general. Although up in years at his passing (he was 90 years old) I can personally attest to the important role the antique and vintage community played in my father’s life and longevity. I’m convinced that he lived longer and more vibrantly in part due to your genuine interest and concern. That my friends, was truly priceless to myself and family. You will forever have our respect and gratitude.

I have come to realize that antique and vintage snowmobiling is certainly about the brands, the emerging technology, even its history – but more than anything, it’s about the people. That’s what truly matters.

God bless you and thank you.

Randy Harrison