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.
10th Annual Antique Snowmobile Rendezvous
January 24, 2004 - Pequot Lakes, MN - The 10th Annual Antique Snowmobile Rendezvous drew large crowds this year amid brilliant sunshine and ample snow. KSTP television's Jason Davis of On The Road attended Friday's trail ride and a resulting TV broadcast in late February is planned (scheduled for airing February 28 10:30 PM KSTP). Several snowmobile luminaries attended the festivities including publisher C.J. Ramstad, Polaris co-founder David Johnson and wife Eleanor as well as Elmer Cone of the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame. Randy Harrison expressed a few words of thanks to the group. In addition, Saturday evening's banquet saw Dick Harrison (one of three Trail-A-Sled, Inc. founders) win the People's Choice award with his 1960 Trail-A-Sled airsled.
ASCOA - Brainerd
August 30, 2003 - Brainerd, MN - The Antique Snowmobile Club of America and several Scorpion collectors made an impressive showing at the first-ever Race of Champions Grass Drags held at the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds this weekend.
ISHOF Ceremony - ASCOA
July 21, 2003 - Pequot Lakes, MN - The Antique Snowmobile Club of America, in their bi-monthly publication Iron Dog Tracks publishes a summary of this past year's International Snowmobile Hall of Fame ceremonies. Photos of a large number of Scorpion snowmobiles were presented.
Induction Ceremony
February 22, 2003 - Grand Rapids, MN - Dick Harrison, TAS co-founder received dual awards this evening, including the Alan Hetteen Award of Merit and a well-deserved induction into the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame. The evening's banquet was hosted by the Sawmill Inn and also included moving tributes to the firm's other founders, Glen Gutzman (who served as President) and Stub Harrison (who served as Vice President). A transcript of Dick's induction may be found here. An ISHOF transcript of the evening may also be found here.
Induction Announcement
February 19, 2003 - Aitkin, MN - The Aitkin Independent Age announces Dick Harrison's induction to International Snowmobile Hall of Fame.
Brainerd Dispatch
February 2, 2003 - Brainerd, MN - The Brainerd Dispatch publishes a summary of Dick Harrison's upcoming induction into the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame titled Local Snowmobile Pioneer to be inducted into Hall of Fame.
Waconia 2003
February 1 – 2, 2003 - Waconia, MN - Waconia witnessed a record-setting rally, hosted by Midwest Vintage Snowmobile Shows. Participants came from across the country and well into Canada to enjoy the program. Warm temperatures prevailed on Saturday as attendees participated in the largest single day in the rally's history. Many people attended the evening banquet and stopped-by to enjoy the large exhibit of Trail-A-Sled, Inc. & Scorpion memorabilia and to chat with Trail-A-Sled, Inc. co-founder Dick Harrison. Though Sunday brought the winter's largest snowfall, many people remained to visit the Scorpion exhibit now displayed at the Waconia Lakeside Ballroom. More than 3,500 individuals attended the rally weekend. A 1960 all-fiberglass air-sled was also publicly presented for the first time in decades.
Oral History
January 25, 2003 - Pequot Lakes, MN - Another successful Antique Snowmobile Rendezvous was conducted, and despite the lack of snow and bitter wind chills, a large group of hobbyists were in attendance. The Rendezvous informally featured Scorpion and Trail-A-Sled, Inc. with several large displays of memorabilia, including rare racing footage and images. A moving oral history by Randy Harrison was presented to the standing-room-only crowd that had gathered for the Saturday evening banquet (a transcript may be found here).