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Vintage Snowmobile races in Grand Lake Saturday

Lance Maggart
lmaggart@skyhidailynews.com
Courtesy photo
Staff Photo |

If you’re looking for a bit of winter fun this weekend but don’t plan on getting onto the slopes or heading into the backcountry head on over to Grand Lake and check out the Vintage Snowmobile Races scheduled for this coming Saturday.

The Vintage Snowmobile Races will be held on the frozen surface of Grand Lake on an oval track and will feature riders from throughout the US racing on snowmobiles over 30 years old. The family friendly event lasts throughout the day and features races in multiple rider categories and sled classes.

Nick Peterson, Sales Manager at Power World in Granby and one of the competitors in the Vintage Snowmobile Racing series, outlined how the races are broken down. Riders are divided into various classes based on age and gender. The races feature a Junior division, a Women’s division, a Master’s division for riders over 50-years old and an Open Division.



“In the morning we will have tech inspection and a riders meeting,” Peterson said. “Usually somewhere around 8 a.m. At 10 a.m. we start round one.”

Each division is broken down into separate classes of snowmobiles based on the cooling system used in the sled. Sled classes include: fan cooled, free air and liquid cooled along with the stock and modified categories. All snowmobiles used in the races must be a model manufactured in 1985 or prior to that year. No newer year models are allowed to participate in the races. Racers can compete in as many classes as they qualify.



Two heat races are held for each of the various classes and categories of riders, which is followed by a Main Event Race to determine a winner for each class. After the races are finished an awards ceremony will be held in Pancho & Lefty’s in Grand Lake to recognize the winning racers.

“This is a grass roots thing,” Peterson said. “It is really all about helping each other and getting families involved.”

The Vintage Snowmobile Racing series is put on by the organization X-treme Mountain Racing. Their Web site, xmr-racing.com, offers more details on the Vintage Snowmobile Racing Series and provides directions on how to join the organization and become involved in vintage snowmobile racing.

Every year multiple races are scheduled in the series. After this weekend’s races in Grand Lake the series will head to Pinedale Wyo. and then on to Jackson Hole Wyo. before heading back to Colorado for a set of races to be held in Eagle.


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