Event to be part of Manawa Snodeo
By John Gunnell
The cheetah is a cat with a light build, long thin legs and a lengthy tail.
It’s the world’s fastest land animal and can run 50 to 80 mph.
The Trade Winds Cheetah was said to be the fastest snowmobile of its era. In 1968, one of these speedy sleds became the first snowmobile to go over 100 mph. Fifty-three years later, the Trade Winds team is ready to repeat the feat at the Manawa Snodeo.
The roots of Trade Winds can be traced to 1958, when Don Craig and Carl Dretzke began building pop-up tent campers in Manawa. That winter, they bolted a go-kart motor to a Flexible Flyer and made their first motorized sled. Three years later, they formed Craig Manufacturing to make various products.
In 1964, the Trade Winds name was adopted and in 1966, they got into the snowmobile business and made 300 Tigers. Sales of 4,000 were projected for 1968, but in July 1967, Outboard Marine Corp. acquired Trade Winds.
A special build of 100 Cheetah snowmobiles was made in late 1968. They featured powerful engines, gold paint and leopard-print seats. Racing versions with three carburetors and no electric start were even faster.
Reaching 100 mph
On March 14, 1968, Trade Winds driver Bob Hansen and a few plant workers took a Cheetah to nearby White Lake. It had a heavily modified Hirth engine, Tiltson HD carbs and an early-style tuned exhaust.
With Dretzke watching, the sled first made 95- and 99-mph runs. Then, came a third pass, in which Hansen set an unofficial world record of 101 mph.
OMC decided to stop making Trade Winds snowmobiles. The company made 9,000 sleds in 1969, but none had Trade Winds branding. They built the Evinrude Bobcat and Johnson Challenger.
The Manawa facility also turned out Agway models and Sears 309 and Ed Hillary 399 models. Trade Winds Division snowmobile production was eliminated in 1970, although some were assembled for Gilson Brothers of Plymouth.
While Hansen’s record run was documented in newspaper reports and his sled even made it into a movie, the Trade Winds claim of making the first 100-mph run has always been called an “unofficial” record.
After production ended, Trade Winds snowmobiles continued to live on in the hearts and minds of vintage sled collectors.
Dave Sarna is executive Director of Manawa Snodeo LLC.
Making the record ‘official’
“Years ago, it took a serious snowmobile to run an honest 100 mph and a frequent question asked was, ‘What snowmobile cracked the 100-mph barrier?’” Sarna said. “In March of 2020, the Craig family contacted us to express interest in duplicating the 100-mph run. They wanted to set the record straight and prove to skeptics in the snowmobile community that this was accomplished on the day and time in 1968 when it was documented to have occurred.”
The Craig family offered to supply all necessary items to do a special build of a machine based on the record sled and eventually went as far as locating and shipping a performance engine from Australia.
The family is supporting the build with parts and Saturday morning sessions with a team of enthusiasts to complete construction of the special-build snowmobile in time for this year’s Snodeo, set for Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20-21, on Bear Lake.
Since the Craig family has no interest in retaining the Cheetah after the record run attempt, Sarah Anderson, creative director for the World Snowmobile Headquarters in Eagle River, has agreed to display the record machine in their museum.
Russ Davis, vice president of the museum, was a member of the Trade Winds factory racing team at the time the original record was established in 1968.
Participants
Participants in the current project include Jeff Craig, Mark Craig, John Craig, John Gunnell, Norm Wahlbruck, Rob Gaskins, Danny Gaskins, Steve Behnke, Willie Riske and Dave Sarna. They are helping out of a passion for the snowmobile industry and its racing history and for the sake of historical accuracy.
Each member of the team brings a skill to the table and a commitment to making this re-enactment a reality. Their talents will make this achievement something to be proud of for years to come.