Wayne Davis
For a 14 year old, growing up in a snowmobile dealership planted the seed for a lifetime centered around the sport. Eight years of successful racing ended with a crash in 1981 that broke both arms. When not racing, Wayne had always taken pictures of the races and racers. His camera skills were noticed by Yamaha who hired him to shoot for them. Soon Wayne was shooting for all four brands, several magazines and other sports activities. In 1982 he gave up his job as a robotics engineer and programer to pursue his passion of photography. Since that time, Wayne’s work has captured and preserved for future generations the joy and excitement that is snowmobiling and snowmobile racing. He has been knocked down, run over, caught in avalanches, lost in whiteouts and suffered frozen fingers, but he keeps coming back with a smile. His passion for the sport shows in his integrity and professionalism.

Bill Manson
Soon after being introduced to snowmobiles and following a vision that snowmobiles would someday develop into the great recreational industry that it has become, Bill became active in organized snowmobiling. He was instrumental in the forming of the Michigan Snowmobile Association in 1982 that merged three groups into one. Bill has worked his way up through all phases and positions of MSA and is now their Executive Director. He has been instrumental in creating milestones for the snowmobiling community and has accomplished goals that many aspire to but rarely achieve. Both on the state level and so on the national level as he has and now chairs several committees and organizations. Bill was named International Snowmobiler of the Year in 1990 and in 1995 selected as Michigan Snowmobiler of the Year. Through Bill’s guidance, winter tourism within the state has flourished.

Les Pinz
Few people can count 46 years of snowmobile enthusiasm. Les is one who can. It was in 1964, on a Polaris Lil Andy when he got his start in the sport. Soon the family started a snowmobile dealership selling Polaris and Scorpion. From 1966 through 1976 Les raced both Polaris and Scorpion, winning high point honors several years and a World Series Class Chamionship in 1971. He has been a local club member for 37 years and has served in all offfices of the club. His curent title is Historian, well deserved as Les has a collection of over 100 antique and vintage sleds. These include prototypes from Polaris, Scorpion and Arctic Cat. Les takes great pride in helping others with his vast knowledge of most of the brands. He spends many enthusiastic hours teaching about the history of snowmobiling. His knowledge of the inventing, testing and manufacturing is vast.

Gordon Radtke
Almost 30 years ago, Gordy hired on at Bombardier Ski-Doo in the service department. It helped that he was a snowmobiler and very passionate about the sport. Ski-Doo soon realized his talents, technological knowledge and communication skills. Gordy has been instrumental in the education and dissemination of Ski-Doo technology and service information to dealers, technicians and the media. His knowledge of the product and his ability to educate and inform are of the highest level. Gordy is the go-to person when a service problem or question arises and he is willing to help all snowmobilers who call on his wealth of knowledge about their sleds.

more to come