The Kawasaki "Shark"
The Search For the 1977 Kawasaki "Shark" SnoPro Sleds.
By Larry Preston
December, 2000
I'll warn you now this story may not have a happy ending.
We've all heard the rumors and stories about how some of the coolest sleds have been destroyed, locked in a warehouse, stolen or mysteriously disappeared. One such rumor has persisted for many years in my neck of the woods. The story goes that the 1977 Kawasaki SnoPro sleds are buried, in tact, at some secret Kawasaki facility in Minnesota.
I didn't think much of the story until late in 2000 when I was having a discussion with Jim Beilke, Snowmobile Hall of Famer, current executive editor of Snowtech magazine, and the one man show that originally wrote, photographed, edited and published that entire stack of Race & Rally magazines you've got locked up in your safe.
One thing led to another and we started talking about those 1977 Kawasaki SnoPro sleds. Nasty , green, shark looking creatures driven my Jacques Villeneuve an Greg Channell for just one season. Jim reminded me of the story that when Kawasaki decided to get out of the snowmobile industry, they were afraid of liability issues from having those sleds around. He had heard that they went behind the shop one day, dug a deep trench, dropped them in and buried them. "Where was this workshop?" I asked. "Shakopee." He replied. Shakopee is a sleepy little town just south and east of Minneapolis.
A seed was planted in my head that would eventually grow into a giant, incurable disease.
Snoweek ran this C.J. Ramstad article
about the new team and the sleds.
Click on the images to see a version large enough to read.
I had to know where that shop was 20 years ago. Where it is today. I had to know if the rumor was true. Jim agreed to call around to some of his old contacts and see if he could verify the story or tell me where the shop was or is. While Jim was searching from one direction, I headed off into another that's easier for me. I searched the Internet high and low for any information about Kawasaki Motors Corporation in Minnesota. Tax records, court records anything. No luck. As far as the Internet is concerned, history began in the 1990's and nothing prior exists.
The thought I couldn't get out of my mind is that they are just sitting there waiting for me. It's the good old American Dream we've all had of finding lost treasure. You know the story: so-and-so found a very rare such-and-such behind so-and-so's barn, bought it for $20, put a little work into it, won first place at every vintage show, then sold the damn thing for thousands and thousands of dollars.
Get rich quick. Win the vintage sled lottery.
I was somehow certain I had discovered a major secret and just needed to find out where they were buried, get a shovel and find glory. Or maybe just a good picture.
January 13, 2000
During a conversation with Mike Decker which focused first on Ski Doos. "Do you recall where Kawasaki had it's shop in 1976?" I asked. Trying to be coy about why I wanted to know. "Mmm, that would have been Shakopee." He said. "I suppose you know the rumor then?" Damn it, now I had to tell him. "No, what rumor?". He asked. "I was told they buried those Kawasaki SnoPro sleds behind the shop. Ever hear about that?" "No, but I wouldn't doubt it. It was very common back then. Ski-Doo buried dozens of sleds that today would be worth a damned fortune".
Shakopee. Now two people had confirmed that the Kawasaki Research and Development center was in Shakopee. I went home and dug out the one promo picture I had that I thought might be the Shakopee facility. I also printed out maps of Shakopee and was pleasantly surprised to learn it's a relatively small town and I could drive the whole length and width in just a few minutes. If the building still existed, I was going to find it.
The original 1977 Promo shot that I thought might have been taken at the Research and Development facility. Note the odd tree and brick formations. If this was the building, these things might make it easier to find.
As I asked people, carefully, about the rumor and the facility and the race team, more additions to the original rumor started to make the actual story harder to guess at. One story said all the sleds were crushed and buried. Another said they used a backhoe and just smashed them a bit, then buried them. Many people stated and insisted that all were crushed but one, and some thought the one sled was either hidden, stolen or being stored by Kawasaki Corporate headquarters in California for liability reasons.
Another thought kept driving me nuts. I couldn't have been the only one to have heard this rumor. Others must know about it, and someone, in all this time, must have hunted this facility down. For all I knew they could have already dug them up and had them in their garage for many years now. Still I had to press on, I had to find out for myself.
On my first trip to Shakopee, I looked in all the industrial sections of town. I was searching for a building that had bricks that were all perfectly lined up, as in the 1977 promo shot. This seemed to be a good approach, as most brick buildings in Minnesota have a staggered brick pattern. The other clue would have been the tree in the background of that promo shot. It's down in a hole, it has very definite cuts on some branches, and it's a very big tree. If time, fire, wind or man hadn't destroyed that tree, I knew it would be a good clue. After several hours of driving around, I never found a building with that brick pattern. I began to assume the building had been torn down, re-bricked or some how covered.
It was a nice afternoon, so I stopped in to the only store that was open, the local hunting shop. After standing around for several minutes while the store owner helped the large number of hunters with the animals they had brought in, I finally managed to ask him about the facility.
"I know this is a strange question, but do you have any idea where the old Kawasaki facility used to be?" The room went silent. All eyes turned towards me. I became very aware of the amount of fire power in the room, of which I had none.
A gentlemen at the far end of the store positioned himself so he could see me and cocked his head to one side. "Why would you want to know that?" He said, scrunching his brow at me. How do I explain this without sounding like a complete wacko who wants to dig up 20 year old snowmobiles? "Just curious, I was a big fan of the old Kawasaki racing sleds". I said. Not a real lie, but not exactly the whole truth. After all did he need to know the whole truth? He straightened his head out and grinned a bit and said: "Hell everyone knows where that was. Damn sleds were louder then hell!" An uncomfortable giggle broke out amongst the hunters. "There ain't nothing there though - it's some other company now."
We continued to talk for a bit and between this guy and the shop owner. They told me stories about the testing of the sleds that went on at a near by lake. They told me about all the noise complaints. These were some very nice people, all very happy to help a complete stranger. God I love Minnesota. A crude map was formed. I thanked them all profusely and tried not to act too excited as I raced out the door to my car. Damn this was exciting. I found it just by asking, didn't get shot, and didn't get involved in a scene from Deliverance. Life was good.
Click to enlarge photos...
Part Two: The "Secret" Kawasaki Research and Development Facility.
By Larry Preston
It took me only a few minutes to find the old R&D shop, just outside of Shakopee. It's across the street and down a bit from Shakopee's big amusment park, Valley Fair. I really was stunned to see the building, still standing, and looking damn good for being 26 years older then when I saw it first in the promo picture. This must kind of be how they felt when the cameras first found the Titanic! The bricks matched up as in the photo, all neat and in tidy rows. The building was the shade of puke green as I had guessed it would be. It looked like the paint was fresh.
It was now owned by a company called ChemRex. My first thought was "Damn, a chemical company will never let me dig in their backyard. They for sure have stuff buried back there they don't want the Environmental Protection Agency to know about". It was Sunday, no one was around, so I drove out back. There was the tree, looking almost exactly like it did 26 years ago! Amazing. It didn't seem like it had even grown any. I took some pictures and headed back for home, unsure of my next move.
How do you approach a chemical company and ask for permission to dig in the back yard?
Back at my desk Monday morning, I decided to just call and see what happens. I had nothing to lose. If worse came to worse and the Chemical company didn't want nothing to do with digging in the back yard, I'd formulate a plan to go out in the middle of the night and do it when no one was looking.
At ChemRex, I asked to speak to anyone in charge of the building, or who had been with the company for a long time. On the phone, I got Larry Benjamin, an executive from ChemRex. I asked him if he knew anything about his building having once been the property of Kawasaki Motors. "Yeah, I know quite a bit about it. When we bought it we had to clean up their mess. What are you looking for?" "Well", I said, "I think they were testing snowmobiles there and..." "You aren't looking for buried treasure are you?" He interrupted."Those snowmobiles are long gone".
Well, that cleared up my thought about someone else having dug them up. I was a little late on this story. "What do you mean?" I asked, expecting to hear the worst. I figured my hunt was all over. "Those snowmobiles cost Kawasaki a whole lot of money. We heard that rumor before we even bought the building". Now I knew it was over. But on the chance that I was wrong, I asked if we could have a meeting and discuss it further. We set it up for early the next week.
My notes from my meeting at ChemRex. You can see the layout of the grounds at the Kawasaki facility, including the tree, the old race track and the original burial ground of the sleds.I met Mr. Benjamin at the ChemRex office the following Monday. He smiled and shook my hand, a confident looking man who didn't seem real happy about me taking this time out of his day. I told him I was grateful he could indulge me. We talked about he facility, which they bought from the Conklin Company in 1992. Kawasaki had built several lead lined chambers for testing engines, as well as a pool for testing Jet-Ski's. They also built a track in the back for testing snowmobiles. I drew a map with his help, and he showed me the spot were the snowmobiles were buried. Past tense. Were buried.
"You said they were buried. What happened to them?" I asked, and that's when he told me the real story behind the rumor. "We heard the rumor before we bought the building. Being a chemical company, we felt it important to clear up any environmental issues before we moved in, so we decided to report the rumor to the county. The county was very interested and sent someone out right away".
An official from Scott County came out with a metal detector and began searching. The metal detector found traces, big traces of metal just below the surface near the old race track behind the facility. They contacted Kawasaki, and ordered them to dig them back up. "And that's all I really know about it. Scott County got a hold of Kawasaki, and before I knew it, they were out with backhoes digging stuff up. They hauled it to the local dump. We got it signed off, clearing the way for us to buy the building and we felt we had done our duty towards the environment".
Wow. The damn rumor was true! Maybe they were still at the dump? I thanked him profusely for his time, then quickly headed back to my office, barely able to concentrate on driving as I thought about what I had learned. Maybe they were still in the dump? Maybe there was still a chance I could find them?
After sending out some emails, I got one back a day or so later from Scott County. Yes, they had a record of an environmental incident with Kawasaki, and yes, all I had to do was call a Mr. Peter Schmidt, and I could get all the info I needed. After all, it was all a matter of public record. I made an appointment to see him the next day.
The Search For the 1977 Kawasaki "Shark" SnoPro Sleds.
Part 3: The Burial Grounds.
By Larry Preston
The letter from Lee Markgraf to Scott County, outlining his efforts to clean up the previously buried sleds.Receipt totaling $1,991.75 for the excavation of the Kawasaki SnoPro sleds.Receipt of 50 yards of debris from the Louisville Landfill, near Shakopee MN.Peter Schmidt of the the Scott County (Minnesota) Environmental Health Agency faxed me the total report he had on file about the incident. They tell the tale of what happened to these historically interesting sleds.
The story goes like this: Lee Markgraf of Kawasaki industries was notified by Scott County that the current owners of Kawasaki's old Research and Development facility, The Conklin Company, had heard a rumor that they (Kawasaki) had buried snowmobiles there.
Kawasaki executives and their lawyers decided that the best way to deal with it was to just admit it, dig them up and dispose of them properly. Scott County was to monitor the progress and removal, and make sure no hazardous materials was left behind. According to Peter, they first checked with metal detectors and marked the property. They then brought in the backhoes to begin digging.
This is the text of a hand written notes from the Scott County official on the scene the day of the dig, whose name is not on the slip:
"10-26-88. Pete visited the site with Lee Markgraf and Dave from Turner excavating. Complete and incomplete snowmobiles found in one small location - no oil or gas smell in tanks of vehicles, (verified by Pete, Dave & guy from Braun engineering before). Ten other holes dug around this hole - no evidence of previously disturbed soil - or of any solid waste."Markgraf then sent a letter back to Scott County with the receipt from Turner Excavation for $1,991.75, and a receipt from the Louisville Landfill. Kawasaki had done the right thing and cleaned up their mess. Mr. Schmidt completed a report and mailed a copy back to Kawasaki. Case closed. But note that the report says complete and incomplete snowmobiles. Could this mean that an in tact Shark was sitting in a landfill here in Minnesota?
Letter from Scotty County to Lee Markgraf with a total report that clears up Kawasaki from any further responsibility.I asked Mr. Schmidt if it was okay if I were to review the file in person. He agreed, and met with me at 8:00 the following morning. Peter was very good about telling me everything he could remember about the disposal of the sleds. "We were concerned about gas having been dumped there. We didn't know about the snowmobiles until they were dug up. I just sniffed them, literally, for gas fumes, but found none. They were hauled off to the Louisville landfill, we signed off on it, and that was that".
So they Kawasaki SnoPro sleds were in the Louisville landfill? Images of the landfill owner having the sleds, or the sled parts in his garage, must have made me appear to Mr. Schmidt as a deaf, dumb & mute. "Is that landfill near here?" I grabbed my pen in anticipation of my next stop. "It's just a mile or two away, but now it's called Demcon." No need for directions, I'll just call Directory Assistance after I leave, I thought. I put the pen back in my pocket.
"Do you remember seeing any hoods - particularly any green hoods?" I asked. "Mmm. Not really, I just took pictures of the holes and smelled for gas - there are pictures." He walked off in search of the file.
Pictures! Bingo! Jackpot! KA-CHING! If I couldn't find the sleds, pictures would work nicely to prove once and for all that the sleds were here. The madness could end. Peter returned in just a moment with a packet of slides. He handed them to me, and I put them up to the light eagerly awaiting the first view of the Sharks since 1988.
"I remember seeing yellow hoods. I don't recall anything green". Peter added. What's the chance that a green hood, after being buried for nearly 10 years turns yellowish after time I thought. I couldn't see anything in the slides but some bits of parts mixed in with dirt. No clear shots of a sled at all. I asked if he would allow me to borrow the slides, long enough to have them printed as regular shots that I could see better.
"They are public property, but it's not customary to let people check them out". He said. I did my best sad puppy face. "How fast can you have them back?" He added. "About two seconds after I get them back from the photo place". "All right then." I shook his hand with a smile and headed back to my office, some 20 minutes from Scott County.
On the way back, I put in a message at the Demcon dump. I asked for someone named Dave that had worked their since it was called the Louisville Landfill. Yes, there was a Dave like that still working there, but he was not available, could I get your number and have him call you back. I gave her the number, we exchanged some Minnesota Nice chat, and I closed the cell phone shut. Damn. They might well be in the dump. There's still a chance I could find enough of them to restore one or more of them. But the pictures were puzzling. I couldn't see much, but what I could see in no way resembled the Sharks. I had to get them developed from the slides and blown up. Fast. I dropped them off on the way back to my office for 1 hour development.
My quest was nearing an end, I could feel it. I will have solved the mystery. The blown up photos would reveal all. They were at the Demcon landfill. I'm not afraid of no rats. I would spend the next few weekends looking for them at the dump. I would find the elusive Sharks.
I went back to my office and did my very best to pretend to be working for exactly one hour. I was pretty proud of myself thinking I may really have found them. Victory was mine!
I would soon discover I had indeed achieved victory, but in the wrong battle.
By Larry Preston
It took me only a few minutes to find the old R&D shop, just outside of Shakopee. It's across the street and down a bit from Shakopee's big amusment park, Valley Fair. I really was stunned to see the building, still standing, and looking damn good for being 26 years older then when I saw it first in the promo picture. This must kind of be how they felt when the cameras first found the Titanic! The bricks matched up as in the photo, all neat and in tidy rows. The building was the shade of puke green as I had guessed it would be. It looked like the paint was fresh.
It was now owned by a company called ChemRex. My first thought was "Damn, a chemical company will never let me dig in their backyard. They for sure have stuff buried back there they don't want the Environmental Protection Agency to know about". It was Sunday, no one was around, so I drove out back. There was the tree, looking almost exactly like it did 26 years ago! Amazing. It didn't seem like it had even grown any. I took some pictures and headed back for home, unsure of my next move.
How do you approach a chemical company and ask for permission to dig in the back yard?
Back at my desk Monday morning, I decided to just call and see what happens. I had nothing to lose. If worse came to worse and the Chemical company didn't want nothing to do with digging in the back yard, I'd formulate a plan to go out in the middle of the night and do it when no one was looking.
At ChemRex, I asked to speak to anyone in charge of the building, or who had been with the company for a long time. On the phone, I got Larry Benjamin, an executive from ChemRex. I asked him if he knew anything about his building having once been the property of Kawasaki Motors. "Yeah, I know quite a bit about it. When we bought it we had to clean up their mess. What are you looking for?" "Well", I said, "I think they were testing snowmobiles there and..." "You aren't looking for buried treasure are you?" He interrupted."Those snowmobiles are long gone".
Well, that cleared up my thought about someone else having dug them up. I was a little late on this story. "What do you mean?" I asked, expecting to hear the worst. I figured my hunt was all over. "Those snowmobiles cost Kawasaki a whole lot of money. We heard that rumor before we even bought the building". Now I knew it was over. But on the chance that I was wrong, I asked if we could have a meeting and discuss it further. We set it up for early the next week.
My notes from my meeting at ChemRex. You can see the layout of the grounds at the Kawasaki facility, including the tree, the old race track and the original burial ground of the sleds.I met Mr. Benjamin at the ChemRex office the following Monday. He smiled and shook my hand, a confident looking man who didn't seem real happy about me taking this time out of his day. I told him I was grateful he could indulge me. We talked about he facility, which they bought from the Conklin Company in 1992. Kawasaki had built several lead lined chambers for testing engines, as well as a pool for testing Jet-Ski's. They also built a track in the back for testing snowmobiles. I drew a map with his help, and he showed me the spot were the snowmobiles were buried. Past tense. Were buried.
"You said they were buried. What happened to them?" I asked, and that's when he told me the real story behind the rumor. "We heard the rumor before we bought the building. Being a chemical company, we felt it important to clear up any environmental issues before we moved in, so we decided to report the rumor to the county. The county was very interested and sent someone out right away".
An official from Scott County came out with a metal detector and began searching. The metal detector found traces, big traces of metal just below the surface near the old race track behind the facility. They contacted Kawasaki, and ordered them to dig them back up. "And that's all I really know about it. Scott County got a hold of Kawasaki, and before I knew it, they were out with backhoes digging stuff up. They hauled it to the local dump. We got it signed off, clearing the way for us to buy the building and we felt we had done our duty towards the environment".
Wow. The damn rumor was true! Maybe they were still at the dump? I thanked him profusely for his time, then quickly headed back to my office, barely able to concentrate on driving as I thought about what I had learned. Maybe they were still in the dump? Maybe there was still a chance I could find them?
After sending out some emails, I got one back a day or so later from Scott County. Yes, they had a record of an environmental incident with Kawasaki, and yes, all I had to do was call a Mr. Peter Schmidt, and I could get all the info I needed. After all, it was all a matter of public record. I made an appointment to see him the next day.
The Search For the 1977 Kawasaki "Shark" SnoPro Sleds.
Part 3: The Burial Grounds.
By Larry Preston
The letter from Lee Markgraf to Scott County, outlining his efforts to clean up the previously buried sleds.Receipt totaling $1,991.75 for the excavation of the Kawasaki SnoPro sleds.Receipt of 50 yards of debris from the Louisville Landfill, near Shakopee MN.Peter Schmidt of the the Scott County (Minnesota) Environmental Health Agency faxed me the total report he had on file about the incident. They tell the tale of what happened to these historically interesting sleds.
The story goes like this: Lee Markgraf of Kawasaki industries was notified by Scott County that the current owners of Kawasaki's old Research and Development facility, The Conklin Company, had heard a rumor that they (Kawasaki) had buried snowmobiles there.
Kawasaki executives and their lawyers decided that the best way to deal with it was to just admit it, dig them up and dispose of them properly. Scott County was to monitor the progress and removal, and make sure no hazardous materials was left behind. According to Peter, they first checked with metal detectors and marked the property. They then brought in the backhoes to begin digging.
This is the text of a hand written notes from the Scott County official on the scene the day of the dig, whose name is not on the slip:
"10-26-88. Pete visited the site with Lee Markgraf and Dave from Turner excavating. Complete and incomplete snowmobiles found in one small location - no oil or gas smell in tanks of vehicles, (verified by Pete, Dave & guy from Braun engineering before). Ten other holes dug around this hole - no evidence of previously disturbed soil - or of any solid waste."Markgraf then sent a letter back to Scott County with the receipt from Turner Excavation for $1,991.75, and a receipt from the Louisville Landfill. Kawasaki had done the right thing and cleaned up their mess. Mr. Schmidt completed a report and mailed a copy back to Kawasaki. Case closed. But note that the report says complete and incomplete snowmobiles. Could this mean that an in tact Shark was sitting in a landfill here in Minnesota?
Letter from Scotty County to Lee Markgraf with a total report that clears up Kawasaki from any further responsibility.I asked Mr. Schmidt if it was okay if I were to review the file in person. He agreed, and met with me at 8:00 the following morning. Peter was very good about telling me everything he could remember about the disposal of the sleds. "We were concerned about gas having been dumped there. We didn't know about the snowmobiles until they were dug up. I just sniffed them, literally, for gas fumes, but found none. They were hauled off to the Louisville landfill, we signed off on it, and that was that".
So they Kawasaki SnoPro sleds were in the Louisville landfill? Images of the landfill owner having the sleds, or the sled parts in his garage, must have made me appear to Mr. Schmidt as a deaf, dumb & mute. "Is that landfill near here?" I grabbed my pen in anticipation of my next stop. "It's just a mile or two away, but now it's called Demcon." No need for directions, I'll just call Directory Assistance after I leave, I thought. I put the pen back in my pocket.
"Do you remember seeing any hoods - particularly any green hoods?" I asked. "Mmm. Not really, I just took pictures of the holes and smelled for gas - there are pictures." He walked off in search of the file.
Pictures! Bingo! Jackpot! KA-CHING! If I couldn't find the sleds, pictures would work nicely to prove once and for all that the sleds were here. The madness could end. Peter returned in just a moment with a packet of slides. He handed them to me, and I put them up to the light eagerly awaiting the first view of the Sharks since 1988.
"I remember seeing yellow hoods. I don't recall anything green". Peter added. What's the chance that a green hood, after being buried for nearly 10 years turns yellowish after time I thought. I couldn't see anything in the slides but some bits of parts mixed in with dirt. No clear shots of a sled at all. I asked if he would allow me to borrow the slides, long enough to have them printed as regular shots that I could see better.
"They are public property, but it's not customary to let people check them out". He said. I did my best sad puppy face. "How fast can you have them back?" He added. "About two seconds after I get them back from the photo place". "All right then." I shook his hand with a smile and headed back to my office, some 20 minutes from Scott County.
On the way back, I put in a message at the Demcon dump. I asked for someone named Dave that had worked their since it was called the Louisville Landfill. Yes, there was a Dave like that still working there, but he was not available, could I get your number and have him call you back. I gave her the number, we exchanged some Minnesota Nice chat, and I closed the cell phone shut. Damn. They might well be in the dump. There's still a chance I could find enough of them to restore one or more of them. But the pictures were puzzling. I couldn't see much, but what I could see in no way resembled the Sharks. I had to get them developed from the slides and blown up. Fast. I dropped them off on the way back to my office for 1 hour development.
My quest was nearing an end, I could feel it. I will have solved the mystery. The blown up photos would reveal all. They were at the Demcon landfill. I'm not afraid of no rats. I would spend the next few weekends looking for them at the dump. I would find the elusive Sharks.
I went back to my office and did my very best to pretend to be working for exactly one hour. I was pretty proud of myself thinking I may really have found them. Victory was mine!
I would soon discover I had indeed achieved victory, but in the wrong battle.
The Search For the 1977 Kawasaki "Shark" SnoPro Sleds.
Part 4: The Burial Pictures and Four Feet of Clay.
By Larry Preston
"Mr. Preston, your pictures are ready". The voice on the other end of the line was from my new friend at the nearby photo developing shop. In the course of working on vintagesleds.com, I had become a regular customer, developing 2-3 rolls of film per week. I probably paid for her new car. "Thank you, I'll be right there". I put my cell phone down and went back to feigning interest in the meeting I was in. Something about a production schedule, I think.
Actually, I couldn't think. I had to see those photos now. I summoned up my best get-the-meeting-over-with-quick skills and within minutes was off down a Minneapolis skyway towards the photo place. It was near lunch time and cold outside, making the skyway very crowded. A crowded skyway is good. Crowded skyways tend to be crowded by very good looking women. Knock down, drag-out fabulous babes. Models. Bankers. Sales persons. In all shapes, sizes, colors and builds. Smorgasbord. Mmm. Yummy.
But I digress.
Finally, I was sure, I could see what was left of the Sharks. I got the photos, paid the fees, smiled at my photo finishing friend, and headed for the nearest well-lit area so I could take a look at the pictures.
My heart racing, I stared intently at them for about 15 minutes. The more I stared, the more my fast beating heart began to grind to a slow, plodding thud.
In disgust, I had to conclude that the photos are inconclusive. I muttered a curse to myself and headed for the coffee shop. I got a hot cup of java, pulled up a chair and stared at the pictures more. The coffee helped ease my disappointment as it warmed me up. You can see a lot of parts, but no complete snowmobiles as the report had said. I see a chassis, upside down with an IFS system. But it doesn't look like the ones on the Sharks. I can can see what looks like parts of a hood, but it's yellow, not green. I can see a seat, it doesn't match the Shark seats. I see gas tanks. No match. I see all kinds of parts. None of them look like Shark parts. Damn it! I have to conclude their is nothing in these photos that positivelyidentify this debris as the my SnoPro sharks. Nothing.
Late in the afternoon one day later, I got a call from Dave at the Demcon dump. More bad news. He didn't remember any snowmobiles coming in the dump. Worse, the Louisville Landfill was condemned by the State of Minnesota sometime in the early 1990's because it contained both domestic and commercial garbage and was probably hazardous. They ordered it covered with 4 feet of clay. It's an area about 8 city blocks square, covered in 4 feet of clay. Even if you had the time and the resources to dig in search of the sleds, Dave informed me that the state would never, ever allow digging in that area, probably for a period of twenty years or more.
How long does it take for aluminum and fiberglass to decompose? I wondered.
So that was it. End of the trail, end of the story. The Sharks are buried in a dump that can't be messed with. I can finish the story and be done with it.
But the pictures bothered me. They did not prove it was the Shark sleds were the sleds buried there. They just proved some snowmobiles were buried there. I was staring at the Scott County report one afternoon and decided to just check if Lee Marcraft still worked at Kawasaki. After doing some digging, I finally found Lee, working for Victory (Polaris) Motorcycles in Wisconsin. To my joy, he was willing to talk about the Kawasaki's as he no longer worked for them.
"Oh that damned rumor!" He laughed out loud. "That damned rumor has followed me around for decades, and caused me more damn grief..." he continued on. He told me the story much the same way Peter Schmidt of Scott County had told it. The building was being sold and Kawasaki decided to clean the mess up. The sleds were buried for liability reasons. They were crushed with a backhoe and buried just a few feet down. "Yeah, I suppose you don't want consumers driving any race sleds around huh?" I asked.
"Race sleds? Oh hell no. These were prototype consumer sleds. Kawasaki was going to be the first to introduce consumer IFS sleds. We had them all ready to go into production when Corporate pulled the plug on the snowmobile program". A mild pause as I collected my thoughts. "Then what happened to the race sleds?" I asked. "Don't know. I never saw them. But I do know the guy at corporate that would know that. Let me give him a call, and I'll call you back. He'd know what happened to them."
Cool. The trail was hot again!
I waited patiently for a week and tried Lee again. He had not heard from the person who might know more about the Sharks, but would keep trying. He did tell me that when the had the facility in Shakopee, one of the SnoPro sleds was stolen. But the moron who stole it parked it in his front yard and was arrested and the sled recovered within a few hours of its disappearance. I never heard from Lee again, nor have I tried to contact him again. I later found out who he was trying to contact at Kawasaki. It was, I believe, his former boss. After several frustrating days of trying to find this guy within Kawasaki, I was told he had quit just a few days before.
As the temperature dropped here in Minneapolis, the trail seemed to be getting colder. So I decided to start contacting anyone associated with the Kawasaki race program. First on my list: Ray Tuggle, the teams primary engine builder.
Part 4: The Burial Pictures and Four Feet of Clay.
By Larry Preston
"Mr. Preston, your pictures are ready". The voice on the other end of the line was from my new friend at the nearby photo developing shop. In the course of working on vintagesleds.com, I had become a regular customer, developing 2-3 rolls of film per week. I probably paid for her new car. "Thank you, I'll be right there". I put my cell phone down and went back to feigning interest in the meeting I was in. Something about a production schedule, I think.
Actually, I couldn't think. I had to see those photos now. I summoned up my best get-the-meeting-over-with-quick skills and within minutes was off down a Minneapolis skyway towards the photo place. It was near lunch time and cold outside, making the skyway very crowded. A crowded skyway is good. Crowded skyways tend to be crowded by very good looking women. Knock down, drag-out fabulous babes. Models. Bankers. Sales persons. In all shapes, sizes, colors and builds. Smorgasbord. Mmm. Yummy.
But I digress.
Finally, I was sure, I could see what was left of the Sharks. I got the photos, paid the fees, smiled at my photo finishing friend, and headed for the nearest well-lit area so I could take a look at the pictures.
My heart racing, I stared intently at them for about 15 minutes. The more I stared, the more my fast beating heart began to grind to a slow, plodding thud.
In disgust, I had to conclude that the photos are inconclusive. I muttered a curse to myself and headed for the coffee shop. I got a hot cup of java, pulled up a chair and stared at the pictures more. The coffee helped ease my disappointment as it warmed me up. You can see a lot of parts, but no complete snowmobiles as the report had said. I see a chassis, upside down with an IFS system. But it doesn't look like the ones on the Sharks. I can can see what looks like parts of a hood, but it's yellow, not green. I can see a seat, it doesn't match the Shark seats. I see gas tanks. No match. I see all kinds of parts. None of them look like Shark parts. Damn it! I have to conclude their is nothing in these photos that positivelyidentify this debris as the my SnoPro sharks. Nothing.
Late in the afternoon one day later, I got a call from Dave at the Demcon dump. More bad news. He didn't remember any snowmobiles coming in the dump. Worse, the Louisville Landfill was condemned by the State of Minnesota sometime in the early 1990's because it contained both domestic and commercial garbage and was probably hazardous. They ordered it covered with 4 feet of clay. It's an area about 8 city blocks square, covered in 4 feet of clay. Even if you had the time and the resources to dig in search of the sleds, Dave informed me that the state would never, ever allow digging in that area, probably for a period of twenty years or more.
How long does it take for aluminum and fiberglass to decompose? I wondered.
So that was it. End of the trail, end of the story. The Sharks are buried in a dump that can't be messed with. I can finish the story and be done with it.
But the pictures bothered me. They did not prove it was the Shark sleds were the sleds buried there. They just proved some snowmobiles were buried there. I was staring at the Scott County report one afternoon and decided to just check if Lee Marcraft still worked at Kawasaki. After doing some digging, I finally found Lee, working for Victory (Polaris) Motorcycles in Wisconsin. To my joy, he was willing to talk about the Kawasaki's as he no longer worked for them.
"Oh that damned rumor!" He laughed out loud. "That damned rumor has followed me around for decades, and caused me more damn grief..." he continued on. He told me the story much the same way Peter Schmidt of Scott County had told it. The building was being sold and Kawasaki decided to clean the mess up. The sleds were buried for liability reasons. They were crushed with a backhoe and buried just a few feet down. "Yeah, I suppose you don't want consumers driving any race sleds around huh?" I asked.
"Race sleds? Oh hell no. These were prototype consumer sleds. Kawasaki was going to be the first to introduce consumer IFS sleds. We had them all ready to go into production when Corporate pulled the plug on the snowmobile program". A mild pause as I collected my thoughts. "Then what happened to the race sleds?" I asked. "Don't know. I never saw them. But I do know the guy at corporate that would know that. Let me give him a call, and I'll call you back. He'd know what happened to them."
Cool. The trail was hot again!
I waited patiently for a week and tried Lee again. He had not heard from the person who might know more about the Sharks, but would keep trying. He did tell me that when the had the facility in Shakopee, one of the SnoPro sleds was stolen. But the moron who stole it parked it in his front yard and was arrested and the sled recovered within a few hours of its disappearance. I never heard from Lee again, nor have I tried to contact him again. I later found out who he was trying to contact at Kawasaki. It was, I believe, his former boss. After several frustrating days of trying to find this guy within Kawasaki, I was told he had quit just a few days before.
As the temperature dropped here in Minneapolis, the trail seemed to be getting colder. So I decided to start contacting anyone associated with the Kawasaki race program. First on my list: Ray Tuggle, the teams primary engine builder.
The Search For the 1977 Kawasaki "Shark" SnoPro Sleds.
Part 5: Shark Details with Ray Tuggle
By Larry Preston
At this point in my treasure hunt, I had given up on trying to be sneaky and get the story from some back alley source. I decided to just be bold and go directly to those that were involved. I tried Mr. Villanueve first. Not having a clue where to find him, I emailed the only email address on his personal vanity site, villanueve.com. It turned out to be his web designer, a snotty little punk with an attitude who informed me that Mr. Villanueve doesn't allow for direct contact, but that he, as a charitable act, would see to it that an email was forwarded on to the him.
Geez thanks. Next time I'm in the presenece of The Almighty, I'll kneel, bow my head and kiss my own rear. That should demonstrate my lowly place in the Villinueve Universe and allow me to talk to the great and powerful Jacque, right?
Instead, I composed a nice, short email and asked him if he knew where the sleds might be, would he mind being interviewed about them for the web site, and what could he tell me about the sleds themselves?
I've sent that email to his web guy twice since December, and I've recieved no reply. Jacque, if you read this, please fire your web guy and hire someone more interesting. I bet someone else reading this will know Jacque and check to see what he can tell us. In the meantime, I called the next guy on my list of people in the know about the Sharks: Kawasaki's racing engine builder and mechanic, Ray Tuggle. I caught up with Ray at his current job in Missourri.
Q: How many of the 1977 SnoPro sleds were built?
A: Each driver had 3 sleds, a 250cc, a 340cc and a 440. The 250cc and 340cc classes had to be factory stock but modifiable, according to the rules. The 440X machines allowed for anything. You know, if you would have asked me these questions ten years ago, I would have probably had to keep my mouth shut, but it's been so long ago now, I guess it's okay to talk about it. The 250 and 340 engines were'nt exactly, uh, stock, if you know what I mean! (laughter) I think there was a total of 11 or 12 of them, several as backups or spares.
Q: Were some leaf springs and some equipped with independant front suspension?
A: Greg (channell) wanted a solid front end. Jacque wanted the IFS. But after Polaris started to clean our clocks, it was appearent to Greg that the IFS was the way to go. By the end of the season, all the sleds had IFS.
Q: None of the leaf-spring models survived?
A: (Pause) I don't think so. Maybe some of the back-up sleds remained leaf-spring, but it's been twenty some years, I guess I don't remember. Some may have never been converted, but no one was driving anything but IFS by the end of the year. We did work on three sleds having prototype fiberglass springs, but we abandon that as they didn't really work all that well.
Q: What cn you tell me about the engine and the clutching in the sleds?
A: Mr. Fujikawa of Kawasaki Japan specifically required us to run the twin-plug Kawasaki engines in eveything except the 440X, where we had the room to experiment more. These were extremely ported engines, with Kawasaki clutches. The 340 and 440's were mostly production cylinders, but the 440X cylinders were all prototypes.
Q: What else was unique about the machines?
A: We tried a plastic cover for the chaincase, but when we ran the first endurance race, the chaincase got hot, the cover melted and eventually the chain froze up. It was a good idea, it cut the wieght down and allowed us to see at a glance how the oil was in the chaincase. It just couldn't take the heat! Other then that, I didn't work much on the rest of the sleds.
Q: I have an old Sno-Week article that says the chassis were actual production chassis - maybe even from a Thunderjet? Is this true?
A: No. They were custom built by a guy in McGregor, Minnesota. We gave him the specs and he machined them into place.
Q: Did they have serial numbers on them? Would anyone know what they are?
A: I don't recall, but in order to get through the inspection process, you would have had to match the engine parts to a chassis, and the only way to do that was with a serial number. They must have had them.
Q: What was most memorable part of the year (1977) for you?
A: Earlier in the year, Jacque came really close to winning the 440X championship in Alexandria. He was so close, just a few laps, and it would have made such a difference in the program. But he just coasted to a stop on the back stretch. Dead. We thought he blew the motor, but it turned out to be a small piece of rubber that had clogged the fuel line and stopped the motor. We almost shed tears over that loss, it was so close.
Q: Do you know what happened to the sleds after the year was up?
A: I helped get them on the truck, and they went back to the facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I would assume they were destroyed there. But I don't know for sure. That was the last I'd seen of them. It would be sure neat to see them again.
Yes, it sure would. I thanked Ray and hung up the phone. Maybe the original story of the sleds being buried was true. I was just digging in the wrong state.
Part 5: Shark Details with Ray Tuggle
By Larry Preston
At this point in my treasure hunt, I had given up on trying to be sneaky and get the story from some back alley source. I decided to just be bold and go directly to those that were involved. I tried Mr. Villanueve first. Not having a clue where to find him, I emailed the only email address on his personal vanity site, villanueve.com. It turned out to be his web designer, a snotty little punk with an attitude who informed me that Mr. Villanueve doesn't allow for direct contact, but that he, as a charitable act, would see to it that an email was forwarded on to the him.
Geez thanks. Next time I'm in the presenece of The Almighty, I'll kneel, bow my head and kiss my own rear. That should demonstrate my lowly place in the Villinueve Universe and allow me to talk to the great and powerful Jacque, right?
Instead, I composed a nice, short email and asked him if he knew where the sleds might be, would he mind being interviewed about them for the web site, and what could he tell me about the sleds themselves?
I've sent that email to his web guy twice since December, and I've recieved no reply. Jacque, if you read this, please fire your web guy and hire someone more interesting. I bet someone else reading this will know Jacque and check to see what he can tell us. In the meantime, I called the next guy on my list of people in the know about the Sharks: Kawasaki's racing engine builder and mechanic, Ray Tuggle. I caught up with Ray at his current job in Missourri.
Q: How many of the 1977 SnoPro sleds were built?
A: Each driver had 3 sleds, a 250cc, a 340cc and a 440. The 250cc and 340cc classes had to be factory stock but modifiable, according to the rules. The 440X machines allowed for anything. You know, if you would have asked me these questions ten years ago, I would have probably had to keep my mouth shut, but it's been so long ago now, I guess it's okay to talk about it. The 250 and 340 engines were'nt exactly, uh, stock, if you know what I mean! (laughter) I think there was a total of 11 or 12 of them, several as backups or spares.
Q: Were some leaf springs and some equipped with independant front suspension?
A: Greg (channell) wanted a solid front end. Jacque wanted the IFS. But after Polaris started to clean our clocks, it was appearent to Greg that the IFS was the way to go. By the end of the season, all the sleds had IFS.
Q: None of the leaf-spring models survived?
A: (Pause) I don't think so. Maybe some of the back-up sleds remained leaf-spring, but it's been twenty some years, I guess I don't remember. Some may have never been converted, but no one was driving anything but IFS by the end of the year. We did work on three sleds having prototype fiberglass springs, but we abandon that as they didn't really work all that well.
Q: What cn you tell me about the engine and the clutching in the sleds?
A: Mr. Fujikawa of Kawasaki Japan specifically required us to run the twin-plug Kawasaki engines in eveything except the 440X, where we had the room to experiment more. These were extremely ported engines, with Kawasaki clutches. The 340 and 440's were mostly production cylinders, but the 440X cylinders were all prototypes.
Q: What else was unique about the machines?
A: We tried a plastic cover for the chaincase, but when we ran the first endurance race, the chaincase got hot, the cover melted and eventually the chain froze up. It was a good idea, it cut the wieght down and allowed us to see at a glance how the oil was in the chaincase. It just couldn't take the heat! Other then that, I didn't work much on the rest of the sleds.
Q: I have an old Sno-Week article that says the chassis were actual production chassis - maybe even from a Thunderjet? Is this true?
A: No. They were custom built by a guy in McGregor, Minnesota. We gave him the specs and he machined them into place.
Q: Did they have serial numbers on them? Would anyone know what they are?
A: I don't recall, but in order to get through the inspection process, you would have had to match the engine parts to a chassis, and the only way to do that was with a serial number. They must have had them.
Q: What was most memorable part of the year (1977) for you?
A: Earlier in the year, Jacque came really close to winning the 440X championship in Alexandria. He was so close, just a few laps, and it would have made such a difference in the program. But he just coasted to a stop on the back stretch. Dead. We thought he blew the motor, but it turned out to be a small piece of rubber that had clogged the fuel line and stopped the motor. We almost shed tears over that loss, it was so close.
Q: Do you know what happened to the sleds after the year was up?
A: I helped get them on the truck, and they went back to the facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I would assume they were destroyed there. But I don't know for sure. That was the last I'd seen of them. It would be sure neat to see them again.
Yes, it sure would. I thanked Ray and hung up the phone. Maybe the original story of the sleds being buried was true. I was just digging in the wrong state.
The Search For the 1977 Kawasaki "Shark" SnoPro Sleds.
Part 6: So What Happened to The Sharks?
By Larry Preston
January 15th, 2002 9:35 PM
So what was the fate of these remarkable machines?
"I went to California right after the last race of the season, and I can tell you that no sleds went there. None. No production sleds, no prototypes, no SnoPros" Gary Mathers told me just a few days ago. After searching for Gary all over Kawasaki and Honda for months, I finally got tipped off that Gary worked for the American Motorcycle Association. He called me back and sounded genuinely happy to talk about these incredible machines and his experience at Kawasaki.
"We knew the design was good. We had the horsepower. But the chassis was a bit too long and the front a bit too wide. We needed more time and more help to really develop the sled. By 1978, I'm sure we could have had a winner." But as we all know, racing was ended for Kawasaki before the 1978 season could get started.
As far as Gary knew, Duane Aho, the Godfather of the ThunderJet, was likely the guy at Kawasaki that wanted to go racing and got the racing program started. Aho may even have been experimenting with a ThunderJet tunnel on the new Kawasaki when Gary was brought in to replace Duanne. They likely built one or two like that, but they were never used.
Larry Rugland, Ray Tuggle and Greg Channell share a laugh inside the Kawasaki truck.The search was on for drivers soon after Gary came on board. "We had a heck of a time finding drivers. Everybody that was good was already signed up with another team. Greg came from within Kawasaki and was an easy enough choice. We got lucky when we got Jacque. Jacque was a very hard worker and really tried hard". I asked him about those great looking leather suits the team had. "Truth was, Kawasaki's clothing line was just awful. So I called up Bates and ordered new suits for everyone. I caught all kinds of hell for that. But what else could I do? Everyone kept their leathers at the end of the year. I had mine until I sold them to some fellow who could fit into them. No idea where they went from there".
Of course this means that Channell, whom I've not spoken with, Jacque, & Witt may still have theirs. Ray Tuggle confirmed his leathers are still with him. "Did any of the drivers get to keep a sled?" I asked Gary, hoping to spark a memory. "No" came the answer I didn't really want to hear. "We had no policy for that. Each driver had a practice sled that they could take home to practice on, but they were consumer models, not the SnoPros. They may have those".
Rare, unpublished CJ Ramstad photo of the IFS Shark without the hood.
Gary's legacy with Polaris in 1974 was an extremely successful race team. He continued on to tell me that he dearly missed the boys in Roseau after moving on to Kawasaki. "They just did what needed to be done. They weren't all hung up on engineering. If we needed a part, somebody had made it before I had a chance to think about it. Eastman is just very good. He's still kind of my hero".
We talked for some time about his experience at Polaris. I asked finally built up enough courage to ask what he knew about there whereabouts of the Sharks.
"No idea. They probably got destroyed." We continued to talk for awhile about the practice all the manufacturers had of destroying some products by crushing them and burying them. I can only guess that this means they were likely crushed and buried near the Michigan plant, but for environmental concerns, no one at Kawasaki will ever admit that. I would speculate that only a precious few people ever knew they were buried, or where.
There are two executives (one current, one former) at Kawasaki who I believe know the truth about the fate of the Sharks. I finally got information on the whereabouts of the former Kawasaki executive, but to date, he won't return a phone call. The other Kawasaki executive won't return a call either, and I've been trying to call him for almost a year.
To date, I still have not heard from either driver. They may know something about what happened to the sleds. I did get an email that Jacque had once given away some parts for the Sharks, some skis, a plastic chaincase cover, maybe more. I'm still trying to get those parts or pictures of them. I have left numerous messages for Jacque, and no reply. Same with Channell.
There was one other lead I've been following to no avail. It seems Kawasaki does have a storage facility where they store products for historical purposes. The facility manager there was "kind of sure" there is no snowmobiles at that facility, but he made it clear he would make no effort to look for them, either. Even if Kawasaki did save some sleds, it seems doubtful they would have held on to any of the Sharks, especially when you consider the fact that their racing record was not that good after 1977. But you really can't blame the Kawasaki team for having a bad year. Thanks to the crushing success of the Polaris "Midnight Blue Express" in 1977, no team other then Polaris could claim 1977 as a good year.
Jacque in the SM 340 Final, Alexandria, MN.
It seems like the Sharks were loaded on to the truck after the last race in 1977 and drove off into the fog. From that point forward, the sleds were just plain gone. Like the Bermuda Triangle had swallowed them. Except for the photos and maybe a few parts, there's no proof they ever existed. All the effort and time that was put it to them, including my effort to try and find them over 20 years later seems like such a waste.
I warned you at the beginning that this story may not have a happy ending. I can now tell you that's not true. But unfortunately, it's only true because the story has no ending.
I will forever hold out hope that maybe, just maybe, someone will be able to come forth and give you and I some kind of closure. I would prefer an ending to the story where at least one lone surviving Shark is found, under several feet of dust in a locked up warehouse. Or maybe in the garage of someone that was smart enough to steal one and keep it under wraps all these years. Maybe it will wind up in the Snowmobile Hall of Fame where hundred of people every year will be able to see how cool of a sled it was. Maybe.
This whole Shark hunt started for me on a rumor that the Sharks were buried behind a building. It ends on a rumor that they are buried behind a building, just not the one where I was digging.
I sincerely hope that someone who knows the truth will read this article and give me a call. Or an email. Just because my Shark Hunting ends here, doesn't mean the story has to.
Larry Preston
January 16th, 2002 1:45 AM
Part 6: So What Happened to The Sharks?
By Larry Preston
January 15th, 2002 9:35 PM
So what was the fate of these remarkable machines?
"I went to California right after the last race of the season, and I can tell you that no sleds went there. None. No production sleds, no prototypes, no SnoPros" Gary Mathers told me just a few days ago. After searching for Gary all over Kawasaki and Honda for months, I finally got tipped off that Gary worked for the American Motorcycle Association. He called me back and sounded genuinely happy to talk about these incredible machines and his experience at Kawasaki.
"We knew the design was good. We had the horsepower. But the chassis was a bit too long and the front a bit too wide. We needed more time and more help to really develop the sled. By 1978, I'm sure we could have had a winner." But as we all know, racing was ended for Kawasaki before the 1978 season could get started.
As far as Gary knew, Duane Aho, the Godfather of the ThunderJet, was likely the guy at Kawasaki that wanted to go racing and got the racing program started. Aho may even have been experimenting with a ThunderJet tunnel on the new Kawasaki when Gary was brought in to replace Duanne. They likely built one or two like that, but they were never used.
Larry Rugland, Ray Tuggle and Greg Channell share a laugh inside the Kawasaki truck.The search was on for drivers soon after Gary came on board. "We had a heck of a time finding drivers. Everybody that was good was already signed up with another team. Greg came from within Kawasaki and was an easy enough choice. We got lucky when we got Jacque. Jacque was a very hard worker and really tried hard". I asked him about those great looking leather suits the team had. "Truth was, Kawasaki's clothing line was just awful. So I called up Bates and ordered new suits for everyone. I caught all kinds of hell for that. But what else could I do? Everyone kept their leathers at the end of the year. I had mine until I sold them to some fellow who could fit into them. No idea where they went from there".
Of course this means that Channell, whom I've not spoken with, Jacque, & Witt may still have theirs. Ray Tuggle confirmed his leathers are still with him. "Did any of the drivers get to keep a sled?" I asked Gary, hoping to spark a memory. "No" came the answer I didn't really want to hear. "We had no policy for that. Each driver had a practice sled that they could take home to practice on, but they were consumer models, not the SnoPros. They may have those".
Rare, unpublished CJ Ramstad photo of the IFS Shark without the hood.
Gary's legacy with Polaris in 1974 was an extremely successful race team. He continued on to tell me that he dearly missed the boys in Roseau after moving on to Kawasaki. "They just did what needed to be done. They weren't all hung up on engineering. If we needed a part, somebody had made it before I had a chance to think about it. Eastman is just very good. He's still kind of my hero".
We talked for some time about his experience at Polaris. I asked finally built up enough courage to ask what he knew about there whereabouts of the Sharks.
"No idea. They probably got destroyed." We continued to talk for awhile about the practice all the manufacturers had of destroying some products by crushing them and burying them. I can only guess that this means they were likely crushed and buried near the Michigan plant, but for environmental concerns, no one at Kawasaki will ever admit that. I would speculate that only a precious few people ever knew they were buried, or where.
There are two executives (one current, one former) at Kawasaki who I believe know the truth about the fate of the Sharks. I finally got information on the whereabouts of the former Kawasaki executive, but to date, he won't return a phone call. The other Kawasaki executive won't return a call either, and I've been trying to call him for almost a year.
To date, I still have not heard from either driver. They may know something about what happened to the sleds. I did get an email that Jacque had once given away some parts for the Sharks, some skis, a plastic chaincase cover, maybe more. I'm still trying to get those parts or pictures of them. I have left numerous messages for Jacque, and no reply. Same with Channell.
There was one other lead I've been following to no avail. It seems Kawasaki does have a storage facility where they store products for historical purposes. The facility manager there was "kind of sure" there is no snowmobiles at that facility, but he made it clear he would make no effort to look for them, either. Even if Kawasaki did save some sleds, it seems doubtful they would have held on to any of the Sharks, especially when you consider the fact that their racing record was not that good after 1977. But you really can't blame the Kawasaki team for having a bad year. Thanks to the crushing success of the Polaris "Midnight Blue Express" in 1977, no team other then Polaris could claim 1977 as a good year.
Jacque in the SM 340 Final, Alexandria, MN.
It seems like the Sharks were loaded on to the truck after the last race in 1977 and drove off into the fog. From that point forward, the sleds were just plain gone. Like the Bermuda Triangle had swallowed them. Except for the photos and maybe a few parts, there's no proof they ever existed. All the effort and time that was put it to them, including my effort to try and find them over 20 years later seems like such a waste.
I warned you at the beginning that this story may not have a happy ending. I can now tell you that's not true. But unfortunately, it's only true because the story has no ending.
I will forever hold out hope that maybe, just maybe, someone will be able to come forth and give you and I some kind of closure. I would prefer an ending to the story where at least one lone surviving Shark is found, under several feet of dust in a locked up warehouse. Or maybe in the garage of someone that was smart enough to steal one and keep it under wraps all these years. Maybe it will wind up in the Snowmobile Hall of Fame where hundred of people every year will be able to see how cool of a sled it was. Maybe.
This whole Shark hunt started for me on a rumor that the Sharks were buried behind a building. It ends on a rumor that they are buried behind a building, just not the one where I was digging.
I sincerely hope that someone who knows the truth will read this article and give me a call. Or an email. Just because my Shark Hunting ends here, doesn't mean the story has to.
Larry Preston
January 16th, 2002 1:45 AM
The Search For the 1977 Kawasaki "Shark" SnoPro Sleds.
Part 7: Post Mortem
By Larry Preston
January 04th, 2003
I got three pieces of bad news tonight. First of, I learned from vintagesleds.com contributor Hal Armstrong that Duane Aho, creator of the classic Sno*Jet Thunderjets passed away. I don't know when, but I didn't know Mr. Aho was no longer with us. Next, Loren Anderson of the Snowmobile Hall of Fame informed me of some bad news. "We just learned that Susie SnowGoer Scholwin passed away. She is one of our inductees." My thoughts were with the survivors of the Aho and Scholwin family. Maybe they are somewhere that is covered with snow and the world looks a little brighter.
When the phone rang I was knee deep into trying to tear apart a Polaris SnoPro. Talk about a humbling experience.
"Is this Larry the writer?" I had to think about that. I've been called many things, but never a writer. "Maybe" I replied, still not sure of what to think about being called a writer. The caller eventually identified himself and said he has worked for the city of Shakopee for many, many years. He is also a snowmobiler and had heard for many years the rumors about the 1977 Kawasaki SnoPro sleds being buried behind the research facility in Shakopee.
He said he looked me up just to give me a call and let me know it was true. He had witnessed an actual shark sled being pulled out of the ground several years back when they where making way for a new building. He said there was way more then one spot where sleds where buried behind that facility. Kawasaki buried tons of crap all the way around that chunk of land. The one Scott County found was just one of many the City of Shakopee found.
Whenever someone said they had dug up some sleds back there, he ran over and checked it out. One backhoe of dirt contained a nearly complete 1977 Kawasaki SnoPro. The dirt had eaten away any rubber, the seat, all of the steal and a good portion of the aluminum. The hood was just an oozy pile of goo. He watched it get dumped on a truck and hauled off to the dump.
He also said Kawasaki had a habit of buying test sleds from other manufacturers, testing them for one season then buring them. Over the years he's seen Ski-Doo's, Scorpions, Cats - you name it - they've been dug up behind that facility. No wonder Kawasaki couldn't make any money with Snowmobiles.
Post Mortem:
It's been a long time since I thought about the Sharks. I have one of the photos from the article on the wall in my office. I look at it everyday and wonder how they (Kawasaki) could have been so short sited as to have not kept at least one Shark for posterity. Several people, since reading this article have made attempts to contact many of the same people I chased down while writing this article. So far, nothing new has been turned up. Jacque Villenueve still has not commented, Greg Channell refuses to talk about them (or his wife won't allow him), and the Kawasaki executives have all remained silent, even though most of them have gone on to other companies.
I thought I was very close to finding one awhile back. A well known Minnesota engine builder had died of a heart attack on a snowmobile trip. His girlfriend told me his favorite sled was his Kawasaki. She didn't know for sure why he liked it so much, except that he had told her it was extremely rare. She said it was low and had an independent front suspension...
It took awhile to get to see it, but I finally did, and again, disappointment. She was right that it was very rare. It was a prototype Kawasaki trail sled - complete with independent front suspension. But it wasn't a Shark. It's in a private collection now.
It is now my belief that they are gone for good - but I still reserve the right to hold out hope. Besides, I hear not one, but two parties are trying to build replicas of the sled from scratch. I would like to see that - I'd like even more to ride one.
The article has proven to be one of the most popular things ever to have been put on the web site, and it was picked up and published in C.J. Ramstads City Sledder magazine. I continue to get email all the time with questions, suggestions and ideas on the hunt. I've met a lot of great people because of the article.
So the time spent hunting the Sharks down seems like time well spent to me. Well spent indeed.
So I went hunting for another sled, just as rare, but with much better results...
Part 7: Post Mortem
By Larry Preston
January 04th, 2003
I got three pieces of bad news tonight. First of, I learned from vintagesleds.com contributor Hal Armstrong that Duane Aho, creator of the classic Sno*Jet Thunderjets passed away. I don't know when, but I didn't know Mr. Aho was no longer with us. Next, Loren Anderson of the Snowmobile Hall of Fame informed me of some bad news. "We just learned that Susie SnowGoer Scholwin passed away. She is one of our inductees." My thoughts were with the survivors of the Aho and Scholwin family. Maybe they are somewhere that is covered with snow and the world looks a little brighter.
When the phone rang I was knee deep into trying to tear apart a Polaris SnoPro. Talk about a humbling experience.
"Is this Larry the writer?" I had to think about that. I've been called many things, but never a writer. "Maybe" I replied, still not sure of what to think about being called a writer. The caller eventually identified himself and said he has worked for the city of Shakopee for many, many years. He is also a snowmobiler and had heard for many years the rumors about the 1977 Kawasaki SnoPro sleds being buried behind the research facility in Shakopee.
He said he looked me up just to give me a call and let me know it was true. He had witnessed an actual shark sled being pulled out of the ground several years back when they where making way for a new building. He said there was way more then one spot where sleds where buried behind that facility. Kawasaki buried tons of crap all the way around that chunk of land. The one Scott County found was just one of many the City of Shakopee found.
Whenever someone said they had dug up some sleds back there, he ran over and checked it out. One backhoe of dirt contained a nearly complete 1977 Kawasaki SnoPro. The dirt had eaten away any rubber, the seat, all of the steal and a good portion of the aluminum. The hood was just an oozy pile of goo. He watched it get dumped on a truck and hauled off to the dump.
He also said Kawasaki had a habit of buying test sleds from other manufacturers, testing them for one season then buring them. Over the years he's seen Ski-Doo's, Scorpions, Cats - you name it - they've been dug up behind that facility. No wonder Kawasaki couldn't make any money with Snowmobiles.
Post Mortem:
It's been a long time since I thought about the Sharks. I have one of the photos from the article on the wall in my office. I look at it everyday and wonder how they (Kawasaki) could have been so short sited as to have not kept at least one Shark for posterity. Several people, since reading this article have made attempts to contact many of the same people I chased down while writing this article. So far, nothing new has been turned up. Jacque Villenueve still has not commented, Greg Channell refuses to talk about them (or his wife won't allow him), and the Kawasaki executives have all remained silent, even though most of them have gone on to other companies.
I thought I was very close to finding one awhile back. A well known Minnesota engine builder had died of a heart attack on a snowmobile trip. His girlfriend told me his favorite sled was his Kawasaki. She didn't know for sure why he liked it so much, except that he had told her it was extremely rare. She said it was low and had an independent front suspension...
It took awhile to get to see it, but I finally did, and again, disappointment. She was right that it was very rare. It was a prototype Kawasaki trail sled - complete with independent front suspension. But it wasn't a Shark. It's in a private collection now.
It is now my belief that they are gone for good - but I still reserve the right to hold out hope. Besides, I hear not one, but two parties are trying to build replicas of the sled from scratch. I would like to see that - I'd like even more to ride one.
The article has proven to be one of the most popular things ever to have been put on the web site, and it was picked up and published in C.J. Ramstads City Sledder magazine. I continue to get email all the time with questions, suggestions and ideas on the hunt. I've met a lot of great people because of the article.
So the time spent hunting the Sharks down seems like time well spent to me. Well spent indeed.
So I went hunting for another sled, just as rare, but with much better results...
Shark Repro
Brad Warning’s 1977 Kawasaki Shark. Built from a real motor and in the IFS version, this is the first time this has been at the show. It looked amazing. They really did a nice job on this baby. You may recall Brad had a leaf spring version and a version with an airplane engine in it at previous shows – but this is is the first IFS version. Now we all need to convince Brad that someone has to race one of these. Next time you see Brad, be sure and ask him when we are going to see one on the track again.
Shark Repro
