Post by ddub on Jan 16, 2012 20:50:37 GMT -5
70 foot jump on a Mark I. I can't imagine the landing 
from this article.
www.aitkinage.com/news/item/6079-former-guinness-record-holder-recalls-his-rainbow-snowmobile-jump
Cliff Kittelson says he's lucky he landed on the ice in one piece after soaring over the lake on his souped-up Scorpion
Cliff Kittelson doesn't know how long he held the record for the longest snowmobile jump but he knows things have changed a lot since the late 60s when he made his record-breaking jump. And, he also knows he was lucky to have survived the jump in one piece. He landed with every bone intact and also in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The equipment has improved by leaps and bounds and the preparation for distance snowmobile jumping is more extensive these days but it's still a dangerous business. The current record holder, Paul Thacker of Brainerd, set his record of 301 feet in March of 2010 at Brainerd International Raceway. This winter, Thacker is recovering from multiple broken ribs and a broken back that he sustained in a freestyle snowmobile crash.
Kittelson, who lives in the Crosby area, said he considers himself very lucky that he was not seriously injured when he made the nearly 70-foot jump that got him in the record book in 1968.
"I jumped the old way ... we made a ramp ... I got going as fast as I could go, made what we called a rainbow jump and landed on the ice," Kittelson said.
He remembers flying above the telephone poles on Detroit Lake and having a lot of time to think while the snowmobile fell from under him. He managed to hold on to the handle bars and land with his knees back on the snowmobile that landed before he did.
"I was in my early 20s when I was doing a lot of racing and crazy stuff. It was a lot of fun but I wouldn't do anything like that now ... I'd break into a million pieces," Kittelson said.
He was working for Scorpion at the time where he ran the welding business. The sled he rode into the record books was a Mark I Scorpion with a modified four-cylinder drone engine.
"It launched me like a rocket," he said.
Kittelson is retired now and the snowmobiling he likes best is spectating at vintage snowmobile events.
And, speaking of vintage, another thing he'd like to see is the look on his face as he was flying along the arc of a rainbow, heading for the ice on the lake with his machine almost perpendicular beneath him.
"I bet it was pure fright as I was probably thinking, 'What have I gotten myself into?' "
When we informed him that his record no longer stands, he took it in stride reasoning that, unlike bones, records are made to be broken.
from this article.
www.aitkinage.com/news/item/6079-former-guinness-record-holder-recalls-his-rainbow-snowmobile-jump
Cliff Kittelson says he's lucky he landed on the ice in one piece after soaring over the lake on his souped-up Scorpion
Cliff Kittelson doesn't know how long he held the record for the longest snowmobile jump but he knows things have changed a lot since the late 60s when he made his record-breaking jump. And, he also knows he was lucky to have survived the jump in one piece. He landed with every bone intact and also in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The equipment has improved by leaps and bounds and the preparation for distance snowmobile jumping is more extensive these days but it's still a dangerous business. The current record holder, Paul Thacker of Brainerd, set his record of 301 feet in March of 2010 at Brainerd International Raceway. This winter, Thacker is recovering from multiple broken ribs and a broken back that he sustained in a freestyle snowmobile crash.
Kittelson, who lives in the Crosby area, said he considers himself very lucky that he was not seriously injured when he made the nearly 70-foot jump that got him in the record book in 1968.
"I jumped the old way ... we made a ramp ... I got going as fast as I could go, made what we called a rainbow jump and landed on the ice," Kittelson said.
He remembers flying above the telephone poles on Detroit Lake and having a lot of time to think while the snowmobile fell from under him. He managed to hold on to the handle bars and land with his knees back on the snowmobile that landed before he did.
"I was in my early 20s when I was doing a lot of racing and crazy stuff. It was a lot of fun but I wouldn't do anything like that now ... I'd break into a million pieces," Kittelson said.
He was working for Scorpion at the time where he ran the welding business. The sled he rode into the record books was a Mark I Scorpion with a modified four-cylinder drone engine.
"It launched me like a rocket," he said.
Kittelson is retired now and the snowmobiling he likes best is spectating at vintage snowmobile events.
And, speaking of vintage, another thing he'd like to see is the look on his face as he was flying along the arc of a rainbow, heading for the ice on the lake with his machine almost perpendicular beneath him.
"I bet it was pure fright as I was probably thinking, 'What have I gotten myself into?' "
When we informed him that his record no longer stands, he took it in stride reasoning that, unlike bones, records are made to be broken.
