ESPN Snowmobiling

Pending Swedish translation into Sled Man Talking-ese, this Swedish television video must suffice. Meantime, holy cow, geeze louise, holy moly!—to go with Levi-ese.

Bodin is apparently OK, because holy cow, geeze louise, holy moly...

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Heath Frisby has surfaced with this email message:

To All,

Check out a sneak peak of my episode on Nitro Circus... The episode will air this Sunday, the 19th of April, at 8 p.m. PST. Thank you for all of your help and support.

-HF

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Snowmobiling as art. Braps weird for sure, but here is some. Medium: Moving pictures, abstract. Artist: Sebastian Landry.

ABSTRACT, by s. lAdnry.

THC UPDATE.

Tod Welch of Colorado Sledstyle gave me a invitation to the Jackson Hole Best of the Best freestyle comp by Octane Addictions, and to test ride the new un-released sled from Polaris called the Rush. After negotiating a crazy flight scheduled out of Anchorage, due to the recent volcano eruptions, I met up with Tod and the rest of the CSS crew.

First the contest. The set up this year was unique due to the double ramp set up at one landing. Isic Sherbine lead the charge early on with classic "goon" style tricks. Heath Frisby looked like the man to beat in practice throwing look-over flips, but in the end the rider-judged event was won by Daniel Bodin with his nac flip. The most notable trick of the night, though, was a pendulum flip by Joe Parsons. But it was not executed in the alloted two attempt format. As far as the crowd was concerned, Dane Ferguson stole the show with an all or nothing attempt at a gigantic whip on his trusty X Games Yammy. After the contest part of the show, Jimmy Blaze and Heath Frisby threw down some impressive doubles freestyle in snowstorm conditions.

The next morning I headed up the pass to the Lava Mt. Lodge for my first ride on the Polaris Rush snowmachine and the Teton mts. We were stoked on the snow conditions—about three feet of fresh snow had fallen in the past week. With freestyle riders Daniel Bodin, Jimmy Blaze, Dane Ferguson, Vito Taverna, Nakia, and the Colorado Sledstyle crew, we roared into the Wyoming backcountry with our guides form Ten High Films. Although the weather didnt cooperate, the crew did get to session a few jumps and Tod Welch and I crushed some pow on the new Polaris.

Thanks to Colorado Sledstyle and Octane Addictions for a great weekend. Here's the video, enjoy.

—Sebastian Landry

POSTSCRIPT

Nice art piece. What to make of the final act?

S. Landry: "Sam and Kourt left their sleds at the venue after the show and by the time they finally returned to retrieve the sleds they were covered with snow. If you listen carefully to the audio you can hear who the culprits were."

Say what? "Listen to audio again, it's in the beginning."

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Sara Schultz

Getting back on the horse. Says Sara Schultz, "Picture is from Hill City, when Mike rode for the first time since the accident and without a prosthetic leg. Amazing."

None of this would prepare Schultz, known for a gritty determination that gave rise to his nickname, for a life-changing challenge that was to come, however. On Dec. 12, 2008, at the second stop of the series in Ironwood, Mich., Schultz suffered an injury that resulted in the amputation of his left leg. But in the weeks following the accident, Schultz lived up to his nickname more than ever. Battling through tremendous pain, he was back riding at the Park X practice track in Hill City, Minn., a month and a half after losing his leg.

Similarly, the snocross community has rallied around the 27-year-old from tiny Pillager, Minn., by donating sleds and memorabilia and holding a benefit to aid in his recovery. ISOC has since retired Schultz's racing number, No. 5, in honor of the Monster and his influence on the sport. And, it turns out, Schultz's gritty determination continues to shine through now as ever.

Last month, during the Snocross nationals weekend at Hayward, Wis., ESPN Snowmobiling caught up with Schultz for an interview.

Gary Walton

Mike Schultz's No. 5 was retired at the Brainerd Nationals.

Take us through the accident at Ironwood.
Mike Schultz: "It was the first qualifier for the stock class, and I had a nasty start. I hit the trigger, and I think I just spun a trench and got left in the dust. I got up to sixth place and I was battling with [Bobby] LePage, trying to get around him. The track had some pretty gnarly high-speed downhills on it. About halfway through the race, I came down one of the hills, and there was a lot of snow dust, and I couldn't see real well. I just kind of got crossed up a little sideways, nothing real bad. But I couldn't spot the landing, so I wasn't quite ready for it and landed kind of stiff-legged on my left leg; it just popped. I fell off to the side, and my sled just coasted away, didn't even roll. I just flopped off to the side. My leg was pointing the wrong way, so I'm laying on the ground and my leg is up by my chest. I slammed it down because I was freaked out. [Laughter] It just didn't look right at all. It was just so painful right away. It seemed like it took forever for someone to get there. I knew it was bad. I was kind of screaming, and a couple guys came over and zipped my pant leg open, and blood just gushed out."

"I knew it was bad, but there wasn't a thought in my mind that they were going to have to amputate it. I kind of figured they could bolt anything together. [But] I lost so much blood on the track, they weren't able to give me pain medicines right away. So then we went to the Ironwood hospital and they couldn't take care of me there, they just didn't have the facility to do anything. They gave me just a little shot of morphine and sent me on the way to Duluth, which was two hours away."

Sara Schultz

Learning to walk with the new prosthetic.

In a helicopter? "[Laughter] Yeah, they had some bad weather in Duluth, so the chopper couldn't fly. And people don't want to pull over for ambulances very well! [Laughter] It just seemed like it took forever. But once we got to Saint Mary's in Duluth, there was a group of 10 or 12 people there ready to take care of me, and I was just relieved. That was the start of the process of the surgeries. They knocked me out and I thought, 'Finally, some pain meds!'"

You were alert despite losing so much blood? "Yeah, I wish I would have passed out because it was so painful. Thank God my wife was there. She's a nurse, and she was by my side from the time I got loaded up at the track. She wasn't getting emotional. She just kind of went into work mode, doing whatever she could to make it better. And she was the only person the whole time who could keep me somewhat calm so I didn't pass out. I'm so glad she was around. She actually fought her way to be able to ride in the ambulance on the way to Duluth."

How much blood did they end up giving you? "They gave me over 30 units of blood. As soon as I get well enough, I'm going to go donate blood [laughs], because thank God for the people who donate blood! I was going through so much of it."

Courtesy Sara Schultz

Sara and Mike Schultz at Brainerd International Raceway in early February.

How many surgeries did you have? "I ended up having three consecutive surgeries throughout two and a half days. The first surgery was just to kind of clean it up and see what was all damaged to take care of the bleeding. And they kind of patched it together the best they could, but I had no feeling in it. It severed the main nerve and artery that supplies the lower leg right underneath the knee joint. They were able to get blood down to my foot after the first surgery, but it wouldn't circulate back."

When were you presented with the prospect of amputation? "After the third surgery, I woke up and was told we had a tough decision to make. So they told us what the problems were with the nerves, arteries and whatnot. I was in shock, and my heart just kind of sank. I listened to what they thought was the best route and I was like, 'Yeah, all right, I don't want to drag around a limb that doesn't work at all.' So they took it off about four inches above the knee joint."

How was the rest of your time in the hospital? "It was tough. There was a whole week where it was real nasty from the trauma and loss of blood. It messed me up pretty bad. They couldn't figure out how to take care of the pain. I was just in agony for four days or so before they could figure out the right combination of meds to take care of it. The crazy part, with all of the surgeries I had, I retained water from the IV fluids and I gained 60 pounds. I was 247 pounds at my maximum. I couldn't even touch my face because my joints were swollen. I was so big, it was ridiculous, just insane. They started giving me medicine to get rid of the fluid, and in one day I lost 15 pounds."

Gary Walton

Schultz in victory-lap mode at Brainerd last month.

When did you get to go home? "My overall hospital stay was 12 days. I think about the last four days I was able to start moving around getting up on my foot and walking to the bathroom and stuff. I got home on Christmas Eve day. A couple of days after Christmas, I got to feeling somewhat normal. I was really battling the pain."

How long did you fight the severe pain? "Up to about a month ago I couldn't sleep at night because the pain was so bad. It felt like my foot was still there, and it was just a crazy thing, I swear I could see it there yet. And it hurt. It was just cramping all of the time. It was tough to get used to. Finally, after a while it just got a little better and a little better, and it's pretty decent now. I still feel it a little bit, but it's definitely manageable. I can sleep at night now."

And now you have a prosthetic? "My prosthetic has been going excellent. I got fitted for it five weeks after the accident, and I got it just under six weeks after. The first time they had the complete leg done, I went in there and took a couple steps on it without using the bars or anything. I used crutches, but I was able to do a few steps without them. I was pretty pumped because the prosthetist said they had never seen anybody up on their prosthetic so fast after an accident like that."

And you've already been back on a sled? "I took my snowmobile for a ride two weeks after I was home. [Smiling] I didn't have my leg yet, but I had to go get the mail! So I fired it up and went down the ditch a couple miles. It was different, but I had a big smile on my face, just finally getting outside and doing something. I've been on the sled a couple times since I got my new leg."

Gary Walton

Mike Schultz and his Warnert Racing team at Brainerd.

"I'm actually going to be signing up for the mechanics race at Lake Geneva [Wis.], so I'll do what I can down there. I might cartwheel down the hill hard, but I don't even care, it's just for fun. I haven't been on a track yet. I was launching some road approaches the other day, so we're working up to it. We'll get some practice in next week up at Hill City."

And rumor has it you might try some cross-country snowmobile racing, too? "Yeah, nothing serious, it won't be like a top priority, but it's something I want to try. I always wanted to run it and see how I liked, so you know, next year, I definitely want to try a couple weekends and see how that goes."

And you've been supporting your team at the races? "Since Canterbury, I've been working with my teammates, the semi-pro and pro guys, just trying to coach them anyway I can. Working with the semi-pros and watching them race isn't so bad. But when I watch the pro class race, it's really tough. I'm not going to lie. It's hard, and it's getting harder every weekend, it seems. I'm just trying to keep myself busy with our other riders and focus on them."

So you plan on staying involved in snocross? "Yeah I'm just trying to have as much fun as I can. Next year, I'm not sure, but working with [Warnert Racing's snocross team] as an athlete manager is a really good option for me. You know, just trying to stay in it any way I can. I have some things going with my family's construction company that might end up being good, too. Now I don't have to focus on training six days a week, so I have some time to focus on a real job, I guess [laughter]."

Do you have plans to get back on a motocross bike? "Yeah, I'm doing some research on an electronic shifter, to take care of the shifting for me. And there's an event called Extremity Games. It's for adaptive athletes with missing limbs and stuff, and motocross is one of the sports. It's in Michigan in July, so I might try to train to race there. It's actually a qualifier for the Summer X Games adaptive motocross, too. So yeah, I'll get my bike set up and see what I can do. I have to get the right knee combination, too, to make things work. I'm definitely going to try and see how I end up. Hopefully I don't land on my head too hard."

Anyone you'd like to thank or give a shout-out to? "At the top of the list is definitely my wife, Sara. She's just been a rock for me. I'd be a complete mess if she wasn't taking care of all of my appointments, because it's almost every day. My whole family, too."

"The snocross community put together a benefit in Brainerd Thursday before the snocross there. It was outstanding. We figure about 1,500 people came, and all of the teams brought their semis and opened them up for the public to check everything out. The silent auction raised just about $40,000 to help out toward my prosthetic leg expenses."

"Warnerts have been just open arms, whatever they can do to help me out. It's just been excellent. I feel like I've been with Warnerts and Ski-Doo for years, but I just signed with them in September. They've just treated me great. Ski-Doo and Polaris each donated a sled to me to put toward expenses. Everyone in the snocross community and the Brainerd area has just been so helpful, so I have to thank everybody."

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Masters of Dirt

Just as mobiles adorn the upper airspaces of, say, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, so does this fetching installation—Justin Hoyer & Sled—accent an indoor collesium in Linz, Austria.

"Hello Ladies and Gents,

Masters of Dirt

Conditions call for clear goggles, clearly.

"OK, I know it's been a while since I last informed you all on my status, but I figured I better do it before you all forget me!

"So after snagging the silver at X, I decided it was time to get back on my bike and start practicing again. Also I wanted to get out of the cold for a while after spending all that time in the cold prior to X. So first it was a trip down to Phoenix to see my buddy Paris. I shredded down there for a few days and then it was off to Vienna for the Masters of Dirt show.

"OK, I have been to some gnarly shows in the past but this one probably takes the cake. You couldn't fit any more into it. It was a stacked roster of FMX riders, along with a handful of the worlds best BMX and mountian bike riders, Geutter on the quad, me on the bike and sled, and Murray doing the doulble flip. I really don't know how you could top that. If you've got five minutes to kill—and I know you do—check out mastersofdirt.com for all the pics from the events.

"After Vienna I came to my good friend Morgan Carlsson's house in Spain (which is where I currently am still). After a week or so of shredding there it was time for Masters of Dirt in Linz, Austria. This show was scaled down from Vienna but still sick! I shredded the bike and sled at this one as well. I attached some pics of both shows combined. Later, Justin."

—Justin Hoyer

Masters of Dirt

Ronnie Renner, left, and Justin Hoyer casting long shadows in Austria.

Masters of Dirt

This Austrian stube proved to be a suitable place for moto tricking of the indoor varietal.

Masters of Dirt

Nothing like an indoor snowmo backflip to bolster hot dog sales in Vienna, Austria.

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Cory Rosenberg/Fuel Infected Films

Sleds are not usually regarded as disposable items. So that's just one way Dane Ferguson is unusual. Dig the Jackson HillClimb and Best of the Best freestyle comp PHOTO GALLERY HERE.

So Sled Man Talking picks up the pieces with Ferguson (no-holds-barred interview-style, naturally), who according to witnesses put on a show at the Octane Addictions BOB comp like no other rider can (Dane rides like he talks, as in, no holds barred).

"Dane, man, he's the ticket," said one correspondent. "You've got to see the ditch sequence on video [and readers, trust us, you will, ASAP]. He went out with the goal of breaking the sled—or himself. And he did."

Price Chambers

The zig-zag of dirty snow delineates the upper gnar of the Jackson HillClimb course.

On one "gnarlified whip" variation attempt, this happened: "He was inverted and the [sled's] track was basically in front of him; like a gnarlified whip," says Shawn Turner of Fuel Infected Films. "It looked like a 360 under-flip, something not even the moto guys are doing. Just crazy. He landed on his elbow and he didn't get up for a little while. But he finally did."

Of course he did.

Oh, also, based on judging by the riders, Daniel Bodin won the best flip trick prize (nac flip) and Joe Parsons took the best non-inverted trick cash (seatgrab to Frisby Air). And on the HillClimb front, Kyle Tapio won King of the Hill honors (story from the Jackson Hole News & Guide here).

DANE FERGUSON: "It was definitely a cool turnout because we had six or seven of the top riders and then a bunch of new guys. And then it was a cool format—just getting paid to show up for a solid demo and then a competition on top of it for the chance to make more money. ... So we were all stoked—we knew we were gonna come out at least even on the weekend."

"Just hucking ramps straight-style in a demo can get kind of boring, you know... I'm not exactly sure how Bodin's nac flip beat Parsons' flip can—maybe because the can sorta came after the flip while the nac was thrown in there with the actual flip... In any case, it could've gone either way, it was a close call, but the rider judging aspect to it makes it fair, I guess. Plus, overall, I did think it was sick."

"Every seat was solid, really fun one to be at, and maybe one of the best ones that Tyler [Johnson, of Octane Addictions] has done; maybe. Actually I would say it was the most entertaining one. But maybe next year they should let the crowd choose favorite rider and see how that goes."

So you wrecked your sled, again? "Did I wreck my sled? Yeah. I did pretty much the same thing off the ramp that I was practicing at X Games... I whipped a little too hard and it landed on its head over 60, 65 feet; snapped the spindle off and bent the tunnel. It looked bad. But it's working again now."


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When a human jumps past the 300-foot mark on anything -- let alone a snowmobile -- other humans tend to demand as much visible evidence as possible. If our video footage wasn't enough, check out the photo gallery.

John Hanson

When you're jumping 300 feet, you need a whole lotta measuring tape. Launch Gallery »

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Though mighty pleased with his latest world record huck, Thacker—we had to ask—says he's not finished with this distance jumping stuff either. "Absolutely not," he said via cell phone. "We were still on the landing after measuring the distance out and the crew and I are looking at each other, like, 'OK, what do we do now?! Can we go 400 feet?!'"

"And I think we can..."

ESPN Action Sports: First off, congrats.
PAUL THACKER: "Thanks. It's been a long time coming. A lot of hard work and effort by a lot of different people and it's finally paid off. But now I'm very much ready to put my snowmobile away and get on my dirtbike; it's pretty much been non-stop pinned since November."

So the weather was, er, crappy once again? "Yeah, we're getting kind of used to it now. I've never done one of these jumps when it isn't crappy weather. And then usually the very next day it's bluebird and that was the case this time too. Flags weren't even rustling it was so calm and clear."

This is not your final act at the distance game? "No way. Just the set up and the stuff we learned from this jump, there's no doubt in my mind that we can go bigger."

Will your next distance sled be nuclear powered or how's that going to work? "I'm still using a 600 and they make 800s and 1000s and we could get the sled up around 100 miles an hour fairly easily. The difference being between how the stuff flies and the wind resistance with a bigger sled. But we experimented with some aerodynamic mods and it worked out well this time."

So you were wearing a plastic speed skiing suit or what? "Not quite. But for the kind of sled I use it made a huge difference. I was able to go as far as the [moto] bike guys go going one or two miles an hour slower on the in-run than they had. Granted, the ramp's a little less poppy than the ramps that [Ryan] Capes and Maddo [Robbie Maddison] use."

What mods of the aerodynamic nature did you make? "We put a big windshield on the sled, for one. The Polaris engineer guys were saying that in a wind tunnel they can make six or seven miles an hour faster with the taller windshields rather than the little ones the sleds normally come with. So the guys at Bikeman [Performance] found a mid-'80s Arctic Cat windshield, cut it to form and it actually worked really good."

slednecks

Note the extra-tall windshield, nose cone and other NASA-style mods on Thacker's sled.

Looking good no doubt too? "It definitely made a big difference with how the sled flew compared to last year [271 feet] and the year before [245 feet]. It did what I wanted it to, and much easier. That obviously made a pretty big difference. I just wanted it to fly a little better, more like an airplane, so we basically did some aircraft-style modifications—the windshield, nose cone—and it worked great."

John Hanson

DIG THE PAUL THACKER 300-FOOT PHOTO GALLERY HERE.

And how did she fly? "It basically did exactly what I wanted it to do: Fly straight and predictably. You're still hitting the ramp at 90 miles an hour so there's some level of unpredictability; you're still hitting the ramp with unbelievable force. I wish I had a G force meter on the sled with me, because my body aches now, still, four days later. Shoulders, elbows, back, everything. And then you come down pretty hard on the landing as well."


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John Hanson

Paul Thacker eclipsing the 300-foot mark at the Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota Thursday.

John Hanson

Tale of Thacker's tape: 301.5 feet.

The jump improves on Thacker's two previous world record jumps of 245 feet (2007) and 271 feet from last year. Props to Thax and stay tuned for more coverage.

Gassing Up: Jackson

Freestyle? Try crazy style. This weekend = 34th annual Jackson, Wyo. World Championship HillClimb

March 25, 2009, 12:34 PM

By: Tim Mutrie