June 4, 2007 – Snowmobile Report
PSB Parent Company Buys Snow Show
Affinity Group Inc. (AGI), the California-based company that publishes Powersports Business and other industry magazines, acquired through its AGI Events division the Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Expo.
The sale was completed in March and included four boat, travel and RV shows in Colorado and Kansas. AGI Events also hosts snowmobile shows in Syracuse, N.Y., and Minneapolis, Minn. The 22nd annual Expo is scheduled for Oct. 6-7 in Denver.
Longtime Polaris Employees Nygaard, Monsrud Retire
With a combined 67 years of service, Bob Nygaard and Ray Monsrud retired from Polaris this spring. Fellow employees in Medina and Roseau, Minn., recently honored both veterans.
Nygaard joined the company in 1979 as manager of sales and marketing administration. Though his career was centered on snowmobile marketing, he launched Polaris’ first ATV product line in 1985.
He was the company’s snowmobile general manager from 1992-2004 when he became sales operations director until retirement. “Now he’s fishing,” said Marlys Knutson, Polaris external relations manager. “Bob is an avid walleye angler and a wicked card player.”
Monsrud joined Polaris in 1968 as a snowmobile test rider. In 1975 he started a 17-year run as the company’s race director. Polaris racers took nine I-500 cross-country championships and seven Soo I-500 Enduro victories under his watch.
Monsrud knew everything about the technical side of Polaris sleds and ATVs, Knutson says. He spent five years on the Polaris service staff in Roseau, then worked until retirement as part of the ATV Way Out Training Tour, a traveling sales seminar for ATV dealership sales staffs. Monsrud was inducted into the Polaris Hall of Fame in 2004.
Though his retirement began in March, Monsrud will likely help at Polaris events.
Oval Racing Returns To Ironwood, Mich.
Professional ice oval snowmobile races haven’t run in Ironwood, Mich., for more than 10 years, but the United States Snowmobile Association (USSA) will open its season there Jan. 5-6.
Event organizers say the Snowmobile Olympus will provide a boost to the local economy. “The [race] will hopefully be the kickoff for a big winter event that will make the Gogebic Range a winter destination,” said DeeGee Pawlicki, executive director of the Western Upper Peninsula Convention and Visitors Bureau. psb
