King of the (Arctic) Cats

Rare vintage racing sled takes Best of Show at annual Loyal Snow Angels’ event

To the casual observer, the sled that Ken Kranz of West Bend brought to the Loyal Snow Angels Snowmobile Club’s annual vintage show on Saturday did not really pop out among the multi-hued antiques parked in the melting snow. But to those who know about such things, it was a different story.

Kranz and his 1971 Arctic Cat King Kat left Loyal with the Best of Show trophy in hand, not because the sled had a sparkling restoration job or the brightest hood and skis among the 122 machines at the show. No, Kranz’ 800-cc King Kat won because those who know old snowmobiles realize that it’s among the rarest of its kind, and represents an era of snowmobile racing that was changing rapidly because of mechanical innovations that were overtaking the sport.

After the awards were handed out on a 45-degree Saturday afternoon and the crowd began to disperse, Kranz hopped on his King Kat and pulled the engine to life. That’s when the King Kat stole everyone’s attention, as the racing engine’s blare drowned out everything else. Smiles stretched across the faces of all those who know what a real engine is supposed to sound like.

Kranz said Saturday was only the second time in the last 10 years he has brought the King Kat to a show. He was at Loyal’s event about five years ago, and told show organizer Kerry Hansen about his prize possession. Since then, Hansen has been bugging him.

“He knew I had it,” Kranz said. “He kept on saying, ‘Bring it. Bring it.’” Kranz has been collecting vintage sleds for about 20 years. After buying a 1972 Arctic Cat, he was hooked on the hobby.

“I said, ‘This is what I want to do -- get into vintage shows like this,” Kranz said.

Getting sleds at first wasn’t much of an issue. Many folks had snowmobiles when they first became popular, but had relegated them to the back corner.

“People were giving me sleds because they wanted to get them out of their garages,” Kranz said.

His collection has now grown to more than 40 snowmobiles of varying age and condition, but there was one special one he always sought. That would be the King Kat, the first 4-cylinder engine racing sled made by Arctic Cat. Only 124 of them were ever built, Kranz said, and he wanted one of them.

That became reality in 2010, when he caught wind of a potentially available King Kat.

“Through word of mouth, I found this one in the state of Maine,” he said. “So I drove up there to get it.”

The sled’s origins can be traced back to an Indiana dealer, who raced it only twice in the early 1970s. With too little snow to run it consistently, that owner traded it to a dealer in Michigan. From there it made its way

DEAN LESAR/STAFF PHOTO to Maine, and then to West Bend.

The 4-cylinder Kawasaki engine is what makes the King Kat so unique. Its predecessors were powered by 3-cylinder engines, and the King Kat 800 was to be the king of the track at the time. Too expensive for the average rider, they never caught on.

“Three thousand dollars in 1971 was a lot of money,” Kranz said.

Partly because so few were made, the King Kat’s legend grew as the snowmobile comparison to the muscle cars of the 1970s era. If a guy these days wants the coolest sled, the King Kat is the one.

“It is the most collectible sled to have. That’s the mother load,” Kranz said.

Kranz’ model is completely original, right down to worn paint and seat material. That’s the way Kranz intends to keep it. Some sleds brought to vintage shows have undergone complete restorations, but he likes his King Kat just the way it is.

“Everything is original. It was never modified,” he said.

Because of that, Kranz’ King Kat doesn’t always catch the most eyes at shows. Those in the know, though, come to see it.

“Everybody just loves these things that know about it,” Kranz said.

A few rows away from Kranz’ Best of Show sled, parked at the end of the line of real jalopies, was John Pedrow’s 1964 Trail-A-Sled. It will never be mistaken for the top entry in a show, but it’s still a sort of treasure to Pedrow.

From Minneapolis, he loaded the old sled into the back of his pickup truck in search of another possible prize in Loyal. That would be the $30 gas card promised to the owner who brought in a sled from the farthest distance.

“Who’s gonna be coming farther than that?” Pedrow said of his Twin Cities home. “Well, there’s a guy here with three sleds from Iowa.”

Pedrow’s unrestored antique was built by Scorpion in the days when seemingly every manufacturer with the capability to mount a small engine to propel a machine was coming out with a snowmobile. The Trail-A-Sled is unique, Pedrow said, because it is among the first with an all-fiberglass body construction.

He bought the sled in Poynette. As with many such machines, it hadn’t been used in years, and was waiting for a collector to come along.

“The guy had a 2-story barn and his kids didn’t care about the snowmobile,” Pedrow said.

He took it off their hands, and it’s now one of about 15 old snowmobiles he owns. He has some old Diablo Rouges, a Raider, and some Ski-Doos. He does motorcycles, too.

A mechanical type who’s never met an engine-powered machine he didn’t like, Pedrow said the jalopy snowmobiles appeal to him.

“Their style, I just like them,” he said.

Plus, he’s found, old snow machines are far less expensive to come by than motorcycles.

“One of the things that moved me out of motorcycles into snowmobiles is they’re so affordable,” he said. An old bike of similar vintage to a snowmobile can be 10 times costlier to buy, Pedrow said.

Also, he said, it’s OK to bring a snowmobile like his plywood-seated Trail-A-Sled as-is to a show. People like to see them in their used condition as much as they enjoy completely restored models.

That’s not so in the motorcycle world.

“If you’re not restoring it, nobody cares to see it,” Pedrow said.

Loyal Snow Angels Snowmobile Club vintage show organizer Kerry Hansen hands out a trophy to a sled owner at the end of the Feb. 27 show at the Loyal Sportsmen Club. At right, John Pedrow of Minneapolis brought his 1964 Trail-A-Sled -- built by Scorpion -- to the show. Below, John Koschak came from Chetek with his 1965 Ski-Doo Chalet. It sold for $695 brand new more than 50 years ago.

DEAN LESAR/STAFF PHOTOS