Duhamel: How I Won The ’72 I-500

In 1972, Ski-Doo factory racer Yvon Duhamel won the Winnipeg-to-St. Paul cross-country I-500 aboard a Blizzard and became the first driver from that factory – and the first non-Polaris or Arctic Cat racer — to win the high-profile event.

The following summer, he told his story to Snow Goer for its Racing Annual issue. Seeing that this coming winter will mark the 40th anniversary of this historic victory, we decided to share the story with you. We’ve posted the full story on our Blog site — go to blog.snowgoer.com now to read it. Here’s the opening couple of paragraphs.

How I won the Winnipeg To St. Paul International 500

By Yvon Duhamel

From The 1973 Snow Goer Racing Annual

My name is Yvon Duhamel and I get paid by Bombardier to win races.

We were very happy to win the International “500” from Winnipeg to St. Paul this year, since it is the first year Ski-Doo decided to make a real effort to go after this big title, one of the very few big races we have never won before. I was also happy to win because I was the first Canadian ever to win this race; I hope I won’t be the last, since next year we expect to come back with our same Blizzards and do as well or better.

Go to blog.snowgoer.com to read the full story.

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