A highly anticipated move in the snowmobile snocross racing community became official today when the Woodies Racing Team announced the signing of Daniel Benham Jr. This happens on a week filled with big snocross news.
Benham, 25, of Deer River, Minnesota, became a free agent earlier this year with the folding of the two-year-old All Finish Racing Team. All Finish had became the highest-profile Arctic Cat snocross team when it was formed in the fall of 2021 and signed Benham and Jacob Yurk. The team announced it was leaving the sport, however, on May 19, 2023.
After that announcement, right away the rumor mill spun up stories that Benham, an Arctic Cat loyalist, would end up at Woodie’s. It is one of the last remaining Cat teams that had hosted Pro-level riders in the past. But as spring became summer and summer started to slip toward fall, there was some worry over whether the deal would happen.
In the September 7 announcement, Woodie’s team owner Paul Woodie said, “We have been Arctic Cat since day one. We are excited to have Benham added to the pro program this year. Dan has had great success, and we know he will be a consistent top contender with the right equipment. We are excited, to say the least.”
Benham is quoted in the same announcement. “Grateful for the opportunity to carry on my career with Arctic Cat and Woodies Racing team. I have known the Woodies family since day 1 of my snocross career and they have treated me like family since. Excited to put our best foot forward and get to work.”
Benham turned Pro after winning the Pro Lite championship in 2018. He earned his first victory for Team Arctic Cat in February of 2019 in Michigan. The following fall, though, he switched to Warnert Racing/Ski-Doo. For them, he earned his second victory in Deadwood in January of 2020. His third victory came with the All Finish team at Fargo in February of 2022.
Wittwer Added For Pro Lite Snocross
The much-traveled Trent Wittwer is in familiar territory by returning to Woodie’s Racing to race Pro Lite for this coming winter.
The Bemidji, Minnesota, native came up through the ranks in snocross, dating back to running 120s on regional circuits. He was the Sport class champion back in 2017-18. He outgunned younger versions of current pros Adam Peterson, Ryley Bester and Francis Pelletier at the time.
Wittwer then moved up to Pro Lite for one season and won three finals in 2018-19. He then quickly moved to Pro for the 2019-20 season racing for the Judnick Motorsports Polaris team. Wittwer struggled there and was allowed to move back down to Pro Lite. He was with the D&D Racing Team in 2020-21. He raced for Woodie’s in 2021-22. Last year, he was with Boss Arctic Cat Racing.
“We are also excited to have Trent Wittwer back representing the Pro Lite class,” Paul Woodie said in the press release. “Trent has shown good speed and with the right equipment we know that he can be a top contentder as well. We appreciate all of the support from Arctic Cat to put us back in the pro program.”
Meanwhile, the namesake racer of Woodies Racing will miss this season. The ever-popular Taven Woodie suffered a second ACL tear in a knee this summer. She had surgery on it on August 28 and said she plans to return for the 2024-25 season.
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