To many of us, 1992 seems like yesterday… well, OK, maybe the day before yesterday. But it has been 25 years since the August 1992 issue of Snow Goer kicked off the season with its initial impressions of the model year 1993 machines. Now seems like a great time to take a quick peak back.
The August 1992 issue was 100 pages, filled with reviews of the 1993 models tested the previous spring at the annual Rode Reports event; a travel feature on riding in Glenwood Springs, Colorado; a tech feature by Phil Mickelson about future technology in two-stroke engines; a flashback interview with Michael Haynes – a.k.a. Mr. Ski-Doo; and an aftermarket product test of some suspension gaiters (yep, you read that right) and much more.
The 1993 model lineup was an exciting one. The musclesled craze was really getting rolling, as Arctic Cat’s 900cc Thundercat shared the cover with Ski-Doo’s MX Z, the Polaris Storm kicked off the Polaris section and Ski-Doo celebrated 50 years of manufacturing snowmobiles with the Formula Mach Z. It wasn’t all big iron, however, as Yamaha introduced the Exciter II SX and Polaris brought out the first full-season of the XLT platform after a limited build the previous year. Hmmm… wonder if that XLT thing ever caught on?!
Also interesting to look back upon was a performance shop directory that listed 52 shops that made go-fast parts or accessories. Any a few of them are still in business today! The list included the main traction makers of the day as well. For the record, the shops listed were Aaen Perforamnce, Aarrow Performance, Anoka-Ramsey Sport Center, Bender Racing, Black Magic Motorsports, Carl’s Cycle Sales, Chopper City Sports, Crank Shop, Cutler’s Performance, Cycle Dyne, Cycle Works, Dale’s Performance, Decker Aero Power, Decker Enterprises, DeLaughter Racing Products, DG Performance, Doucas cycle, Dyno Port, Eastern Cycle Performance, Erlandson Racing, FAST Inc., Fast Trac Enterprises, High Altitude Engineering, Hi-Performance Engineering, Huling Racing Products, HTG Racing, HTS Enterprises, Injection Research Specialists, Indy Specialty, International Engineering/Woody’s, Kuahoora Outdoor, Legend Performance, Metal Man, Micro Belmont Engineering, Motorsports Plus, Nelson’s Speed Shop, New England Dyno Service, North Trac-Side, Performance Period, Pro-5, PSI Performance, Polar Performance, Precision Performance, Pro-Tune, Recreational Engineering, Reichard’s Performance Center, RL Enterprises/Saber, Roetin Industries, Starting Line Products, Swain Technology and Wahl Bros. Racing.
Here’s a look back at the lead-pages from the stories covering the new sleds, plus one interesting ad in the issue from each of the four snowmobile makers.
Editor’s Note: To see more great articles on interesting old sleds, plus in-depth new sled evaluations, aftermarket product tests, informative how-to story, interesting travel features, Snowmobile Science articles and much more, subscribe to Snow Goer magazine.
Thanks for the great trip down memory lane.
Hey Curt! We’re glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for following Snow Goer!