A decade ago, Tucker Hibbert was clearly the best of the best in snowmobile snocross racing — however, he was not ending the season as the national champion of the sport.
Instead, this was the era when Hibbert would show up at early season events, absolutely kick butt and take names, collect a bunch of trophies and cash, and then park his Arctic Cat snowmobiles in favor of his motocross bikes for the rest of the winter and spring.
The 2009-2010 season was no different. He won nine of the season’s first 10 Pro class finals — sweeping Pro Stock and Pro Open at Duluth and Milwaukee before “only” winning the Stock final in Utah and finishing seventh in Pro Open. He then re-started his streak by sweeping the two Pro classes at Shakopee, Minnesota, and Farmington, New York, before disappearing from the snocross scene for the rest of the season.
Still, despite only racing a half-season, the preparation of Hibbert and his team became the thing of legend back then, and eventually led him to 11 national championships, 138 Pro race victories on the national circuit in 235 starts and 10 X Games Gold Medals before he retired as the sport’s most decorated racer (by far) in 2018.
On a Sunday morning at the 2009 Duluth National, we visited with Hibbert in his trailer and captured this video where he recaps what it takes to be the best.
(The video was shot on Sunday, December 13, 2009; the Youtube stamped date is when it was later uploaded to the Snow Goer page.)
For the record, after the interview Hibbert went out and won both of his heats plus the final. Here’s the finishing order from that afternoon:
- Tucker Hibbert; 2. Ross Martin; 3. Levi LaVallee; 4. Robbie Malinowski; 5. Emil Ohman; 6. Steve Taylor; 7. Cory Davis; 8. Garth Kaufman; 9. Matt Judnick; 10. Zach Pattyn; 11. Paul Bauerly; 12. Tim Tremblay; 13. Dave Allart; 14. Andrew Johnstad; 15. Carl Schubitzke.
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