he quickly transitions them into the shop and gets them touching actual small engines . And once there , he doesn ’ t hand them step-by-step instructions – instead , he assigns them machines with problems that they must figure out .
Fixing Stuff
To get machines to repair , the school turned to the local community . Once word got out , the class was flooded with non-running lawn mowers , snowblowers , golf carts , ATVs and snowmobiles , Van Der Hagen said . Some were donated , but most were from “ customers ” who pay for the needed parts but get the labor for free ( though some will make a financial donation after-the-fact to support the program ).
In the early fall , lawn and garden equipment dominates the shop , with a lot of fuel system and spark problems . By late fall , the shop starts seeing bigger problems on ATVs and UTVs , and soon thereafter snowmobiles start trickling in .
During our December visit , 10 sleds were at specific work stations in the impressive shop . Three were race sleds and the other seven were in for repair . An Arctic Cat ZL 500 with the hood up wasn ’ t pulling up fuel , Van Der Hagen said , while the sharp looking 1979 Yamaha Exciter had an ignition problem . The previously mouse-infested Polaris Indy Lite 340 required plenty of attention as it hadn ’ t run in 10 years , he said , and the Yamaha Vmax 600 needed a top-end rebuild .
Van Der Hagen drifted about the room , showing one entry level student how to gap spark plugs and then speaking up after seeing three students attaching a new piston . “ Don ’ t put the cylinder on yet – it still needs to be honed .” But in general , the students worked with impressive independence .
The Race Team
Bold School District Superintendent James Menton stopped by Van Der Hagen ’ s shop class during our visit . Casually dressed in a polo shirt , he didn ’ t appear like a traditional , stuffy school administrator , and he wasn ’ t .
Menton was the man who first talked Van Der Hagen into being the school ’ s shop teacher . But Menton admitted to feeling more dubious when Van Der Hagen soon thereafter pitched the idea of starting a race team with students as drivers .
“ I hate saying ‘ no ’ when teachers or anybody brings an idea , my philosophy is always to look for ways to make things happen ,” Menton said . “ But when he asked about snowmobile racing , I thought , ‘ Ooooh , I don ’ t think we can do something like that .’ So instead I said , ‘ I ’ ll run it past the attorney .’”
Because you figured the attorneys could be the “ bad guys ” who said no , we asked .
“ Yeah , pretty much !” Menton said with a laugh . “ I was pretty sure that they were going to say ‘ No ’ and I was fine with that . And they did . But then Rob kept pestering me about it . He said there are virtually no injuries in this sort of racing , and pointed out that there are way more injuries in any football game . They were good points , and I started liking the idea , so we kept pursuing this with the attorneys . Eventually we found a way to limit our liability and did it .”
During our visit , three of the four race Black Max Racing Team sleds were in the shop : a 2003 Yamaha RX-1 and a 2000 Yamaha SRX 700 were both on lifts , while a sweet sounding 1996 Vmax-4 800 with Aaen pipes sat on the shop floor . The fourth sled , a black 1994 Yamaha Vmax 600 for which the team is named , was out in the trailer .
Each of the immaculately clean sleds ( three of which Van Der Hagen owned and previously raced with his son ) featured lowered suspension setting and heavily studded tracks that reflected their intended usage on an ice drag strip .
Hovering near one of the sleds was Anthony Wittman , a 17-year-old senior from Lake Lillian and one of this year ’ s drivers . He admitted to being mechanically limited when he first joined the class two years ago . Now he talks confidently about reclutching the sleds between runs at race events . A field trip the previous year to tune a sled on a track dyno with Jason Houle at Straightline Performance proved particularly educational , he said .
Race Weekends
During the week , the race team members expertly tune and prep the race sleds . On weekends , they show up at sanctioned races and enter multiple classes in 1,000-foot speed run racing .
“ Over about six hours on race days , they ’ ll run the four sleds four or five times each – that ’ s a lot of runs ,” Van Der Hagen said . “ I spend the majority of my time at the starting line lining up whoever is coming next . So what will happen is , a kid will make their run , then they come back and stop at the starting line and ask how fast they went . Then we ’ ll talk about what our next changes are going to be .
“ Then they take their sled back to the trailer and they make the changes ,” Van Der Hagen said . “ Nine times out of 10 , I am not in there with them – there might be another driver in there to help them , but the kids make all of the changes and log [ the changes ] on the bulletin board along with their speeds . Then when they ’ ve got it all buttoned-up they head back out and they do it again .”
Throughout the day , the students see results of their changes first-hand , which reinforces their efforts and instills confidence , Van Der Hagen said . “ But we don ’ t go there just to compete – we go to win .”
Indeed , the school hallway now features a huge inset case featuring the Black Max team ’ s trophies plus photos of the
44 / FEBRUARY 2025 / SNOWGOER . COM