Favorite Sleds:

Nostalgia can strike deep, especially for snowmobilers. Some go looking for bygone sleds; some just find their way back through serendipity. That was the case for Steele.

Steele wanted to participate in a vintage race and knew he needed another Enticer 340. He found one for sale, drove about 100 miles to check it out and brought it home.

As he began to restore it, he noticed some braze brass welding on the front right side.“ The sled I grew up on was repaired by my dad the same way,” he said.“ I sent my father the pictures of the repair, and he confirmed it was my childhood sled. It was so good to have it back.” Steele fully restored it and won his race. Chris Bittenbender admits that he choked up when he pulled the recoil on his re-discovered 2005 Polaris IQR 440 last October.“ I’ d be lying if I said there wasn’ t a crazy wave of emotions in the moments between pulling in to see the sled sitting in the guy’ s driveway and putting my hand on the bars for the first time in over a decade,” he said.

Bittenbender, of Shavertown, Penn., raced snocross in the mid 2000s before turning more toward competitive motocross. By 2011, it was time to move the IQR 440 to a new home.“ My dad and I thought for sure we’ d never see it again,” he said, and the money from the sled funded a bike that won him a district championship.

Recently his desire to find it strengthened, and he typed“ Polaris IQR” into Facebook Marketplace.“ Within the first handful of matches I see what can only be my old sled, still running the die cut graphics my sponsor B & B signs did for us years ago,” he said. He also noticed all the modifications made by him and his dad.

“ I immediately messaged the seller, and he actually had another buyer already lined up,” Bittenbender said.“ I explained the history and we came to an agreement that he would give me one day to come buy it.” He and his dad hit the road early the next morning.

“ I got it home and took it for two laps in the grass in the yard,” he said. Now it’ s in the shop getting a makeover, with help from his dad.“ The chassis, suspension, and driveline are heavily worn out and badly aged from what I can only assume is neglect and being parked outside for a number of years uncovered.” He has a goal to make it trackworthy again.

“ It’ s just been a fun time capsule to share with my dad and some of my buddies who are still in my life from that time,” he said.“ I’ m excited to use it as intended again.”

Randy Vermuelen of Wolcott, N. Y., always regretted the end-of-season sale of the 1994 Ski-Doo MX-Z X he raced

The Enticer now.

Randy Vermuelen with his I-500 sled.

in the 1994 I-500 cross-country event, where he finished 149th.

“ I called a lot of past owners,” he said.“ No one knew where it went.”

Then luck struck. Two years ago, like Bittenbender, he was surfing Facebook Marketplace when he saw a posting for a 1997 Ski-Doo.

“ The picture didn’ t look like a’ 97,” he said. He looked closer and saw a rip in the running board – one that looked like it may have happened in a Northern Minnesota ditch on Day 3 of the race.

He asked the seller for a picture of the serial number.“ I

44 / FEBRUARY 2026 / SNOWGOER. COM