Paul Thacker Braves Winds to Soar Record 271 Feet at Shakopee, MN
MEDINA, MN (Feb. 20, 2008) – A double dose of Polaris Liberty® power, guts and the desire to fly propelled extreme snowmobilers Paul Thacker and Delene Dippel to world record-length snowmobile jumps on Saturday, February 16, at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota.
The Minnesota stop on the Monster Energy/Slednecks Invasion Tour saw Dippel set – and subsequently re-set – the women’s world record, while Thacker endured winds and crashes en route to his record-setting jump.
Thacker took advantage of a lull in the strong winter winds to uncork a record jump of 271 feet, breaking the previous record by about 8 feet.
Dippel, a 20-year-old Californian, established the women’s jumping record at a media event on Friday, February 15, then stretched the distance to a new-record 180.6 feet during the show on Saturday night.
The event was hosted by Monster Energy and Slednecks, which had its usual audio-video crew on hand to record all the high-flying riding. Video of the record jumps – and the unsuccessful preliminaries – will be available on the Slednecks website at www.slednecks.com.
Thacker Perseveres, Sets Record
When Thacker set the world record at Canterbury Park a year ago,. he did so in blizzard conditions. This year’s weather was not nearly as severe, but strong winds did cause their share of damage to man and machine.
“After Delene did her record we move the ramp back 50 feet and it was my turn,” said Thacker. “We jumped 220 [feet] or so twice, then moved it back another 25 feet. And that’s when the craziness started.”
Riding into strong head winds with gusts topping 30 mph, Thacker found himself floating up and down during his jumps – wherever the wind moved him and his Polaris sled.
“On that third jump, the sled basically just floated beyond my ability to correct and we stacked it up at 230 feet,” he said. “But someone above was watchin’ out for me and I ended up walking away.”
He not only walked away, he continued jumping, albeit on a back-up sled. But a stout cross wind caught him and sent him to a rough, unscheduled landing 240 feet from his launch point.
“Our only option was to go again,” he said.
Before his next jump, he had the Slednecks crew move the take-off ramp farther back to create a 232-foot gap between the launch ramp and the landing slop sculpted out of snow. He waited for a lull in the wind and hit the throttle. When he landed, he was a new world-record 271 feet from where he started.
“We hit the ramp twice at 79 mph and jumped 255 feet,” he said. “Then it was time to risk it all and get that record – which I did. Hit the ramp at 82 [mph] and flew 271.”
About Polaris
With annual 2007 sales of $1.8 billion, Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), including the Polaris RANGER™, snowmobiles and Victory motorcycles for recreational and utility use.
Polaris is a recognized leader in the snowmobile industry, and one of the largest manufacturers of ATVs in the world. Victory Motorcycles, established in 1998 and representing the first all-new American-made motorcycle from a major company in nearly 60 years, are rapidly making impressive inroads into the motorcycle cruiser and touring marketplace. Polaris also enhances the riding experience with a complete line of Pure Polaris apparel, accessories and parts, available at Polaris dealerships.
Polaris Industries Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PII,” and the Company is included in the S&P Small-Cap 600 stock price index.
Information about the complete line of Polaris products, apparel and vehicle accessories are available from authorized Polaris dealers or anytime from the Polaris homepage at www.polarisindustries.com.
