A brief history of the Scorpion
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on newsvine
Share on DiggMore from Outdoors
1959: Father and son, Eugene "Stub" and Dick Harrison, buy into Glen Gutzman's Crosby, Minn., air-sled business. The three incorporate as Trail-A-Sled. The company makes fiberglass fuselage air sleds, which use war surplus engines with propellers to loudly "fly" across frozen lakes and prairies. The air sleds, which are designed to be towed easily (hence, the name) have a top speed of 100 mph.
1961: Inspired by Bombardier's Ski-Doo, Trail-A-Sled begins experimenting with tracked snow machines. They call their snowmobiles Scorpions.
1963: The company notices that Polaris, for which it makes some parts, received a very large order for its new front-engine model, the Comet. Trail-A-Sled drops production of air sleds and concentrates on tracked snow machines. Almost 50 are manufactured.
1964: Dick Harrison develops a way to embed steel in rubber to make a continuous track. Gutzman straps a new model snowmobile to his Volkswagen and drives east to sell them. He returns with orders for 100 Scorpions.
1965: Trail-A-Sled's 20 employees produce 500 snowmobiles, all featuring the innovative rubber track.
1968: Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey proclaims central Minnesota the snowmobile capital of the world. Snowmobiles get a new look with teardrop hood designs and racing stripes.
1969: Atlanta-based Fuqua Industries buys Trail-A-Sled from the three founders.
1978: An economic crunch and several low-snow winters take a toll on the industry. Scorpion is sold to Arctic Enterprises.
1980: Arctic Cat closes the Crosby-Ironton facility and moves production to Thief River Falls.
1981: The last Scorpion brand snowmobiles are produced.
