Heading into the 1977 season, the leaf spring snopro was the weapon of choice. By October of 1976, there was just two IFS sleds built to test in Alaska. Although the build of as many as twelve leaf spring machines was under way, only three were ever finished and raced. After the Alaska IFS tests, the rest of the leaf springs were scrapped.
Jerry Bunke went into 1977 with all three of his sleds being IFS. Hulings and Thorsen’s were not all complete until sometime after Eagle River, so they leaf springs in the 250 class, and Jim Bernat drove one in early 440 and 340 classes (Same sled, different motors).
Today, only two of the original three leaf springers still exist. These photos came from various fans of the book, as well as my personal collection, some are from Snowtech magazine.
