A Very Good, Pretty Awesome, Really Fun Day in Roseau
One day in 2003 I got a call that the new Polaris Experience Center in Roseau was looking for an RXL to display. I quickly volunteered mine that was otherwise gathering dust in the garage.
I wasn’t expecting anything but to drop it off when I brought it up, but Aaron Johnson told me to bring it first to the front door of the Polaris plant.
Lo and behold the first guy to come to see it was none other than Bob Eastman himself. Right behind him was engineer extraordinaire, Arlyn Saage. We were soon joined by Greg Hedlund, Jim Bernat, and Jomar Bernat.
For one hour we looked over the sled, they took pictures and told some great stories. Some of them were so good that I kept thinking dang it, someone needs to get all this down and write a book!
These guys were genuinely having a good time looking the old gal over. Just a few minutes into it, Jim Bernat lifted the hood, took one glance in, and said “Well that isn’t going to run”. “Why not?” I asked.
He pointed down to the fuel line going into the fuel pump. Somehow, since I had last driven it, I had that thing all twisted into a pretzel so there was no chance of fuel getting through.
One might be embarrassed by such a dumb mistake, but I wasn’t. One of the best in the world noticed it before it caused any trouble. How could I not appreciate that?
Later, Aaron Johnson, Vance Elfering and I loaded up and went to Wahl Brothers, which for some guys who wanted to go racing was like letting a kid loose in a candy store. If you’ve never wandered the halls of Wahl Brothers, I highly recommend it. It’s like heaven for race parts.
We even got a look into the top secret Wahl race shop.
Looking at all the good parts with Dustin, Dave and Terry Wahl.
Aaron, Dave Wahl and Vance Elfering
The RXL sat in the experience center for several years. I have since let this one go, and I hope the new owner is having great experiences with it as I did.
