Speaking of the King Kat being difficult to ride, I once saw Roger Janssen run one on a Lemans type track for two laps on one ski after he broke a spindle. That guy would not give up. Breaking spindles was a common problem as they used the same spindle as a Puma or EXT and with the extra weight, when the ski dug in the spindle would snap.Some guys tried running them in 1972 as I remember running against them with a 1972 EXT but they were too heavy and clumsy to compete with the 72s.

In 71 a friend of mine was racing a 793 King Kat. Those old Honkers didn't have recoils so it was wrap the rope and pull. This worked fine if the engine was on its good behavior, but if not it could be an exercise in frustration. He [my friend] developed a method to avoid this frustration. He took a chainsaw, removed the bar and chain and welded a small v-pulley to the clutch drum. By using a long narrow v-belt that fit in the rope sheave, he could get that old girl spinning and with someone squirting fuel in the carbs she'd fire right up.

 The 4 cylinder King Kats could be a bear to start, especially on a cold day running alcolol. One time Paul Eggebraaten and the boys from Thief River were attempting to start a 4 cyl. King Kat. The back end was up on one of those old stands that hooked onto a trailer hitch. Several guys were taking turns cranking and one was squirting alcolol into the carbs. When it fired up the case must have been loaded and it started reving up. This caused the track to start bouncing and jump off the stand. It traveled about 50 feet through the pit, without hitting anyone, before slamming under the rear bumper of a pickup. When we pulled it out from under the truck there was smoke curling out of the crankcase and a mangled mess of both broken and bent rods and smashed pistons and cylinders. It sheared all 4 cylinders off the case. I remember Paul looking at it and saying "I don't suppose that's under warranty".