My name is
Billy Bissonett, and I was blessed with the opportunity
to be a racing partner (NHRA Drag racing, mostly) with
Ky “Rocketman” Michaelson for about 6 years.(1968-1974).
To be associated with a man with the fantastic creative
genius, and boundless energy of Ky was a real treat! I
remember one night in 1971, I was in my home just
relaxing, and The phone rang, and it was Ky sounding
even more up-beat than normal (normal for Ky that is).
He said “Billy, hang on to your hat, we’re going to New
York to reset the world’s Snowmobile speed record”! “
we’re starting to work on the machine tonite, so c’mon
over to my shop and don’t plan to be back home until
mid-morning!” When I got to Ky’s shop, he told me that
the United States Snowmobile Assn. (USSA) was going to
hold a” record speed run” event in upstate New York
(Booneville) in 2 weeks, and he intended to get that
record! He said he had talked to the USSA Technical
Director and was told only that the machine must be
“track driven” and have skis on the front to
support/steer it. When he asked how the track must be
mounted, and what kind of power was allowed, they
responded ”anything you want!” WOW! Give Ky Michaelson
that kind of open door on design and you knew this was
going to be a VERY exciting project to be a part of! Ky
took an old dragster chassis that we had raced and
bought a pair of 18” wide Indy type racing tires and
some WIDE wheels to mount them on. He then took the
tires over to 3M Co. in St. Paul and had them mount
snowmobile tracks onto the tires with some space age
adhesive that their chemists brewed up. he first
installed MANY VERY sharp 3- pronged “studs” onto the
track to help with traction on an icy surface! (and to
crush the foot of anyone who got run over by them) He
also mounted a pair of chrome plated large size
snowmobile skis on the front end where the wire dragster
wheels had been. He then built a beautiful sheet
aluminum cockpit enclosure with a windscreen to protect
the driver from anything the tracks kicked forward, and
had well-known custom painter, Kevin Winter apply Many
coats of meta-flaked green paint with metal-flaked
silver flames set off by black pin striping! It was
beautiful! He told me that it was my responsibility to
build an engine/clutch combination for the machine that
would not overpower the track surface, (they told us it
would be “hard packed” snow) but the engine/clutch combo
must have enough power to propel the machine to 150 MPH
( Ky’s goal - the existing record was in the one hundred
teens) in a 1/2 mile distance! I dragged out an old
supercharged ’58 Chrysler “300” 392 cubic inch engine
and built it up so it would produce about 600
horsepower, down from the 1,000 horsepower it could be
built up to . I then attached a Hays 2 disc adjustable
clutch unit to the back of the engine. That clutch unit
could be setup to be “soft” on the bottom end of the
run, so it would not overpower the track surface and
still provide the “grab” necessary to propel the machine
to over 150 MPH in a ½ mile span! The 1000 H.P. engine
with that clutch in the dragster (on asphalt) had
propelled it to 193 MPH! We loaded the “monster” into
Ky’s dragster trailer , and hooked it to the trailer
hitch on my ’64 Chev Suburban( modified to include a
“souped up”Chev 454 CID engine, heavy duty turbo 400
transmission, and a bed built in behind the rear seat,
so we could take turns sleeping on the long journey.
Ky’s Mom, Pearl Davis, decided that she would like to to
fly in to Boonville & join us for the run AND the ride
back to Minnesota.( her almost constant giggles were a
real treat). We took a route through Wisconsin, &
through Chicago, and then onto the Turnpike system
through Ohio and Pennsylvania to the up-state New York
area. We heard a news report while on our way that
Booneville New York had been hit with a “lake effects”
snow storm that had deposited 54” of snow on the area.(
well, so much for our hopes of a solid, hard packed
surface to race on!) the Turnpike system through Ohio
and Pennsylvania is mostly concrete paved with asphalt
stuffed expansion joints every 100 feet or so, providing
us with a “bang bang bang” bumpy ride all the way into
New York! When we got to Booneville ( A scenic heavily
tree covered small town in the Adirondack mountains,
(about 4000’ above sea level) We were amazed at how well
the streets had been cleared of the huge snowfall! they
have that happen often in that area, and have huge auger
type snow blowers to deal with it . ( similar to what we
see at Mpls. St. Paul Int’l Airport. We were also
impressed by the friendly/ courteous people we met at
gas stations, restaurants, and our motel ( just like in
Minnesota)We had a 5:00 A.M.wake-up call in our motel(
mainly so we could get to a Chinese restaurant for Ky’s
chou mein breakfast( fortunately they had coffee. juice,
& pastry, too! After breakfast, we headed out to the
race track to see what we would have to run on. We were
amazed & pleased to find a 60’ wide ½ mile long surface
with 6’ high snow banks on each side. the track surface
had been compacted by a golf green/blacktop roller and
was in GREAT shape! When we drove through the pit area
to the place where we could unload Ky’s “missle” and
fire it up, we saw MANY other machines being prepared to
assault the record books! We noticed that Arctic Cat Co.
also had an automobile engined streamliner,(Supercharged
Big Block Chev engine) but with more conventionally
mounted track. They started it up just as we went by,
and I told Ky “no Sweat, that engine sounds sad!” Arctic
Cat also had a conventional type sled with a
“Turbonique” rocket booster mounted on the rear of it.”
those Turbonique’rockets are dangerous” Ky
said,”especially if they have the throttle linkage for
both engines run together” “ if the regular snowmobile
engine loses traction and the rider backs off the
throttle to re-gain control, he will also back off on
the rocket engine when the linkages are hooked together
which “loads” the rocket chamber,with fuel and will
cause a violent explosion if he hits the throttle
again!” Ky said he’d go over to that machine & check
that out & talk to the Arctic Cat crew chief
To see if separate throttle linkages for both engines
could be installed. A Large crowd of spectators (over
5,000) began to lineup behind the snow barriers on both
sides of the track, and in the grand stands that were
placed near the finish line of the track. We decided
that we would start the engine on Ky’s machine to warm
it up, and also that Ky would be the driver, cuz he was
the sponsor and engineer for the project, but he asked
me to wear my dragster fire suit when we went up to the
starting line, in case something happened to him that
would make it impossible for him to drive! Fortunately,
Ky had purchased a “heavy duty” starting motor rhat spun
the engine fast enough to get it started in the –10
below temperature and 4,000’altitude! I attached the
starter to the front of the supercharger & Ky got into
the “hot seat” as the engine turned over, a spectator
who had come over to help us squirted gas into the fuel
injector scoop. Ky pushed on the “loud pedal” a couple
of times to get gas down into the combustion chambers,
and then turned the ignition switch to “on”! The big
Chrysler engine came to life with a VERY LOUD ROAR!(
I’ll bet those mountains hadn’t heard that loud a roar
since George Washington’s troops fired cannons at the
“redcoats” in the Revolutionary war! To say that we
attracted attention is a GROSS understatement! MANY
spectators AND the USSA tech officials came running.
(Keep in mind USSA is made up of the three major
snomobile manufacturers, (Arctic Cat, Polaris & SkiDoo)
ALL of whom wanted that record BADLY ,so they could
advertise their sleds as “world’s fastest” When the Tech
guys got over to Ky’s machine, they looked it over &
said”disqualified”( Wouldn’t look good to have a couple
of Minnesota hot rodders go faster than the Major
manufacturers, now, would it?) Ky pointed out to them
that his “sled”was built EXACTLY inaccord to the
specifications that they had given him! But, I guess the
sound of that big Chrysler engine crisply barking at
high decibel levels was more than they wanted to compete
against, so “disqualified” remained their position! A
LARGE/loud number of spectators gathered around us and
Loudly made it clear to the officials that they wanted
to see the “Minnesota Guys” run their machine! When
threatened with tearing apart of their headquarters
trailer by a large/angry group of fans, they changed
their minds & said “OK, lets see just how fast they can
get this thing going!” I’ll have to admit that they were
courteous enough to us to let us be one of the first
machines to run, which, at least kept the starting line
from getting chewed-up by the many high horsepower sleds
waiting to compete. Ky eased the clutch out and slowly
drove the machine up to the starting line. I pulled my
Suburban up next to him so we’d have the starter motor
and LARGE battery pack close to the machine. however,
prior to Ky’s attempt, Arctic Cat pulled their
“Turbonnique” rocket boosted sled up on the other side
of my truck. driver Dale Cormican is one of the best
racing sled riders in the world, and a really nice guy!
Ky told me that their crew chief had told him that there
“wasn’t enough time” to install dual throttle linkages,
so they’d have to run it “as is”! Ky then told me to
“stand back” when it runs, I was standing about 15 feet
back from it when they fired up the Arctic Cat 650 cc
motor to launch the sled. Dale nailed the throttle and
the track started to spin a bit, the rocket booster
fired, and gave him a VERY quick launch for about 50
feet which brought it up to about 25 feet from me, but
right next to my truck.Dale, then, backed off on the
throttles to re-gain traction & then hit it, again, Ky
was correct, the Turbonnique went “BOOM” and I was hit
with a large blast of flying debris & propelled back
into a nice soft snow bank! I was lucky, I only had a
few black and blue marks on me, My fire suit protected
me from the heat blast! My Suburban, however did not
fare as well. ALL the glass on the driver’s side was in
mini sized shards & fragments, and the body looked like
it had been side swiped by a Semi truck Ky’s mom was
sitting on the passenger side bucket seat in her parka
(with hood up, thank God) and she was covered with glass
fragments/shards. I ran over to see how she was, and saw
her BIG smile & she said “I’m OK, Billy, Just a little
shaken up, no cuts or bruises that I can find”! (now,
how many 65 year old women would be that “cool” after
sitting through an explosion? Ky Michaelson had a really
neat mom! ( the reason I say “had a neat mom” is that
since this happened, that sweet woman has lost a
long,miserable struggle with cancer, and was called home
to provide cheer in heaven. I then ran over to the
Arctic Cat sled to see how Dale was doing That explosion
could easily have broken his back! The machine was on
fire, but Dale had a good fire suit on, also. With my
fire suit protecting me, I leaned into Dale’s driving
cockpit and released his seat belts I asked him how he
was doing & he said “fine, just a little sore in my
neck” The Arctic Cat crew went into full “panic” and one
guy came running over yelling “We’ve gotta get him out
of there”! and grabbed him by the helmet & shoulders &
started removing him from the seat. If he didn’t already
have a broken neck, those guys were in the process of
giving him one! I yelled at them and told them to “go
easier or they would kill him” but, with full panic in
their eyes, they pushed me aside and dragged Dale out of
the cockpit, and over to a waiting station wagon. I
moved the remains of my ‘Burb up to the starting area
and went over to assure Ky that his mom seemed to be OK!
I then attached the starter motor to the front of the
engine & started turning it over, getting another assist
with the squirt of gas into the injector. Ky pumped the
“loud” pedal and hit the ignition switch, and the big
motor, again roared to life! I leaned into the cockpit &
Ky had a HUGE smile on his face! HE WAS READY! He eased
the clutch pedal out and started the machine moving down
the race course, slipping the clutch& putting a little
pressure on the brake lever to avoid losing traction( I
might point out that Ky had A LOT of experience getting
conventional HIGH horsepower dragsters off the starting
line while maintaining a good degree of traction, so
that experience, plus his own abilities as a race
vehicle driver gave him the ability to start the snow
dragster moving down the course without losing traction.
As he continued down the track the big engine was
building up RPM and I could hear the RPM drop just a
little when the clutch locked up at about ½ track.then
it was MORE RPM as he got closer to the end of the
track, and a loud “POP” as the drag ‘chute caught air
and bloomed to slow him down. My experience with drag
chutes has been that you don’t hear that “POP” until the
vehicle is going at least 150MPH!so I started jumping up
and down and cheering our obvious success! Then like a
blast of ice water hitting me in the face, I heard the
announcer’s voice say 107MPH! And, next, a loud group of
spectators yelling “no way, he was going at least 150” I
drove the remains of my truck down to the end of the
track to tow Kyback, and he really looked dejected when
I got to him “107, we got shafted” was all he could say.
I said “fantastic job of driving, my friend, ya done
really good” by then, a number of fans had gathered
around us expressing loudly that they thought Ky was
going MUCH faster than 107! And echoing my compliments
on his driving job! We went back to the starting line to
watch the other sleds run & even Dale Cormican said “you
guys got screwed”!The SkiDoo factory team made a run
that was 123 MPH! the Arctic Cat Team Manager handed me
a check for $1,000.00 to pay for damages to my truck &
that was very close to what it took to get it repaired!a
couple of modified Arctic Cat & Polaris sleds made runs
of 110 MPH & a factory Ski Doo went 119 When we left
Booneville to start our long tow back home ( the “bang
bang” of the highway was still there. We got to a
highway exit for a city called “Canastola” N.Y. and the
trailer started swaying back and forth behind the
truck.at 1:00 A.M. I pulled up the exit ramp and into
the driveway of astill open gas station, hearing a loud
scraping sound from the trailer. As I pulled into the
station, the guy working there, came running out & said,
“It looks like you’ve broken your trailer axle”(the
“bang bang bang” bumps had finally taken their toll on
Ky’s trailer! The guy told us to pull in to the service
bay of the station above the hydraulic lift ( how many
people in any area would do that at 1:00 A.M? with the
aid of the lift, and a hydraulic floor jack the guy also
let us use, we got the damaged axle out, I thought he
looked familiar, It was the same guy who had squirted
the gas into the air scoop for us at the track! He then
said”would you guys like to use our arc welder?” “YUP”
we said in unison I’m a pretty good welder, so, I
started on it first & had NO success! “that must be some
really strange metal” Ky said, “Let me try it” Ky is a
VERY good welder& even he could not get it to work on
that axle! About 2:00 A.M. a highway patrol officer
stopped in for a cup of coffee & said “you guys really
got shafted out there today, I was in the grandstands
near the finish line & you were going MUCH faster than
107AND, the driver was doing a FANTASTIC job of keeping
that machine going straight!” When he noticed the
trouble we were having with welding the axle, he said to
the service station guy, “I’ll bet Steve Adams could
weld this, he’s a welding instructor at the Vo-Tec
school & the best welder in this area”! He then went to
a phone & called Steve (AT 2:00A.M.!) He then said, “no
problem, Steve said he’d come down if I can drive over
in the squad car & get him” WOW! !talk about nice
people! About 2:15, the squad car came back with Steve &
we immediately bought him some coffee. He looked at the
axle & said”I can weld this, It’s some foreign steel
that’s really tough to weld!” he then said, let’s grind
off some of this other weld first so I can weld to the
axle base metal” he then said “I was out at the speed
runs today & you guys got screwed! “That machine looked
like a green blur as it went by us in the grandstands!”
I just couldn’t believe that the driver could control it
the way he did” “Awesome job of driving”! about a half
hour later, the axle was repaired, and I had a very good
welding lesson Ky said, “how much do I owe you”? Steve
responded “an autographed photo of your machine would be
all I want” Ky had brought photos of the nachine with
him in the cockpit and me standing behind it. and
quickly autographed one each forSteve, the officer & the
station manager “WOW” Ky said. I’m gonn send the
Canastola Chamber of Commerce a letter !” “do you treat
every visitor this nicely”? With Pearl keeping us
laughing all the way, we headed on back to Minnesota.
The snow dragster went on the “show circuit” for several
years, attracting big crowds wherever it sent. It was
easy to find in a show auditorium, Just follow the holes
in the concrete floor made by the studs in the track!
