I really like to order and look for parts for these older sleds, however I ran into another bad situation: there are no decals left in Arctic’s parts!!! The situation got even worse when I realized that the bulk head was pretty much toast.Ī good friend (and Arctic Cat collector) John Archer had a perfect tunnel and bulk head and he truly saved the day for me! Things were so rusted together I think I used at least I can of PB Blaster. It wasn’t until I got the sled home that I realized it was in worse shape than I originally thought. I wanted a 1998 ZRT due to the many upgrades Cat gave it that year: open ignition, handlebar and thumb warmer switches mounted on the handlebars, etc… The bug was still in me so I found a 1998 Zrt 800 north of Alexandria Minn., and so the project began. Problem was, I later traded the T-Cat for a John Deere riding lawn mower. Last spring some of my cronies back in Minnesota got me all fired up on triple-cylinder sleds after I traded my Corvette for a 99 Thundercat. My first love will all ways be the el tigre, but my close second is the Arctic Cat triples. Nope, didn’t see that one coming (as Doug destroys the ego of another unsuspecting lake racer)!

As in, slapping ZRT 600 hood decals on a sled powered by a 900cc Suzuki Thundercat triple. And his sleds are CLEAN, with delicious attention to detail.Īnd like most good straightline speedsters, Doug can be just a wee-bit sneaky with his stuff. That group included guys like Brian Nelson (yes, THAT Brian Nelson), Dale Nelson, Hubert Fixsen, Larry Miller, Bruce Vruwink and many others.ĭoug can do more than just build fast sleds though: he has an aesthetic for grafting components that add riding functionality and tasteful style points. He was one of a group of hardcore speed run guys who regularily faced-off in the Willmar, Minn., area in the late 1980s and early 1990s. And we’ll see more of his work this off-season when I post another story on his Pink Lady F8 Twin Spar.ĭoug has a long history of building custom Arctic Cat speed demons. This ZRT/T-Cat mash-up featuring a bunch of Thundercat, ZR and performance goodies is a perfect example of his work.ĭoug’s work has been featured here before when we took a look at this custom 1987 El Tigre. Doug Hanson (aka “The Cat Kid”) builds some truly wonderful custom Arctic Cat snowmobiles.

Zrt 800 mods