Part II

While the racing history of the Wahl Brothers started with Durmont and Dennis on the Sno*Jets, the team took a big step forward when the youngest of the boys, 12 at the time, started racing sleds. At first, young Dave Wahl raced the families 340cc single cylinder. It was an Arctic Cat panther that Dave had to have a buddy start, as pulling it would wear him out before the big race even got started.

Dave moved on to his brother in law's 1974 295 S John Deere that he raced in Northern Minnesota and North Dakota. For his next sled, Dave moved on to brother Dennis' screaming 1973 EXT 340 one year, then the next he ran the 340 and a 440, as well as an experimental four-ski (yes, it had 4 skis!) Arctic Cat EXT. Dave found out the hard way that the leaf spring style snowmobile was not for him. Poor handling was a big factor in Dave crashing often. Even so, because of his strong showings in races, in 1976 Dave got to run Arctic Cat Canadian Factory racer Brian Espeseth's 250 and 440 Z in some races.

The first ever Wahl race sled was built at the Arctic Cat factory in Thief River Falls. Dave was going to an area vocational tech institute to learn welding, and at night going to Cat and working on his first self-built race sled. It was built from an original Wahl "straight axle" IFS front end construction, inspired from trying to lose weight and improve the handling for Dave. They powered the sled with a big fin, free-air 440cc Arctic Z motor.

At the point the sled was far enough along, Erling and Dave brought it back to brother Dennis' brand new 26X40 shop - complete with a lathe, a mill and a welder. Dennis had built the shop on his fathers property. This building would become the place where it all started coming together for the Wahl Brothers.

Testing of the new sled was done on a lake North of Dell's house. Dennis and Doug had one of those big Bombardier haulers. They put the race sled in the Bombardier hauled it to the lake, where Dave ran it for the first time on Thanksgiving day, 1978.

After some testing and tweaking , the first ever "Wahl Brothers special" made its debut at the Super-Seer SnoPro opener in Grand Forks North Dakota. Dave entered and won the Super Mod 440cc class, but was eliminated from Sunday's competition when he broke an aluminum drive shaft the next day - more learning that would go into future Wahl products.

Dave's big time race debut was nothing short of spectacular. Dave did not have the time or money to get a proper hood for the sled, so he used what was at hand: the hood from his 1974 John Deere. Coming to the line for the final, Dave's Mongrel sled and mis-matched suit looked, at best to be a long shot. As the race began it became quickly apparent to the large crowd that had gathered that cold day in Grand Forks that what matters in racing is what's inside, not the appearance.

Dave and the first Wahl racing special emerged victorious in the 440 Master Circuit SnoPro class. SnoTrack magazine would later report that Dave's win was a "shocker". Dave finally got an RXL hood for the sled after that first race. They immediately painted it black and put Cat stickers on it to acknowledge the use of the Cat factory and the Cat motor powering the sled.

Dave ran that same sled during the rest of the 78-79 season. In the 79-80 season, he put a new liquid Rotax in it that he paid a whopping $250 for. Polaris racing legend Larry Rugland (who had been working at Ski-Doo for a few years prior) showed Dave how to modify it. 1980 was also the first year that Dave rode in the Eagle River World's Championship. In his first ever bid for the title, Dave qualified for the world's championship, but lost a ski bolt in one of the first laps.

At the Waldheim 1980 World Series, the sled broke a torsion bar, Dave hit wall and dislocated his shoulder - the first of many race injuries Dave would endure in his career. Dave still has that original Wahl race sled to this day.

For the 1980-81 season, the Wahl Brothers built a new race sled. The very first day of testing, Dave crashed the new sled.

That year in Eagle River, Dave again qualified for the championship, but got into a tussle with Villenueve, and finished second behind Scorpion's Brad Hulings' who was having his best year ever.

Dave finished the year 13th in points. Instead of taking the number 13 the next year he went with the next available number - 74. Dave hung on to that number until it became part of himself and the Wahl family. Anyone following the oval racing circuit knew exactly who number 74 was.

Part III