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The Guys To
Beat
He said, "If you have
the driving skills needed to win, I believe
I have the
mechanical skills needed to build a winner."
- By Gary
Wilkinson
Everet Regal at the Third Annual Great Eastern Whiteout taking
a lap on a 1971 800cc 4-cylinder King Kat owned by Andy Avelis
of Newbury, MA.
As soon as I met Everet Regal of Phoenix, to discuss this
story, one of the first things he said to me was, "I always
wanted to go fast." And fast he has gone in the 40 plus years
since he started racing go-carts in 1960. Everet's carts were
getting in excess of 90 MPH. He was driving them faster than
the stockcars that raced the same tracks. The speed was
achieved in a very large part to the modifications he was
making to the small engines.
Everet readily admits
that his driving skills, in either go-carts or on snowmobiles,
were not the best. So what was a guy that loved speed to do,
if he could not compete on the track? Well, as he indicated to
an experienced and skilled snowmobile driver many years ago,
"If you have the driving skills needed to win, I believe I
have the mechanical skills needed to build a winner." Building
high performance engines has been Everet's place in the sport
of snowmobile racing. He is, as his nickname indicates a
'Super Wrench' - a builder of winning race sleds.
The
Everet Regal built racing sleds were world champions in the
early 1970s. With the help of several friends, working out of
Everet's garage, in a 'shade tree mechanic' type environment
and competing against the factory-sponsored teams, the 'Widow
Makers' (Everet's racing team) won three world championships.
The Widow Makers name was chosen when Fay Parmley, a
racing team member, said to the team as they were working on a
sled one night, "My wife said, as I was leaving tonight, that
you guys are nothing but a bunch of widow makers." And they
were, so to speak, given all the time being spent in the Regal
garage developing better and faster racing
snowmobiles.
Prior to forming the Widow Makers, Everet
did have the opportunity to race for the Polaris Factory
during the 1968-69 season. Everet tweaked the engines and
others raced the sleds. He said, "We won a lot of big races
that season." However, they never won a world championship.
The Widow Makers' first world championship was in
1970. This was after a successful season of local racing. It
happened at the first USSA sanctioned World Series event in
Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The '70 event is still considered one
of the most memorable races in USSA history. Competition was
intense with the Widow Makers team facing off against a
factory team in the feature event.
Driver Ken Young
quickly squared off against the factory driver making this
basically a two man race. The two exchanged the lead three
times before Young crossed the finish line a few feet ahead of
the factory sled. They had won the 1970 Modified IV Class
world championship. This was, as Everet had predicted a few
years early - the combination of a skilled driver matched up
with a 'Regalized' Puma 634CC sled (or any sled) to produce a
winner. Not a bad accomplishment for a small town team from
Phoenix, NY.
The combination of driver Ken Young and an
Everet Regal built sled would reign again as world champions
in 1971. This time it would be done with a very unique hybrid
engine - a very special 295-CC engine conceived and built by
Regal. The concept, which many said could not be done, took a
250-CC twin and 340-CC twin and put them side by side. With
some creative machining and welding, they fit together. From
the exterior the heads looked the same, until they were
removed and the different size cylinders were
exposed.
At the World Championships in Ironwood,
Michigan that year, the hybrid sled qualified in three classes
and won the MOD I title. Ken Young was the only non-factory
sponsored rider to win a man's qualified class - a record
unmatched by anyone.
This special engine has never
been able to be duplicated by others. It was on display in the
Regal Speed Shop (a shop Everet operated for a couple of years
in the village of Phoenix) until it was stolen. Someone
informed Everet that they had seen it in Alaska. It was never
recovered.
The third world championship came in 1974 at
Eagle Run, Wisconsin. This was the junior class. And again it
was a Young and Regal winning combination. Only this time, it
was Ken 'Tadpole" Young, the son of Ken Young that was driving
the sled.
Today, at 71 Everet is still active. He
continues to develop new engines for racing sleds and he is
able to get 218-HP out of 800-CC engines. The modern Arctic
Cat titanium framed racers he is building today are not 'track
tested' on the village streets of Phoenix as they were in the
1970's. Everet is also finding time to rebuild a couple of
vintage engines each year. He does this in the same garage
where he built the world champions.
When he is not
enjoying his love of speed, he holds down a job as Consulting
Chief Engineer at Precision Systems Manufacturing, Inc. This
keeps him engaged in the mechanical technology.
At the
Great Eastern Whiteout a few weeks ago, Everet 'Super Wrench'
Regal was presented a plaque - The Adirondack Cup Award. This
recognized his contribution and lifetime achievement to the
sport of snowmobiles and racing. Part of the plaque's
inscription read, "He got the most out of engines."
For a 'seat-of-the-pants' operation, Everet and the
Widow Makers team were (and still are) the guys to beat in
everyone's book
|
See You • Opinion • Sweet Cleats • Last Hurrah • Snowfari • NYSSA • Great Eastern
The Guys To Beat • Legislators • Hibbert • Snow Kids • Vintage Snow • Morgan • NH Ecology
Simply Super • Chenango Lake • Notes From Osceola • Put Sled To Bed |
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