Alberta 1965-1969
Snowmobile racing in Alberta began with closed course “Power Toboggan Races” featured at the 1965 Edmonton Winter Carnival known as the MUK-LUK MARDIS GRAS on a track built onto the frozen North Saskatchewan River.
As snowmobile racing became more popular in the late 60s the Alberta Snowmobile Racing Association (ASRA) was formed with events held at Edmonton International Speedway as well as the “Circle-8 Speedway” stock car track in Calgary and by 1970 expanding to oval and closed course “cross country” events throughout Alberta
ALBERTA (NWSA)
1970
ALBERTA
1971 - 1972
ALBERTA
1973 - 1974
ALBERTA
1975 - 1976
ALBERTA
1977
ALBERTA
1978
ALBERTA
1979
ALBERTA
1980
ALBERTA
1981 ++
Ken Benson 1984
2026 “Hall of Fame” Alberta Nominee Resumes’
Dennis Clarke (Winterburn, Alberta, Canada) 1942-1998
Dennis Clarke from Edmonton was the NWSA’s most prolific and successful racer having won more feature races and North-Am Championships than any other racer. With a storied race career stretching from 1969 through to the early 90s Dennis Clarke is a name most revered when it comes to performance and true dominance in the sport of snowmobile racing in Western Canada.
Marvin Glanz
Don Ayers
Ken Benson
Dale “Gundy” Gunderson (Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada) 1947-2007
Dale Gunderson was a prominent racer and notably an early President of the North Western Snowmobile Association (NWSA) based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and contributing greatly to the early development of snowmobiling, and snowmobile racing in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.
In the late 60s Dale (known to everyone as “Gundy”) raced both Polaris and Rupp sleds to great success and was even awarded one of the rare “Rupp Ruby” rings from Mickey Rupp himself in 1972. In those early years Dale was easily recognizable as the tallest guy in the pits especially while wearing his bright green and red “Mark Ten” snow suit! (Mark Ten cigarettes was a primary sponsor of the NWSA circuit and snowmobile racing at that time)
Like many, in the mid-70s Gundy raced and mostly won riding Merc Sno-Twisters, then eventually graduating to a pair of beautiful 1979 IFS Moto-Ski SnoPro sleds while continuing to take down a number of NWSA feature events and regular podium appearances. As such over his 11 years of active racing Dale won numerous NWSA season series “high point” class trophies
Later in his lifelong involvement in snowmobiling, Dale became a transformative member of the Alberta Snowmobile Association (ASA) and his local Whitecourt Trailblazers club, becoming a popular organizer of weekly club rides, ASA Jamborees, and was the driving force behind the club’s extensive “trail grooming” efforts. As such in 2004 Dale Gunderson was awarded with ASA’s Excellence Award as “Alberta’s Outstanding Snowmobiler” followed by the “ASA Louise Sherren Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2007 (posthumously). As a fellow NWSA racer and longtime family friend, I am honored to nominate Dale “Gundy” Gunderson to the Western Snowmobile Racing Hall of Fame. ~Alan Nagel
