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Willie Ewing has broken the 24-hour snowmobiling distance record. Staff photo Brian Larsen
Although it didn’t happen on Devil Track Lake as first planned, Willie Ewing eclipsed the current 24-hour snowmobile distance record of record of 1,908 miles by covering 2,125.04 miles on Lake of the Woods.
Ewing accomplished the feat on March 13-14.
The Becker, Minnesota resident used the record run to make money for a bible camp in Grand Rapids.
“One hundred percent of what I raise will go to the camp to help pay for underprivilege kids who otherwise couldn’t afford to attend the camp,” Ewing said. “We have chosen Living World Bible Camp because of their efforts to give every child the opportunity to attend, regardless of their financial situation,” Ewing said.
Willie said he had to move the venue from Devil Track Lake because there was too much “snow and slush” on the lake.
Driving a 2022 1,000cc, four stroke Arctic Cat he named “ThunderOne.” Ewing averaged an incredible 88.5 miles per hour for 24 hours.
“The idea of this world record attempt was started by my late cousin (Darcy Ewing #6) a longtime professional snowmobiler, who lost his life way too early to a tragic accident (non-snowmobile related) Ewing said.
To break the current record Ewing had to average just shy of 85 miles per hour for 24 hours. That included stops to fuel up, go to the bathroom, eat and drink. A team of professional snowmobile racers helped Ewing with the effort. In case of a breakdown, he had two other snowmobiles to use, and each sled was equipped with radios so he could communicate with his pit crew and track mechanics. The team used a NASCAR fuel system to lessen the time Ewing was stopped.
Of the 202 laps Ewing raced around a 10.5- mile oval course north of Wheelers Point, his fastest lap was his last which he drove at 116 mph.
Ewing has been involved with snowmobiles and snowmobile racing for over 30 years. He started riding snowmobiles at age five. He makes his living rebuilding damaged shocks for snowmobiles, and he was a certified snowmobile technician at age 16. Ewing said he has done quite a bit of business in Cook County.
“We have been working on planning for three years. We didn’t want to overlook any minor details that could be a potential setback,” he said, adding the goal is to set the milage record so high “to where nobody will ever even want to attempt the record again.”
For now, Ewing is the unofficial record holder. His results have been sent to the Guinness Book of World Records for official certification, which can take months.
Willie Ewing discusses his new Snowmobile record
When asked about his record snowmobile run, Willie Ewing replied, “Yes, everything went down perfectly on Lake of the Woods. Our efforts have currently raised roughly $45,000 to send underprivileged kids to summer camp. We broke three world record at one time.
Previous records
1. a single snowmobile has never made it more than 1400 miles in one day
2. a single rider has never gone over 1907 miles in one day
3. a team of 4 rides and sleds taking turns have gone 2084 miles in one day
With the help of my awesome pit crew, I managed to ride 2125.04 miles in a 24 hour.
“We did this without a single mechanical failure on a 2022 Arctic thunder cat (named ThunderOne ). We burnt 278 gallons of Premium gas. We averaged a speed of 88.59 mph in the 24-hour period. Our cruising speed was roughly 105 mph. Maximum speed I pushed the sled to was 116 mph. Coldest temperature I saw was -2. With windchill that was 48° below zero. during the ride I never felt sleepy or wore out. After the ride that caught up with me and I am still trying to get my strength back.
“We are keeping our website and Facebook page up and active for the next few months. To continue take donations. We are going to be selling off a bunch of the items through our Facebook page that have been donated to this fundraiser and posting videos from our event.”
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