By CHRIS DOBROWOLSKI
News Sports Editor
Between two wrecks and an injured driver, it seemed like the Cadarette Racing Team was hit with a streak of bad luck for this year's I-500 snowmobile race in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday.
But the local team overcame those obstacles, as well as others that can occur during a race, to capture the annual race for the second straight year and third time overall.
Troy Dewald of Au Gres and Jeff Luenberger of Saginaw rode the 21A Arctic Cat to the win, the first Arctic Cat sled to capture the I-500 title in 42 years.
"After 42 years of never winning, they were pretty excited," said team owner Greg Cadarette. "It was a big deal."
The victory almost didn't happen for a couple of reasons. Dewald wrecked the sled in qualifying on Thursday and suffered a variety of injuries that put into question whether he would even be able to race. Then, 300 laps into the race, another crash put the Cadarette team's chance to repeat in serious jeopardy.
"It wasn't looking good," said Cadarette. "We were actually going to scratch because the sled was bent so bad. We decided to try and see what it could do. It still handled pretty good."
Dewald also put in a gritty effort to race despite his injuries.
"He was busted up good," Cadarette said. "It was sheer determination, that what it is. Most people wouldn't have given any thought to racing after that."
Cadarette's team took the race from the pole position, a feat which has only been done twice before.
Last year Cadarette's team became the first Ski-Doo sled to win the I-500 in 20 years. Knowing Arctic Cat sleds had even more trouble taking the checkered flag, Cadarette made it the team's goal to break that drought.
"We worked especially hard on this project," said Cadarette, who put the sled together on evenings and weekends over the last few months with the help of his regular crew of Travis Precord, Tim Leeck and Eric Kuchnicki. "The crew was definitely a plus this year. Sports Unlimited worked with us really well. It was nice to have a dealer to do anything we needed."
The track was rough for the 31 sleds that competed, and the finishing time was considerably slower than races in the past, but the Arctic Cat came through for Cadarette when it needed to.
"I was impressed with the way the Cat went through bumps," Cadarette said. "It did better than sleds we've had in the past."
Cadarette actually had two sleds competing in the race. John Hoos, Matt Hoos and Wayne Aube were part of the team that had issues with a broken chain, or else they would've been in contention for the title, too.
The winning sled and the trophy will be on display for the rest of this week at Sports Unlimited.