APPLETON (NBC 26) — It’s snowmobile racing season, and our weather team can confirm: conditions are great for it in northeast Wisconsin.
- The 54th Annual Sno-Mo/ATV Races are happening this weekend in Hortonville, hosted by the Outagamie Conservation Club.
- Bruce Learman, co-chair, and his daughter Jen Learman, who is the announcer and a club director, are leading the event.
- Preparation involved freezing over a million gallons of water for the 1/3-mile ice track.
- Safety measures include fencing for spectators and strict rules for drivers, such as helmets and machine tethers.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, with additional details for the web)
Bruce Learman, co-chair of the Sno-Mo/ATV Races, shared the decades of work that go into making this event a success. “We started right after Christmas, or just before Christmas,” he said.
For Learman, ice racing is a lifelong passion. “We started out on snow only, and I wasn’t around then—I was in the military from ’70 to ’76—so it was ’79 when I started helping here. And that comes out to about 45 years,” he explained.
Known to friends as “Big Bad Bruce,” Learman has done it all—volunteering, racing, and running the event. And now, his daughter Jen Learman has stepped into the family tradition.
“I’ve been a spectator for a lot of years. I threw the green flag for a while. And then last year, I moved up to the announcer stand. I’ve plowed the track. I even got to race out there a couple of times,” said Jen Learman, who also serves as one of the Outagamie Conservation Club directors.
The 54th Annual Sno-Mo/ATV Races will be held at the Outagamie Conservation Club. Weeks of preparation have gone into making the ice track race-ready.
“Almost 600 miles on our water truck, going around a 1/3-mile track,” Bruce Learman said. “So you can figure that out—it’s about 1,000,000 gallons of water frozen out there.”
Safety is a top priority, according to Learman. Fans are kept back with two rows of fencing, and visitors are encouraged to wear ice spikes to avoid slipping. Drivers also follow strict rules, including wearing helmets and using a tether that shuts off their machines if they fall.
“This is a fun race and a family race. We hope that you’re honest when you come out here,” Learman said.
Attending the race is free, but parking costs $10. All proceeds from parking and day-of raffles will support the club and its community events.
