The Speedway Snowmobile Club, first known as the Speedway Hilltoppers, was organized in 1972 when a group of neighbors got together and talked about setting up a trail system to link their farms and local watering holes.

 

Snowmobiling was very dangerous in those early years because there was no trail system. Things like stumps, rocks and barb wire fences took their toll on people and machines pioneering their way through unknown territory.

 

As the sport evolved and other clubs were organized, it became obvious that with the help of the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs (AWSC), formed in 1969, and the Dane County Council of Snowmobile Clubs (DCCSC), snowmobiling would become much safer and would evolve into a navigable system of established trails linking restaurants, taverns, gas stations, hotels and towns.

 

Sayner Wisconsin is the birthplace of the snowmobile. With our state being the founding state, many other states have followed our model of establishing trails and the funding to support them.

 

Today snowmobiling generates over $1 Billion of economic impact to our state. More than 200,000 registered snowmobiles hit Wisconsin’s 25,000 miles of groomed trails each winter.

 

It is a common assumption by some that our trail system is completely funded by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the trails are put in and maintained by the DNR. This is not true! Over the years, the trail system has been funded by new and renewal snowmobile registration fees, a portion of the gas tax formula and out of state annual trail stickers. The most recent to be added to the program is the WI Trail Pass Sticker. All of these funds go into a segregated snowmobile program account, and the DNR is responsible for administering these funds. Currently the trails are maintained without the support of any state general fund dollars.

 

All trails are groomed by the efforts of local clubs and their equipment is owned, operated and maintained by the clubs through state funding, donations and fund raisers. Trail signs need to be installed and removed each year, trails need to be brushed, and landowners must be contacted every year to get permission to use their land. All these activities take time and are a lot of work for club volunteers.There will be many challenges in the future but with the help and participation of all snowmobiling enthusiasts, we will be guaranteed that our sport will continue to exist. Become a member, get involved and continue to enjoy this sport we all love so much!