Finally got bit!
The week out in Medford, Ore., went pretty good. I had a pretty uneventful flight out from Indianapolis, including the final leg from Portland, Ore., with a spectacular clear flight over the rugged forests and mountains of southwestern Oregon into the Rogue Valley. That sure makes central Indiana look boring.
My business for the week introduced me to some real interesting folks from a company that builds what might be considered the ultimate all-terrain vehicle. If any of you have ever spent any time on ski slopes, you’ve probably seen one of the more famous products to come out of Medford, Ore. Tucker Sno-Cat® Corporation is a fourth-generation, family-run business that designs and manufactures the snow-grooming equipment you may have seen on any given ski slope around the world.
James Allison, one of the founding fathers of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, also was the founder of another Speedway institution, Allison Transmission, Inc. James would have been proud to see the fruits of his original shop hard at work in this very unique vehicle application nearly 100 years after he opened the doors of the Indianapolis Speedway Team Company on Main Street in Speedway, Ind., during 1915.
The late E.M. Tucker Sr. of Tucker Sno-Cat® Corporation was one of 13 children, born in a log cabin on Jump-Off Joe Creek in 1892 near Grants Pass, Ore. He spent his early boyhood near Trail, Ore., in a stone house built by his father in 1901. The house overlooks a broad stretch of the Rogue River and is still a landmark on the Rogue today.
During his youth, E.M. Tucker walked to school through deep snow, and even at this early age he began working on different devices for transportation over snow. This early work eventually led to the development of the world famed Tucker Sno-Cat® vehicle. Mr. Tucker worked in Los Angeles on models, perfecting the idea of over-snow transportation. Eventually moving his business back to Medford fulfilled Mr. Tucker’s long expressed desire to return to his family’s roots in the Rogue River Valley. Mr. Tucker spent 50 years building and improving his snow machines, and his firm is recognized as the oldest successful manufacturer of snow vehicles in the world.
After a fun filled week with the folks at Tucker Sno-Cat® Corporation, my travel plans started off with a bang Friday morning. The first leg of a three-leg trip back to Indianapolis was delayed by over four hours due to equipment problems. That led to a succession of missed flights, long ticket counter rebooking lines and the eventual realization of being stuck somewhere Friday night.
Given the choice of Portland, Minneapolis, Detroit or Atlanta, I picked Portland. Now let’s remember one of my prime directives; good eats and Italian motorcycles. Getting marooned in Portland for an afternoon afforded me the opportunity to visit my friends over at the local Ducati dealership, MotoCorsa, followed by a wonderful gastronomic experience at Serratto Restaurant on the corner of NW Kearney Street and 21st Avenue. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to check them out.
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, and my flights back to good, ole Indy were uneventful and pretty much on time. The airline even missed a final opportunity to heighten my travel experience by not losing my luggage!
Anyway, it looks like winter has hit us again with frigid temperatures and snow flurries, so it’s back to bench racing and checking out upcoming race activities at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg