2003 Poker Run

02/13/03

Well, another race season is upon us and, in my opinion, it’s about time! For me the official season opener is the Busch North Scene annual snowmobile poker run in Rangeley Maine on the first weekend in February.

We wait and watch with anticipation for weeks in advance to see what the weather is going to do for us, or to us. We were lucky this year, we had no rain, a little bit of fresh snow, and even the cold let up just a little for us. It was probably a good thing, as the weather had been unseasonably cold for some time leading up to the ride and we had a few southerners with us that might not have been able to handle the real cold. (I won’t mention any names, but y’all know who y’all are. I noticed that Joe Bessey, despite living in the south for a fair period of time, hadn’t become too "weeniefied". He rode without even the benefit of ski pants, just good old blue jeans. It was through the generosity of Joe that many people including the Aubuchon Hardware guys and the Carey Heath crew were able to participate in the ride. Joe managed to come up with a whole driveway full of sleds for the crews to borrow for the day. Joe deserves a round of applause for his tremendous generosity all weekend, he helped a lot of people have a good time over the course of the weekend. Andy and Sue Santerre have managed to keep their Yankee status intact also, they both were seen outdoors in the cold having a good time and neither one has developed a drawl yet. They are due to become parents soon and we’re all wondering which language they are going to teach the baby, ‘Mainah’ or ‘Rebel’.

My wife and I arrived in Rangeley on Friday evening and checked into our room in time to change clothes and get to the Peoples Choice in time for the annual party honoring Tracy Gordon and the Tic-Tac team and congratulating them on another successful season. As usual, it was a fun time, had some good food, a lot of questions as to what is going to happen in 2003 and very few answers. Some stories say Tracy is going ASA racing, others have him doing a combination of BNS and Pro Stock races and still others have him in the BNS car for a run at the championship. Someone knows and no one is saying. That is what is great about our sport, mystery, everyone likes a good mystery and here we have one. Whatever Tracy decides to do, I’m sure he’ll be successful doing it.

After attending the party, we went to a huge bonfire that Joe and some of his crew had put together, then back to the Peoples Choice for a pick up pool tournament and probably too many ice cold non-New Hampshire beers. I guess I stayed out way too late, Saturday morning came pretty darn early.

We got up Saturday morning, had breakfast, registered, and headed out for the poker run. The group we went with was led by Joe Bessey and included a few rookie drivers. Carey Heath was on a sled for the first time and showed just how quick a study she was by keeping up all day and never having a problem. There were only a couple problems during the ride and one of them was very minor. A small group led by George Campbell, although he will never admit to it, got off course for a while and had to be led back onto the proper trail. The other problem occurred on a sweeping downhill corner and involved one of Carey’s crewmembers, which will remain nameless to protect me from death threats. He was riding just ahead of me, but far enough that I didn’t see it happen. There were tracks leading toward a large tree on the side of the trail, his sled lying upside down across the trail and him scrambling to get up and save a small shred of pride and respect. I don’t know just what took place but the sled looked a bit like Carey’s car did after one of the NHIS races last year. I asked a couple key questions after the sled was righted and got a couple key answers before we were on our way. " Are you OK?" "Nothing hurt but my pride" "What happened?" "I didn’t hit the tree" "Is that your sled?" "Probably is now" "Will it still run?" "Let’s go" The sled looked a little bad and must have handled kind of funny with the bent handlebars, but he continued on and never complained a bit. That is the kind of guy you like to ride with.

Back at the Peoples Choice we checked poker hands from four o’clock until six o’clock. There were just about a hundred hands to go through and in the end Willie Elliott came out on top with a straight and won the prize package that included a snowmobile helmet and gloves among other things. Seems Willie won something last year too. Maybe we just keep Willie winning to keep him coming back, no one is any more fun to have around than Willie is.

After the prizes and awards were all presented, George Campbell took the stage and conducted an auction to raise some more money for the charities. A couple real good bidding wars or ‘pissing matches’, as we in the North Country know them, broke out and we raised more than anyone had hoped for. $3600.00 was raised as compared to last year’s $2800.00 for the Maine Special Olympics and the Busch North Series Women’s Auxiliary. A huge thanks goes out to everyone involved.

As always, send Questions, Comments, Hate Mail, and Indecent Proposals to, Fish c/o Busch North Scene or e-mail them to fishy@gwi.net