The RMSHA Experience: Beau Richan & Tanner Meyers Share All

What was that sound?

Wait, wait, wait, hold on. Okay, I was messing with it. Oh, that was the button I pressed.

See, I told you I'm still learning.

No, leave it. The whole podcast.

Oh my gosh, that was a surprise. That was a treat right there. I thought he was doing something with his voice.

I thought it was you. I heard a sound, I thought it was my computer making that high pitch sound. Do I sound like that?

No, we don't sound like that, right? No, just him. Just Tanner. You sound like that in mine, but I don't know if it's the echo. No, it's just you. Okay, hold on, hold on. Okay, there we go. Why did it just do it to yours, though? I don't know which one's Beau's. I'm going to click it. Hello, hello, hello. Whoa. Okay, I don't know why it's just on yours.

Beau can't hold himself in.

Okay, so that's what we do for Beau. Are we all good now? I think so. Okay, now talk.

Hello.

Okay, now we're good. I'm going to take my hoodie off. I've got to turn the heat off, actually. Holy crap, that's the funniest thing I've heard in a minute.

Well, welcome back to another episode of the Sledder Cast podcast. I'm one of the hosts of the program here, Trevor Erikson. Tonight we're in Rexburg, Idaho, at Deviant Ink headquarters, and I've got Beau Richan and Tanner Meyers here with us. Tanner's coming from Soda Springs, correct?

Correct.

Okay. I thought Bear Lake, but no, Soda Springs. And then Beau's just down the highway in Idaho Falls.

Yes, sir.

So we have a great conversation loaded up tonight. We're going to talk about a lot of different things, but the main topic we're going to focus on is the RMSHA circuit. My thought going into this was, I've got two professional racers who have been doing it for a while, and I don't know much about RMSHA. When I watch the live broadcast, there's a lot of things where I almost feel like my wife watching a football game. She doesn't understand why they've got to do it a certain way. I've been snowmobiling my whole life, but I've just never been on any of the race stuff. So I had a lot of questions to make myself more familiar with what you guys are doing and what it takes to be a professional hill climb racer.

Before we jump into that, guys, we are on YouTube and on all of the different podcast platforms, Spotify, Apple, so make sure you subscribe and follow us there. What's cool about YouTube is we cut this full episode up into smaller, bite-sized pieces as well, so if there's a specific topic you want to hone in on, boom, you get that seven minute clip. Everything will be in the description or in the bio, wherever you're at, at Sledder Cast podcast.

So before we get going into the RMSHA stuff, let's go backwards a couple months, to the first part of September. We're going to talk about what you guys do in the off season when you're not snowmobiling. I think Tanner struck first, and Beau struck on the rifle opener, so we've got a couple hunters here. Tanner, it would have been right before Hay Days, I believe, and I remember you posting about your archery elk, and it was in and out, done in minutes. I don't know anything else about the hunt, so tell us how that happened.

It was pretty cool. My girlfriend thinks I hunt way too much on my off time.

It was only 15 minutes, though.

Yeah, this year was a little different. I usually drag it out to at least the last week. But we'd been watching these elk, and me and my buddy got up on this ridge. It was still pretty early on opening morning, and we could hear a couple bulls bugling. This is August 30th.

Like 20 minutes from the truck.

Yeah, 20 minutes walk from the truck. We had service on top of this hill, and it was just barely getting light enough. My buddy texted me, "I think there's a bull right between us," and I texted him back, "Yeah, I just shot him."

Oh my gosh.

He came up over the ridge right to me and stopped at 18 yards broadside, and I ended up getting him opening morning.

Were they quiet, or were they already talking on opening day? Because for the most part it's usually pretty quiet opening day. Did you have visuals on them?

We were sitting up there and the hill was so steep we couldn't see off of it. When they got within 200 yards they just started going off, the bulls. From talking to my other buddies, they didn't hear much, but we got in on a big group and they were going off.

Nice.

It was pretty cool. Pretty lucky.

You said luck right there, but would you say this was the product of a lot of time spent before August 30th? Or was it really, hey, this is where we hunt, we showed up, and they happened to be in the right place at the right time for me, wrong place, wrong time for them?

Well, every time you get one it's pretty lucky, especially with the bow, because the harvest rate is what, 10% or less, somewhere right there. But I'd been watching them for probably two weeks. I usually go out spotting from the vehicle or walking pretty much 29 days out of the 30. So I'm out quite a bit.

Lucky guy right there. Backyard. I've got to figure his program out.

Okay, so that was the September 2023 archery bull.

Yep.

A big six point, right?

Yeah, a solid six point.

And then you also got a buck a little bit later, right?

Yeah. We were actually elk hunting, and it was about midday. We kind of got skunked on the elk, and we were walking back to the truck and I glassed up a two point and this other buck. I couldn't tell what he was, and he bedded down about 20 yards off the four-wheeler trail. So we're like, well, let's go check him out. He jumps up at 10 yards and it's a nice big four point, and boom.

That was more luck, I think. You didn't have eyeballs on him for weeks. And especially after the winter we had this year, they were few and far between.

So Beau, do you archery hunt much?

No. I'm injured a lot.

That's right. You've got bad shoulders.

Just the left one.

Are you a righty or a lefty?

I draw with my right.

But you've got to stabilize it with that left, and that just pops right out, huh?

Yeah. And then I got a replacement this year, so archery was kind of off the table. They told me I could use a crossbow, but I ain't about to pack that heavy thing around, so I'll stick with the rifle. They give you a permit for it, like a five-year or lifetime one or something. But yeah, now I'm good.

That'd be like pulling a Daryl, right? Daryl from The Walking Dead. Is Daryl a crossbow guy? I haven't watched The Walking Dead for four or five years, but I'm pretty sure there's a crossbow on there. That's besides the point. So rifle it is. The Idaho general season starts October 10th. So day one, you're out there?

Yes, sir.

And are you pulling a Tanner as well? You had eyeballs on these guys for a couple weeks, or did you just kind of show up?

Tanner does. So you've just got to have the Tanner. This is my guide now. This one worked out way different than we expected. They had found the buck that I shot two days before the hunt. They had watched him, and opening day I was with another buddy, and he had his girlfriend with him, and we hunted all day. We knew where that buck was, and they went in that morning to set her up on it, and she just couldn't get the shot on him.

So we ended up meeting up later that afternoon, and his girlfriend decided she wanted to stay home for the afternoon hunt. So us three went up to where he was and set up around where they knew he'd feed out in the evening. We weren't standing there 10 minutes and he walked out. I saw him right off the bat and pulled my gun up, and of course I've got the scope cranked to 20 and he's 80 yards away from me, so all I see is fur.

Then I put the gun down and look at Tanner, because I was anticipating that Tanner was going to shoot him. That was kind of the plan. Tanner puts his gun up, so then I put my gun back up. Then I'm holding my gun, I look at Tanner, and Tanner puts his gun down, so I put my gun down. Well, this buck comes out and turns and starts walking towards me, and he wasn't anything but 80, 85 yards away. Finally I pulled the gun up and I was like, all right, if he's not going to do it, I'll do it. So I shot him.

Very gentlemanly.

Well, come to find out, I couldn't even see it where he came out. I never even saw him. And he had another one with him, so I thought Beau was watching that one, and I thought he was the smaller buck, so I was waiting for the big one to come out.

So I shot him, and I stayed right where I was with my gun, and next thing you know Tanner started walking, and I was like, what is he doing? There's another one, a bigger one. And he comes walking up and he's like, "Well, that's the big one." I was like, oh crap. I kind of felt bad, because they'd been watching it, and I'm not going to lie, I was like, man, his girlfriend's going to be mad at me. I was expecting him to shoot it. And then what happens, two or three days later he ends up shooting one bigger than the one I did anyway. He sent me a picture of it while I was elk hunting, so I was happy that he at least got one.

So the real question is, did you purposely take him to your B or C zone to hunt the B or C bucks? Or did you have that A buck stashed away over here?

No, actually the one Beau shot was the biggest buck I'd seen up to that point.

Cool. Well, if you get the invite again next year, then you know everything's kosher. No hard feelings.

We'll wait and see. I'm going to go sit up there and be like, "Hey man, I've been waiting for you."

So that's a fun little intro to get to know you guys a little better, as far as what you do outside of snowmobiling. Maybe in 60 or 90 seconds, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into snowmobiling. We'll start with Beau.

I'm actually pretty new to the snowmobile industry. I really started riding sleds pretty competitively in '17, '18, and started racing in '19. I grew up racing motocross, raced for 15 years and did the circuit all over. I quit public school and did homeschooling to finish early and pursue the motocross career, but with accidents and everything it didn't work out. So I pursued snowmobiles, followed a couple of these guys on social media, decided to give it a chance in 2019, and fast forward, here we are.

Earlier, when I said I've got a couple of professional hill climb racers who have been doing it for a while, it clicked in my head. No, Beau actually started a few years ago, which is a pretty cool story. In 2019 you're new on a snowmobile, and here we are going into 2024. When did you start hill climb?

'19. I raced two races in amateur, then had a shoulder injury, so I sat a year out, then raced one year Semi-Pro, and I've been in the Pros since.

That's pretty cool in and of itself. We'll get into how you get into the circuit, because I have no idea. Do you just go pay the 100 bucks or whatever and go do it? But being able to get in there and hang in year one sounds pretty special.

Yeah, it was pretty awesome. My rookie year in the Pros was honestly my best year. I put a lot of time and work into it and it paid off pretty well for me.

Cool. Okay, Tanner, is your story similar, or a different one?

It's a little bit different. I pretty much grew up on a snowmobile and a bike living over in Soda. I think I was riding my first snowmobile when I was two, a little Kitty Cat and stuff. Then my dad started racing in 2002, so I've been going to RMSHA races since then. I started racing Juniors in 2012, and this will be my 12th year.

Wow. So we've got 12 years for you, and then going on four or five years for you, Beau?

Fifth year.

Cool. I don't know how we're going to get through all these questions. There's a ton of them. I'm putting these guys to work.

Let's just go down the list. One question I thought was interesting: say I'm not new to snowmobiling, but I've never hill climbed. I backcountry snowmobile, and this year I want to get into hill climbing. What would be the first three to five things you'd tell me I've got to go take care of? I'm not talking paperwork, just getting ready to race.

The thing that I did is I found another racer and kind of shadowed them, from sled setup on. A lot of these guys welcome you with open arms. And then practice with them. Go out and actually spend time with them on a practice course. That's honestly eye opening to a lot of people.

So find a mentor, basically. That's going to speed up your learning process.

Yeah. And actually last year, me and Beau did a program that RMSHA started last year, just getting their foot in the door with it, for new members in Junior and Semi-Pro. It was kind of like a field day. We took out probably close to 20 riders who were new to RMSHA for a day, and we went over all their sled setups, things to check, things to do. Then we went out and set up a practice course and did a bunch of stuff like that with the new members.

Nice.

Honestly, a big thing too is just go to a race and check it out. Jackson's a beast in itself, the World Championship, but come to one of the races on our circuit and get behind the scenes.

Love it. So what I've got so far is find a mentor, look at the programs that already exist (it sounds like RMSHA has some of those set up to connect you into the industry), and then just get out there, get some eyeballs on the hillside and watch the process.

Social media is huge too. Find the riders, the racers. We're always posting what we're doing to the sleds, from sled setup to everything.

Okay, big one.

Here's a tricky question for you guys. What is the cost? I mean, that's a loaded question, so take out the money you put into your machine. If I wanted to get on the circuit, what are the fees I've got to pay?

You've got your yearly membership to RMSHA, and then you've got to do your ISR insurance card. And then your weekend entry fees for the races.

And what's typical? The yearly fee is somewhere around a hundred and something dollars? Is that the fee for memberships?

Insurance is like 175, I think, somewhere around there. And then RMSHA memberships are like 500, and that's yearly. Or you can do a one day or a part time membership. There are different options depending on what your schedule looks like and how many races you're going to go to.

Okay. And then for your weekend races, is it all one price, or are there different prices for different locations?

They're all set entry fees. Us Pros, we run five classes, and it's a set fee per class, per entry.

Okay, so I go hit up a race and I'm typically in what, two or three classes?

It depends. If you're running Pro, we run five classes, and you want to get as much as you can.

So there's a total of five classes, but does everybody race all five?

Not really. There's actually more than five classes. Realistically we've got what, 12 to 15 Pro classes? Each Pro rider can ride up to five classes, and you pick out of that list which five you want to race.

Okay. We'll break it down, because I'm doing the math now and I understand where you're going with that. So man, if you're maxing out all five of them, you're 500 bucks a weekend, boys. Just entry fees, right?

Yeah. Just to get your sled on the mountain.

Just to break the line, hopefully.

And how many weekends are there?

We have eight races on the schedule for 2024.

And is it common for an athlete to go to all eight?

That's the goal, because we're chasing a points championship. That's the end goal, points.

And that's including Jackson Hole, which is not RMSHA, but it's on the schedule. That's kind of how we get to go to Jackson, based off of our points.

So can Jackson Hole be considered like the Super Bowl of football?

Yeah, it is. It's the World Championship of hill climb.

And are they taking the top x amount of point totals?

Top 10, I'm pretty sure. Top 10 in every class. And then I think each manufacturer gets allocated so many entries they can give to certain people. That's how you see some of the athletes that don't run the circuit.

Because I believe last year there was some talk that someone was going to show up. I'm not going to say any names. It seems like there's always some sort of, whether you call it controversy or whatever. But I didn't know that a manufacturer can say, here's my trump card, this guy or girl is getting in. How is that looked upon? Is it even a thing, or are you just like, whatever?

I personally like it. I think some people get a little upset about it, but you don't take someone's spot. You're just adding them to the mix. A true racer is going to battle it out through the season for the points for the following year. If you're racing and pushing hard, that's where you get your invites, separate from the manufacturers' invitations.

Cool, I like it.

So basically, a lot of fees. And if you really do the numbers, it's probably pretty obvious. If you're wanting to hill climb to make money, you're probably not making much money?

Off of the races, through the contingency from the manufacturers and the payouts at the events, there's money to be made, don't get me wrong. It's good, if you're a top five guy.

So if you're top five, there's money to be had there, correct?

Yeah, for sure.

Is that kind of the goal? Obviously you want to win, but if I can place top five here, we're on a good path?

Right.

Rules of the game. I called this one "how hill climbs work." I saw the rule book and went through some of it on RMSHA's website. We don't need to know every rule, but what are the main ones? Like in football, you can't go offsides, you can't grab people's face masks and pull them down. What are some of those pretty standard rules?

I'd say the standard object of the game is, you have a light at the bottom and a light at the top. When you trip the lights at the bottom, that's when your timer starts. They have an obstacle course set up with flags. You have to stay within the flags and get all the way through the course to trip the lights at the top. If you get out of the course, there's high marks. So if you miss a flag, if you hit a flag, if you get stuck, which a lot of guys do at the start of the race or the start of the weekend.

And then we move the course throughout the day. If we start turning up a lot of dirt or debris, stumps, logs, stuff like that, we'll move the course and switch it.

Who decides that?

Pretty much the officials. We do have some races where we're on Forest Service ground, so they're present and help us.

Don't touch the dirt. You move it.

Okay. So if you get stuck, you've got a two minute rule, is it?

Yeah, two minutes. And you can't kill your sled. You can't pull the tether, and you can't put it in reverse, because your sled technically shuts down. If you pull the tether or have to start the sled, that's an automatic high mark where you are on the hill.

And what can't touch the flags? Is it literally anything? If you blow by and your leg's swinging out and you clip it?

As long as the flag maintains three points of contact. Even your roost off the sled, your snow flap, legs. Those are the most common three things. But if that flag has to be repositioned...

Sorry, I lost you there. When you say three points of contact on the flag, what do you mean by that?

There's two poles, and the flag slides on them. If you hook your leg in it or your arm, it will pull off to one side but still be sitting on the one pole. That's a mark. Or if it tips over and it's touching the snow, or crosses. A lot of times it crosses.

In every sport there's always stuff that makes you go, I don't understand this one. Is there a rule like that, where you're just scratching your head?

Probably the weirdest one for me, right up front, was the whole flag thing with even your roost. You could be 20 feet from a flag, but you're spinning, bouncing off rocks and dirt and frozen snow, and if any of that debris hits that flag, you're high marked at that flag.

Only if they have to reposition it, though.

Right. If they've got to fix something on it, like you said, a leg comes off, or if they have to re-stick it if it tips over. That kind of threw me off, because we're so focused on the lane that we don't know what's behind us. There's times you'll get to the top and they'll be like, "You're high marked at that one." You took that flag out one way or another. I think that throws a lot of the racers off.

Mine's mostly towards Jackson, because that's where they do it the most. They can't make a call from the Jumbotron or the video. They can't go back and rewatch it, or they won't overrule a call from the Jumbotron video. So if they call it up on the hill and it's obviously clear that's not what happened, they won't change the call because of the video.

How many officials are stationed on the course?

Depends on the venue. Afton and Jackson, they pretty much want one at least every two gates. They've got them pretty stacked in there. Sometimes it helps you, sometimes it hurts you.

Unless there's a specific technology reason why they can't pipe in quick enough and get back quick enough to make a decision, that seems like the only thing that could really hold that rule up from maybe getting an adjustment. Because you guys put a ton of money into these things, and to have it be a judgment call where they didn't have the right angle and had to make a call real quick, I can understand how that could get pretty frustrating.

It gets heated sometimes. Realistically, we're playing the fastest seconds game in the world, and we have a short season that we spend all year on and a lot of money on. So when it comes down to those calls, it's frustrating. But they're doing a job, and they see it as they see it, which could be from different angles.

They're there doing their job, which is awesome.

Okay, running order. How do you decide running order?

We always start with the small CC classes and work our way up. Always stock, then improved, then mods. And the actual running order on qualifying day is just computer generated.

Oh really? So there's qualifying, and the last day is finals. On qualifying day it's just randomized, boom, boom, boom. And then on finals day, is it by time, where the quickest time goes last? Or do they get to choose?

Only in 600 Stock, the class that breaks the hill. The first day it's random. 600 Stock opens up the hill, so in 600 Stock you want the fastest time, because then on finals day you go last.

And when we say qualifying to finals, there's roughly 25 to 35 guys per class, and we only take 12 to the finals in each class. So it's pretty cutthroat on qualifying day. They made that rule because the first class is opening up the hill, and a lot of the time there's been places where no one even makes it over in the first class. It's just powder.

Sounds like a rodeo. So it's mostly computer generated until finals. As a racer, how do you identify what class you want to race in? What makes that decision for you?

Obviously talking to the people at the manufacturers, like the Polaris guys, and seeing what classes they want people in, so everyone's not all jumbled up in one class. You're still going to get that in the 900 Stock and those bigger classes. But they'll have suggestions on where they want to see you in at least a couple classes, and then on the other ones it's just whatever you decide, or whatever you want to build that year.

It can come down to riding a straight OEM stock sled right out of the crate, all the way to full-blown mods, which take some serious money. So it's personal preference, with the help of your team guiding you.

Going back, I should have asked this earlier. We talked about getting disqualified with the flags, or turning off your machine. Is there anything else you can do to get yourself DQ'd?

Probably the way your sleds are set up. You could break the rules, get protested and have your sled checked out.

We have a tech area after you come off the hill where they'll go through your sled. A lot of times they'll check the fuel and write down the VIN and everything. But there's been points where, with your top five guys, they'll actually pull heads, check porting, and make sure everything's stock, from clutching on down. They get down to the nitty-gritty rules on what you can and can't do.

In an entire season, how often does someone get disqualified for something like that? Is it rare?

For intentional stuff, not really. But it's probably almost every race that someone forgets, or accidentally jumps on the wrong sled. Or they burn the sled down and just want to take their run, so they get on their other sled that's not legal for that class and make a run. It's typically that stuff.

That makes sense. This is kind of a fun one: hill climb etiquette. What's some of the etiquette that us viewers don't really know about?

I'd want to say helping each other. Even though we're on separate teams and separate manufacturers, RMSHA is a pretty tight-knit community. That's kind of an unspoken thing that doesn't really get noticed a lot, but we help each other out. At the end of the day we're all friends, and we all travel to far places. From being on the hill, getting stuck, breaking sleds, to in the trailer working on them, it's pretty much all hands on deck. That's a pretty cool thing that I actually thought was awesome coming into the industry.

I think so too. And at a lot of the places, we get to go set up the course. You'll have the racer reps and a couple of people from Ski-Doo, Arctic Cat and Polaris, and they're all up there talking and deciding what we should do for the course. Usually everyone agrees and it goes pretty smooth.

So the riders actually have some input into the course. Are you guys going for the gnarly factor there?

You have both sides, right? You'll have the Polaris guys wanting a super long sidehill, gnarly stuff, and then open stuff, so you get a little bit of everything. It just depends on the venue.

And like I said, we change the course a lot too. Even what we qualify on is not what we final on. Finals day is obviously worse, because we'll save the ravines and trenches and trees for finals day, but then we'll also crisscross the qualifying course, which is now down to the dirt and frozen from the night before. So finals is always a little more brutal. You kind of look at the whole weekend picture on how it's going to end.

What about when you're digging a trench? Is there some etiquette, some point where you're like, I should probably stop, because I'm just making a mess behind me for the next guy?

No, not really. Your trench can go. There's guys that will put heart and soul into it, and no offense to the next rider, but that's the last thing on our mind. We want to get to the top of that hill regardless, whether we're stopped or fumbled or going to pick it up.

You'll see a lot of pinning and wiggling until the helmet comes flying off. Usually when that point comes, you don't want to be around that rider, because they're not in a happy place.

I can't imagine.

All right, as far as the different classes go, we've got our stock classes, our improved classes and our mod classes. Maybe explain pretty quickly what the differences are. I mean, stock is stock. You literally can't do anything to the snowmobile?

You can do clutching and bracing. So rail braces and stuff like that. But it's pretty much OEM, right out of the crate.

Okay. And then you've got improved.

Improved is all horsepower. It has to maintain the OEM chassis, and it's still naturally aspirated, no turbos, just raw horsepower. So you build the motors.

Change your shocks?

Yeah, suspension work, you can do that in improved. But the chassis overall has to stay stock, stock skids, stuff like that.

And then mod is no boundaries.

All bets are off, pretty much. I think the only rule is you can't run nitrous and a turbo together. There's a few little things, you've still got to have a snowmobile at the end of the day. But that's where your big turbos and big bore straight nitrous come in, lightweight everything, no tanks, just seats on tunnels, lightweight hoods, billet everything. That's where the cool stuff comes out.

Those are the expensive sleds. That's where the money gets put in.

I should have pulled it up here. I'm going to try to use my phone, and we're in a steel building, so we'll see how this goes. I pulled data, guys. I went nerdy on this.

I'm excited for this one.

This is just me pulling points, trying to see if there's any story to be told. I went off of last year, so the point totals are from last season.

Don't look at my points.

I'm not calling anyone out specifically. I went stock, improved and modified, and I went by the big three OEMs: Polaris, Ski-Doo and Arctic Cat. Percentage wise, in the stock classes, what percentage of points did Polaris get?

63.

More than that in stock. 78.

Dang, you're good. 74%. So 74% of total points went to Polaris in stock, 22% went to Ski-Doo and 4% went to Arctic Cat. Let's bump up to improved. Any guess what the percentage is for Polaris in improved?

69.

I'm going to say it's probably pretty similar. 60.

It's 52%. So 52% Polaris, 12% Ski-Doo, 16% Arctic Cat. Okay, modified. How do you think those percentages shook out?

Probably more even.

Since we went Polaris first all the way down, let's do Polaris.

48.

47.

40%. Really. So 40% Polaris, Ski-Doo 30%, and Arctic Cat 10%. Maybe there's nothing to nerd out about there, but I was just more curious. Why do you think, and maybe this is common knowledge for you guys... and where's the other 20% going?

That's a great question.

Miscellaneous. We've got Lynx in there.

Oh my goodness.

Hey everyone, it's Trevor here. Just a quick timeout. Here's the spreadsheet we ran off of. We had a few numbers that were a little off. The order was the same, the percentages were just a little off, from a slight error in the equation we used. When we talked about the improved totals in the episode, the number we had for Polaris was 52%. It was actually 65%. Ski-Doo was 15%, and Arctic Cat was 20%. So the percentages were a little off, but nothing changed in the order.

Then when we drop down to the modified totals, once again the percentages were a little off from what we said in the episode. The actual percentages were 50% to Polaris, 37.5% to Ski-Doo and 12.5% to Arctic Cat. That gets us to 100% of the top 10 finisher point totals by OEM. I know it was a little bit confusing in the episode, but there are the actual numbers.

I think my percentage calculation is off. That's why I don't do numbers. I do have straight numbers, though. Oh, that's what I did. I took the top 10. That's where we were off. I didn't go through everyone all the way down, I just took the top 10 finishes. I should have prefaced that in the beginning. I took the top 10 finishers and looked at which OEM placed in the top 10. So there's only going to be 10 for a class. Eight of them could be Polaris, two Ski-Doo, one... does that make sense?

Yes, sir.

So I think my calculation was just wrong on that last one. But anyways, for the mod top 10 it was 20 Polaris, 15 Ski-Doo and five Arctic Cat. So to direct this question back, looking at top 10 finishers, in the stock stuff Polaris just dominates. It doesn't really even out much in improved, but in mods it does even out somewhat. Is there a theory for that?

I think there's more money to be made in stock. Your manufacturers want to see more dominance in the OEM classes versus the mod classes, so they can show their dominance. So your top guys for your manufacturers are going to be pushing those stock classes hard. And as a perk to a racer, there's more payout in the stock classes versus mod.

That makes sense. And as far as actual racers on the circuit, are there just more Polaris? Is it a numbers game that way, or is it kind of even?

I would say Polaris and Ski-Doo have got to be pretty close. But I would think Polaris has still got the majority of the racers.

Ski-Doo's close to them.

Cool. Well, anyways, I nerded out over that a little bit. I probably spent a little too much time on those numbers.

I call this section the lightning round. We're going to do a hill climb lightning round, so quick answers here. They're almost yes and no type questions. All right, which event is your favorite?

Afton.

Afton.

Afton. Sorry, this isn't lightning, I want to know why.

To me it's the gnarliest hill. It always develops something cool. Personally, I usually do pretty good there. It's kind of a hidden little gem. It pulls a lot of spectators. The hype is cool, the locals love it. They do a Calcutta down at the bar and bet on all the racers.

And it's close for us. We have a bunch of friends and family and people up on the hill, and it's right in a small canyon, so everyone's packed in tight. Parking sucks, but other than that it's just glittered with people.

I need to go check that one out. It's not too far from here, right? Okay, so Afton it is. What race is surprisingly technical? Keyword, surprisingly.

Probably Afton.

What was surprising for me last year was actually Bear Lake, how much snow there was. Bear Lake's usually fast, super fast, but you get there and there's a bunch of snow and you're like, oh, this is different. It snowed the whole time we were there, and then it froze solid rock. We had two races there last year, and it was just ice walls and straight ice.

Which race is typically the fastest, or maybe the easiest?

I'd say the fastest is Bear Lake, but like you said, that's not always the easiest.

Is there one where it's the easiest one every time?

I wouldn't say there's one, because it's so inconsistent with snow conditions and the weather, from freezing snow to powder, and how they set up the course. You could love the course and it could be fast on qualifying, and finals could be the nastiest hill that you never make it up.

That's what's crazy about the sport, how much it can vary from weather to snow conditions, day to day.

It's never the same.

True. Which race gets the fewest people turning out? When you're driving down there, it's just going to be you and the boys and the girls who are racing.

I would say the opener. It's just the kickoff to our season, and it's kind of in a weird location. That's more the racers, the families and the industry people, not much of the spectator side of it.

And it's always pretty dang cold, it seems like.

If you could change one thing about the RMSHA circuit, what would it be?

Me personally, I'd like to see more style. Not necessarily hill cross, but more obstacles, more jumps. It's just my background. I'd like to see more man-made stuff. We have a couple races where we make some pretty cool rhythm sections and whoops and big jumps, and the crowd likes it. We've got some guys that go big with it, and it kind of separates some people. I think it'd be cool to do it at all the races. We can't do it at all of them, but yeah.

I would say, and we're working on it, figure out a way to get it broadcast more. Everyone takes a video with their phone on a hill in the backcountry and it doesn't do it justice, and RMSHA is the same way. Putting that on TV, we've been working on better ways. It's getting better, but we've just got some work to do.

Being kind of an outsider in the space, Jackson always does a great job getting it online if you're not able to make it in person. It seems like it's pretty available to watch. But as far as the other races go, maybe I'm just not paying the attention I need to be, it just seems like that stuff isn't as readily available. And the one thing I wish, and once again maybe I'm not looking in the right spot, is the running order online. You see someone going, and you're like, okay, when is Beau going to race? It's hard to find that information. Why can't there just be a list: this guy's up right here, the next guy is this guy?

We have all of our running orders. They post them on the RMSHA website. That's where all of us racers go to get them, screenshot them and save them. So they're up there. And separate from Jackson, all of our races are streamed on FloRacing. You have to be a subscriber to watch it.

I think we must have subscribed somewhere, because I know we had it on the TV last spring here in the shop. Anything else you would change?

No.

Who is one snowmobiler you'd like to see at, let's call it Jackson, who isn't on the circuit? Whether you're forcing them or coercing them to go up the hill.

I would say Jack and Dylan. I've been trying to get the Boondock Nation boys to do it. I think that'd be pretty legit, to get those guys on a course, and I think they'd do surprisingly well at it.

That'd be cool. So we've got to get them an OEM tag, huh?

Let's just get them in amateur class and throw them on our sleds.

There you go. I like that one. This is kind of a fun question. If you had to hitchhike across the country with one other racer on the circuit, who would you choose to get you there and back in one piece?

If I'm going to a destination and getting there quick, I'd say probably Tanner, because we work well together. Now, if I'm going to get a couple laughs along the way, I'm probably going to pick Colby, because that's going to be a pretty eventful trip. We could definitely film the whole road trip.

I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I'd say him as first choice. But we get it. No, but Seth Wilson. He's just a funny, good guy. There's a video of him on YouTube where he gets to the top of Jackson and gets stuck or something, and he just turns around and goes crazy. That's just kind of who he is. Good dude.

Cool, fun one.

Okay, now we're getting into this guy, this Keith Curtis guy. I don't know if you guys have heard of him. Before my time. I'm just kidding. I threw a couple questions in, because if you're paying attention, you tend to see him at the top most of the time. Is that an inaccurate assumption?

Not wrong.

Not wrong. He's fast. I'll give credit where credit's due. He's fast on a snowmobile.

Why do you think he is that way? Is it like a Michael Phelps thing, where his body was born to be a hill climber, the way Michael Phelps' body was born to be an Olympic swimmer?

I think it's half of it. His build definitely helps him, the length. But he's a dang good rider. His height helps him, his legs, and the way he works that sled, he's just so one with it. He's put his time in, and he's at the top of his game.

And he puts in the time. Look at him on a dirt bike or a bicycle. It's what he does year round.

So what would it take for Beau or Tanner to beat someone like Keith?

Well, Tanner has beat him a couple times.

Okay. So what did it take to do that?

Just a flawless run. You've got to be A plus on everything. It's very rare for him to mess up, so you can't mess up, not even once. And the thing about him is, finals is totally different from the day before. There's been a handful of times that us and multiple people have beat him, and then on finals day he comes in with his game face on and just cleans house. Every time at Jackson, I don't know how he does it. He just comes in different.

He's on the train and he's the driver.

So we need a train robber.

There's a couple guys knocking on his door, though. There's a couple guys that just need to fix the kinks, and they'll be there.

That'll be fun to see how things shake out this season.

Has hill climbing made you guys... let me back up, I've got a better way to ask this. Would you say hill climbing makes you a better backcountry rider, or has backcountry riding made you a better hill climber? Does that make sense, the way I worded that?

I think hill climbing makes me a better backcountry rider, honestly, because you're in the course. You have to hit the six foot, seven foot ice wall. You can't just go, I'm going to go this way, I'm going Plan B on this one. You have to hit stuff full head of steam that you're like, I might not make it through this.

Probably the biggest thing for me, coming over to the racing side, was realizing brake control is just as important as throttle control, if not more. You see a lot of guys in the backcountry heading in wide open, not in control. Learning how to work that brake, and realizing your brake's working more than your throttle is. I'd definitely say racing has helped me a ton in the backcountry.

And when you're on top of Jackson in the first class after it rains and then freezes, you don't ride that in the backcountry. That's all packed. You ain't going out in that. By the time you're at the top of Jackson in the morning on a three minute run, you're about to tip over. It's just totally different.

Cool.

All right, here's the true fire round. I always call the lightning round the fire round. We've got a new machine. Beau, what are you riding this year?

I'm going to ride a '24 9R.

So we'll go with a 9R for you. And Tanner, we'll go backcountry. What are you mostly on?

The 9R.

So we've got two 9Rs, brand new, clean, naked, however you want to call it, just pulled out of the crate. If you only get three things, what are the three things you're going to go do to that thing? Beau?

What I've done to mine so far is all Backwoods BMP products. A brake lever, the handlebar controls, and then I did a seat cover this year.

So protection, controls (you're setting up the cockpit), and then some style points.

A little bit of grip. Can't go wrong with that.

You're actually the first to say seat cover, I think.

I did it this year and it's a game changer, man.

We just cranked a couple out before we got here. We just put one on for me and my son two nights ago. The old forearms, baby. It's a workout. Okay, Tanner?

I would go rail braces. I've broken a lot of rails, apparently. Then bumpers, and third would be revalved shocks.

Suspension. I like it. So those are the three things you guys would do to your brand new sleds out of the box.

Last and final question for you guys, a fun one. What's one thing that you're pretty sure none of your followers, anyone who's going to be watching this, know about you?

I'm pretty much an open book. It's not really a secret or anything, but the last two years I started coaching basketball. So I'm a basketball coach now too.

What age group are you coaching?

Last year was 8th grade, and now I moved up to the high school.

So Soda Springs. What do you do if your team makes it to State? Doesn't that throw a wrinkle in the hill climb? What are you choosing, the basketball court or the hill?

The snow. I'm not the head coach.

Okay, so we'll be looking for you then, maybe. Basketball coach. All right, Beau?

Some people don't know this about me, but I've actually considered multiple times in my motorsports racing career quitting and pursuing a singing career.

Really?

I'm a hell of a singer. Not really, but kind of. Not on the spot, but I'm pretty good.

What kind?

Country.

You've got that kind of twang?

I don't know if it's the high pitch voice or what, but yeah.

Can we link anything in the description here?

My shower.

Well, this will probably be published in the first part of January, so you've got a month or two to get something for us so we can link it in the description.

I'll drop a record. Just DM me, I'll let you know.

Awesome. Where can we go if we want to follow along with you guys this season, whether it's the backcountry stuff you're doing, life in general, or the circuit?

I do all my stuff on Instagram. Instagram's number one for me. Just Beau Richan 278. That's pretty much all my stuff. We're going to push pretty hard to do some backcountry stuff this year, me and him.

And most of all my stuff's on Instagram as well, TJ Meyers 2.

Cool. All right, that's where we'll send them. Awesome. Thank you, guys.

Thanks, guys.