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Larry Tiede

Career Racing Highlights include five-time Top Gas Champion. Five time Open and Heavy Mod Champion, NY Cup champion, Michigan Cup champion, two time Haydays Champion, two times Hot Sled Magazine Champion (Worlds Fastest Sled Shootout)
Best known as being the most dominant Open Mod grass drag racer of the 1990’s Larry didn’t stop there, he went on to championship success in oval sprint, with the best ice drag racers in the world, and Snowcross racing at the professional level. Here’s a little background on the man who dominated then and is helping Woody’s dominate now.
 
Larry started snowmobile racing in 1978-1980 on an Arctic Cat with help from Hoyles Marine. He raced the local USA oval sprint circuit in Michigan and Wisconsin.   When this local series folded with the fever of racing already in full swing, he switched his Arctic Cat oval sprint sleds for lowered drag sleds and competed the next few seasons on the lakes in Michigan and the Budweiser series with great success.
 
From there the networking and wins gained him the respect of the drag racing community and the opportunity to become a founding member and driver for th new Draper Racing - Yamaha Team. With Larry’s knowledge “how to make sleds go fast” and driving skill the Draper Racing-Yamaha Team dominated ice drag racing across the US with overall championships in Stock, Imp. Stock and Mod Classes at the ISR World Series and other events they attended across the country.
After Rob Draper decided to retire the remaining members of Draper Racing switched over to Bierlein Racing. This team concentrated primarily on the ever growing ice drag classes of Open Mod and Heavy Mod. Success continued to follow as Larry and the team wouldn’t lose a race in Open Mod 1000 and 800 for nearly 4 complete seasons 1989-1993.
 
It was the winter of 1993 when Larry was approached by Dave Dunigan and Dunigan Racing. Larry jumped at the opportunity to ride for Dave, and together they enjoyed Dave’s first ISR win that winter. With the demise of ice drag racing approaching each year, Larry and Dunigan Racing chose to make the switch to the Grass Drags which would be the calling for Larry and the team for the next five seasons. 1993-1997 (Wins Attached)
 
In 1997 (after the injury to Brian Musselman) Robert Musselman came to Larry at the ISR World Series and asked him to come to work for Woody’s Traction and Control, to take over the Race Program as Race Directory and to start his own team under the Team Woody’s banner. Larry took this opportunity and continued to build and drive some of the fastest snowmobiles in the world while also running the largest race sponsorship program in snowmobiling. 1997-2002 (wins attached)
 
In 2002 Larry would hang up his Tekvest from the driving ranks, and became a crew chief/team owner, this was a little more manageable especially while having to handle the duties at Woody’s as Race Director/Public Relations and dabbling in R & D research.
2003 season was the year of the Grass drag resurgence with the Lucas Oil “On The Edge  Series”. Larry decided to build a sled (his son would drive) to go after this coveted award and television series. The team would do just as they hoped taking the overall points title not only in the series but also winning the Overall points titles at Haydays that same season.
 
2003-2010. With the ever climbing popularity of Snowcross, Larry build a family oriented race team that would snowcross race for the next 7 years competing in Jr Class through to the Pro ranks. Success flowed in this venue of racing too, with wins in the WSA/CSRA/WPSA series as well as the ISOC series at the Pro level this teams last few years.
 
To this day Larry is still heavily involved in the snowmobile industry and racing, as the Manufacturer’s Representative at Woody’s, and ISR Advisory Board Member, and SMDG Member. He also still works with race teams building some of the top Enduro and Snowcross sleds that are still being raced today.
 
He’s named as Inventor on five patents registered in the USA, Canada and Scandinavia for the Snowmobiling market, including some revolutionary traction products.
 
Larry Tiede Driving accomplishments: (Crew Chief accomplishments not included)
 
1994                        New York State Grass Drag 1000 Open Mod Champion, Michigan Cup Champion,
Top Gas Division Champion, Open Mod 1000 Division Champion
1995                        Open Mod 1000 Haydays Champion, Alpine Cup 1000 Open Mod Champion,
Shootout Classic 1000 Open Mod Champion, Top Gas Division Champion, Michigan Cup Runner Up
1996                        Shootout Classic Runner Up
1997                        Top Gas Division Champion, MSDRA Overall Champion Top Gas, 1000 Open, 800 Open
1997 & 1998       MSDRA Season Points Champion in Top Gas, 1000 Open, 800 Heavy & 800 Open,  Hot Sled Magazine Fastest Sled Champion
1998                        Top Gas Division Champion
1999                        MSDRA Driver of the Year, Top Gas Division Champion
2000                        MSDRA Season Points Champion - 800 Open, 2nd Top Gas, 2nd 1000 Open