Oh, Canada!

 It’s been a whirlwind of a week! I went from Dubuque, IA (ISOC) to Bloomington, MN for the FXR 2021 Dealer Show. Get home to Indy, turn around and hop on a bird for Valcourt, QC a short and sweet 36 hours later. Whew! What is a work-life balance and where can I find it? Never mind. I’m having too much fun.

Snocross racing is where my career began. For many years, a trip to Valcourt in February had been at the top of my list of tracks to visit. This past weekend, I checked off a bucket-list event, the Grand Prix Ski-Doo de Valcourt. A visit to the homeland of Ski-Doo/BRP and the birthplace of snowmobiles. No surprise, we were hit with extreme weather- blizzard, wind and mild temps. But what would a trip to Canada be without freeze-your-face-off temps? C’est la vie.

I wanted to visit for two reasons. To experience the marquee event, learn about and take in Quebec culture.

Most importantly, take a few days to put myself in the shoes of my Canadian friends from the Amsoil Championship Snocross circuit; taking myself out of my comfort zone to do so. On top of that, experience a place that fields some serious snowmobile racing talent.

It wasn’t without a hearty challenge. In elementary school, junior high and in college, I studied French. But boy, nothing will put your knowledge to the test like visiting a French speaking place for the first time. You think you know it, turns out, you don’t. Perhaps a very small part of that is the French textbooks don’t teach you Quebecois. Speaking was easy, listening, however, oof.

It’s been a few years since college, so I spent the months leading up to the event brushing up on it. I did not want to be the American that goes to their country and expects everyone to speak English. From what I knew beforehand, it is a bi-lingual province for the most part, but I didn’t want to lean on that. I knew enough to easily get around, but I often found my brain freezing up (pun intended) when trying to listen. For the times I fell short, the locals were so gracious and willing to converse in English. I’m here to confirm that “Minnesota nice” pales in comparison to “Canada nice”. It wasn’t until my fifth and final day there that I became comfortable and confident. I guess this just means I’ll need to go back soon, eh?

I was blown away with the number of people whom I’d never met recognized me from my work with with ISOC, Eagle River or dirt track racing. My jaw about hit the floor when former WSA rider and the owner of SCMX Snowcross, Mathiew Butteau, his daughter and a member of their team asked me to take a photo with them. I was equally excited to meet them and experience both SCMX and CSRA Snowcross first-hand throughout the weekend. We saw phenomenal racing on a badass track.

On the production side, I got to work Nate Ober, Byron Fichter and Ben Krutchen who I’ve worked with on a number of events in the states. Joining the team for the weekend was Eric (The kind gentleman who pulled a hail mary and was responsible for getting my vehicle unstuck. Keep reading.) and Will. It was Will’s first snowmobile race ever. What a trooper!

Dave was one of our play-by-play announcers (or animators as they’re called up there) who also handled the reporting duties for our Francophone viewers. As with any time I work with an event for the first time, I am very careful as to not step on toes and be very respectful of the other announcers. I mistook the language barrier-induced quietness for a potential resistance of my presence. Turns out, David is mad cool and is one of the new homies. Like me, he comes from the dirt track world. I look forward to working with he and the team again next year!

(Left to right: Dave, yours truly, Eric and Will. “L’équipe de feu!”)

To add to my nervousness ahead of the weekend, a few friends had warned me that they may not have much patience for Americans up there. I told this to a friend and local who clarified it’s not Americans they dislike. Rather, it’s people from other parts of Canada they don’t particularly care for. (lol) That made perfect sense because every single person I came in contact with was so great.

Speaking of nice people, I got myself into a situation on Sunday night. Sadly, this kind of mayhem relatively routine.

After leaving the venue, I got a little too confident in my 4WD and took a corner faster than I should have. I slid onto the snowy side of the road without a chance in hell of saving it. Poof. I was two feet deep into a fresh snowbank with zero traction. I was in another country and without my friend Scuba Steve being a phone call away to bail me out yet again. I tried to call a tow, only to be hung up on. I called my friend Eric, who brought a small army of help including the fire department and security personnel from the track. God Bless those guys.

The roads were in such a condition that even two pickups couldn’t bail me out. Roadside assistance told us, “good luck”. At this point, I’m so embarrassed. My pride is non-existent and we all can’t help but laugh at the stupidity of the situation (and the driver). But who were we to not turn this into a learning experience? I’m now a proud, seasoned veteran of French cursing.

In comes the loader from the track. They were able to pull out my vehicle with ease. The only damage done was to my ego. The gentleman that headed the operation even took my vehicle down the road for at test drive to check for any damage. I laughed as we watched him drive down the road, turn around and return our way thinking it would be just my luck that a moose runs out in front of the vehicle. That would be the most Haley Shanley of situations.

Just take a gander, a portrait of incompetence and an idea of how much snow we had:

To all of the kind strangers that stopped by to see if all was alright, and for all of the guys that helped free my vehicle, just know that I am extremely grateful and I do not deserve such kindness!

I get back to the resort to log a quick sleep. I get up to head towards the airport for my 7am flight home out of Montreal. I’m sitting at the gate with a part of me hoping the snow storm would delay my flight enough for some added exploration, including the Canadiens game that night. There is much more to see and local eats to try.

Veronique, Martin and the entire staff of GPS redefine hospitality and what it means to put on a great show that will keep you coming back year after year. Everything about the event – the food, fan engagement, run of show, marketing, security, you name it – was world class. They always strive to be better and encourage feedback. It truly shows in their product. They do so many things right! One of the coolest events I’ve ever had the pleasure of working.

Safe to say that I’m counting down the days until the 2021 GP.

Canada, À tout à l’heure.