I must have been born with snowmobile drag racing in my blood, or, subconsciously, I'm keep a tradition going. I wasn't around yet, but my Dad (Lyle Edwards) used to race snowmobiles back in '72. He ran a Rupp Nitro 400, and didn't lose too often, even in the higher classes. He set up a shop of his own in the garage, and worked day and night for pennies, tuning sleds for almost everyone in our area. But it still took quite the sled to beat
It all started for me (and him again) the Winter of 1995-1996 when I was 15. We had acquired two new sleds the winter of '93-'94, a V-Max 500, and a V-Max 4 750, and rode them every night that whole winter, and the next one, too. Then, one day, we were in a sporting goods store, and I noticed a flyer for an up-coming race. I had to do it. To make a long story short, I ended up with second place, and I was hooked.
I love everything about snowmobile racing, and since then we have raced the 700 Piped/Improved class. We ran two sleds, a 1997 Yamaha 700 SX non-traction (also pictured above), and a 1998 700 SX traction (a.k.a. "Ol' Blue"), both in the piped/Improved classes. In July of 2001, we added a 2002 Yamaha Viper to our arsenal, and "retired" the blue sled. We were actively involved in North Dakota's SVTA circuit for the 7 years, and then started racing grass on the SDSDRA circuit in South Dakota in 1999. We had been working toward our goal of racing at Hay Days (the biggest grass race, drawing all the BIG DOGS from the US and Canada) and accomplished it, and took the sled in 2000.
In 2003, we made a switch, and purchased an Arctic Cat Firecat F7. This has proved itself to be a "top of the line" sled, as we have many season points championships in SDSDRA with it, as well as capturing 4 World Titles at the 2005 ISR World Series of Ice (Sault Sainte Marie, ON, Canada), and also claiming the Stock 700 Class at HayDays (also in 2005).
With the help of my dad, we have put many hours into tuning our sleds, followed by many test runs on a track we have out back. Each run is then recorded and we have pages of entries in a notebook from changes we've made, to times, to temperature.
However, we do have more hobbies then just racing. I own a 1994 Mustang GT, and love to go "hot rodding" in it when I'm not occupied with the sled or work. We also love to hunt and fish. Although, we don't get a chance to do most of the things we love, due to our everyday jobs and farming. My folks raise mostly small grains, and corn, on a farm in eastern North Dakota.
I attended NTC - Moorhead, MN, graduation at the top of my class with an A.A.S in Manufacturing Engineering Technology, and then pursued a B.S. in Industrial Management from MSUM. I then worked for Goodrich, Corp. in Jamestown, ND for two years. I was the Manufacturing Engineer for the Boeing 747 Main Deck, Boeing 767 Main Deck, and McDonald-Douglas MD-11 cargo systems.
Then in January of 2006, I moved to Thief River Falls, MN. I was an Engine Development Engineer for the High Performance Snowmobile Group. I did a lot of the EFI calibration on the 1000 models and the 2010 800 HO M-Sieres. I traveled a lot and was able to ride in some awesome places.
In May of 2009, I quite my job at Arctic, and moved home to the farm. I have always been a farm boy, and decided it was time to take it on full time.
So Where Did The Name "Double Trouble Racing" Come From?
We had been racing for 4 years, and had moved up to racing grass in SD, and decided we needed to place a name on our little hobby. We tried coming up with different things, not liking any of them. Then one day, we went to the local dealer to pick up some parts. We were in the middle of a project when we left, and were in a hurry, so we were all dirty, and looked pretty bad. As we walked in the door, the parts guys said to us, "Here comes double trouble!" and I liked it. I thought it fit us perfect. Our team was Dad and I (that's 2) and we also raced 2 sleds. I ran it by Dad after we left, and he just smiled, and we agreed that it had a certain ring to it. And so from that day on, we have been know as Double Trouble Racing.
If you ever have any questions, or just feel like chatting, feel free to drop me a line at my e-mail address.
