The Scorpion Factory: How Crosby Minnesota Lost Its Greatest Snowmobile Empire to Arctic Cat's Greed

The Scorpion Factory: How Crosby Minnesota Lost Its Greatest Snowmobile Empire to Arctic Cat's Greed. If you grew up in a Minnesota snowmobile town in the 1970s, you already know what a Scorpion is. Your uncle probably had one in the garage. Your father's riding partner probably swore by them. Not because of television commercials or racing sponsorships — because the machines from Crosby, Minnesota had a reputation that traveled faster than any advertising campaign the company could afford. Glen Gutzman, Eugene Harrison, and Richard Harrison founded Trail-A-Sled in a Crosby garage in April 1959. By 1968 they were the second largest snowmobile manufacturer in Minnesota and the fourth largest in the nation. By 1971 they employed 500 workers and built 200 sleds a day. Three of their employees rode unassisted from Crosby to Anchorage, Alaska in 28 days. Sir Edmund Hillary chose Scorpion machines for his Antarctic expedition. Their racing team won across circuits that the biggest brands competed on. Then in 1969, Fuqua Industries of Atlanta bought the company. Within a year the founders were thrown out of the factory they built. 🔔 Subscribe for deep-dive stories on American manufacturing, forgotten companies, and the communities that built them. 👍 If this story moved you, hit like — it helps more people find stories like this one. 💬 Drop your Scorpion story in the comments. Did you own a Stinger, a Whip, or an early Trail-A-Sled? Did you work at the Crosby factory? Do you make it to Scorpion Days every February? Did your uncle's Scorpion outlast every other sled in the garage? . . . . #ScorpionSnowmobile #scorpion #TrailASled #articcat #snowmobile #snowmobileracing #minnesota #AmericanManufacturing