Some Bender Pic's

[stroking4]

:4fzfpi:Here are some pictures that I took during my time at Bender's.

[8BU]

Cool pictures. O.K. my neck hurts now from tilting my head to the left.

[luckyone]

sweet! i remember going to the grass drags in your backyard and watching four play tear it up back in the day! that machine was awesome!sold to someone in canada didn't it? got it on tape somewhere,used to work at a yamaha dealer here in maine back then.used to talking with fanny at bender,s when we ordered stuff. ever see her?

[JAMIE]

Awesome ! and look what I got ?

[vmax4rules]

Cool pictures. O.K. my neck hurts now from tilting my head to the left.

LOL!! Try these.

[vmax4rules]

Awesome ! and look what I got ?

Nice collectors item!

[luckyone]

showoff jamie! lol! come on stroking4 were hooked, we need more pics!

[mjdevries]

I still like posting images like this!!!

http://mjdevries.is-a-geek.com/bender/Scan3.jpg

http://mjdevries.is-a-geek.com/bender/Scan4.jpg

http://mjdevries.is-a-geek.com/bender/Scan6.jpg

http://mjdevries.is-a-geek.com/bender/Scan22.jpg

http://mjdevries.is-a-geek.com/bender/Scan23.jpg

[mark the shark]

Thanks for the pictures! :rockon::rockon::rockon:
Looks like a lot of work, but probably a lot of fun, too!

Jamie - I just got a racing jersey that would go good with that jacket. I don't have any pictures to post.

Shark

[Kahunas]

Jamie- that's friggin cool!!!:3speechle:3speechle:3speechle :bum::tease:
There are a few items I would like to pick up to go with my sled. I do have an awesome Bender poster framed in my garage next to my Bender sled. I have talked to Jim at Dynotech to see if he can get any info from Tim about how many of these Maxxes were painted up for the team. He said that he speaks with Tim frequently. I hope to hear back from him.

[stroking4]

Kahunas

I think Tim only painted up 3. WE wrecked one. Jon Bertolino owns the sleds and are at the HOF in WI. I have a hood painted up that I'm collection autograph's from all the team members from that year. It may take a while.... :beathead:
I also had a VMX4 with turbo that I painted like benders that I raced in Sweden. Will have pic's of that also.
Next pic's I will post the correct way. :frech32:

Lucky one
That would be awesome to see Four play run. Can you load it on You tube? I think Fanny is long gone from Bender.

Nice leather jacket.

Chris

[luckyone]

stroking4, i will look for that tape and post it when i transfer it. do you have any video of the sleds in action?do you remember anyone from the team that shot footage? maybe get a hold of them to get copies. shure would be awesome to see if so! certainly appreciate you posting what you have. thanks!

[stroking4]

I'm doing this from home and I can't turnn the pic's. Some to watch.

:tease:

[Kahunas]

Stroking4, I thought that they wrecked a few of them. Didn't Tim get hurt one weekend? Didn't Sackett wreck one as well? The machine that I have has a repaired hood on it. The rest of the machine is not set up for ovals at all.

[Kahunas]

This is a good place to post this...

http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww138/misterfuzzer/DSC_0338.jpg

[luckyone]

i believe tim crashed testing the weekend of the eagle river race

[YAMMIEGOD 3:16]

I SHOULD KNOW WHERE THAT GRASS DRAG WAS. I SEEN THAT OPEN MOD 4 CLY AVLANCHE MOTOR RUN ENOUGH TIMES. 3:16 (yammie tony)

[stroking4]

More pics.

I think the hood that you have is from the Alaska sled. (That is one cool looking asphalt sled. :Yam:) The one that was used for the photo shoots and posters. I can't remember exaclty how many hoods that was replaced.
Yes, Tim did blow a track 108 mph on the radar. I was 2 feet away at the end of the strip with the radar in my hand. 30 below freezing my :bum: off. Back in the trailer that night, new track, hood and other stuff.

Enjoy.

[stroking4]

More pic's. I'm having problems getting pic's posted on here.

:bash1:

[stroking4]

More pic's

:beathead:

[stroking4]

More.........:2fingersc

[stroking4]

Kahunas,

Nice sled. That looks like the Alaska hood. I think that was used for the poster photos. I don't remember exaclty how many hoods that was wrecked.
Yes, Tim had a track blow when we tested outside Eagle River. I was 2 feet away with the radar gun 108 mph, 30 below frooze my :bum: off, when the track came apart.
I have more pictures and will post when I get them scanned.

[vmax4rules]

Awesome pics, keep them coming!

[Ken]

Nice!! Would be nice to have a gallery with the pics in it.

[Kahunas]

Kahunas,

Nice sled. That looks like the Alaska hood. I think that was used for the poster photos. I don't remember exaclty how many hoods that was wrecked.
Yes, Tim had a track blow when we tested outside Eagle River. I was 2 feet away with the radar gun 108 mph, 30 below frooze my :bum: off, when the track came apart.
I have more pictures and will post when I get them scanned.

I bought the sled form a guy in Oregon, so maybe it is the one from Alaska.

[INLINE4]

I was there for that race with Hauck in it...Somewhere I have vid of some racing that weekend..I will try to find it..Pat's bro Jerry had an 79 SRX 440 that was flying that day...

[agfirecat]

ive got a vhs tape with about 3-4 different tracks that season its got formula 1 & f 111 on it with bobby donahue & paul page hosting it . its not professional i taped it myself . heres a few names i can remember racing .bender , vessair, appolson, sackett, houle ,villeneuve, deckers ,anderson, if any u guys are interested ill transfer it to discs . id be glad to pass it along to whoever is interested.

[mark the shark]

I'd take one. It would be interesting to see. Could you edit out Paul Page? I'm sure he doesn't know any more about snowmobile racing than he does about NHRA.

Shark

[Kahunas]

It's funny to look at some of those old grass drag pictures. You see all pickups and a few enclosed trailers. Now they are all semis and high tech crap. Everyone was there getting dirty and not just showing "political face". I bet they were lucky to have a PA system there. Grass roots stuff there...

[stroking4]

Agfire,

I would like to have a couple. One for myself and one that will be next to the Bender sled and HOF.

Let me know when you get around the make a few.

Chris

[agfirecat]

well iwas searching around this site and found this thread again and saw my post .that i forgot about it looks like a a few of you guys are iterested in the footage i have of tim and mike racing that season . so im gonna be out of work for 8 weeks im laidup with a broken ankle.( atv accident ) those 250 2 stroke 3 wheelers are dangerous:beathead: ill get a dvr and record a few discs for you guys if anyone else wants one post up and ill get back to ya when their ready

[rick77]

I'd like to see more pictures of Tim Bender's '92 f3 vmax-4 sled as I will be building a trail legal replica.

[portmeister]

I would like a copy of that Grass Drag action, and Chris I imagine it must be you posting the pic.s of the formula 111 sled as I put similiar ones on the site. Remember when you first came to this country and I gave you boots and a Jacket to wear, you wer'nt in the U.S.A. 6 hours and we were heading for Haydays.....

[stroking4]

Portmeister,

That was an awesome time. Lots of hours but what an increadible experience. I learned alot.......... :)

[stroking4]

Enjoy!:rockon:

[stroking4]

Here is some pic's of the completed #91 sled.

Dave, Last picture is me racing Champ 440 at ER 2011. :flagge_sc

[stroking4]

Do you have any videos completed?

Thanks,

Chris

[stroking4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3_uK0GGjEo


:clap::flagge_sc:rockon:

Love the sound of the 4 cyl...........:sheep

[Skinner]

This thread is like way tooo cool, Awesome stuff here!!!! The ports in those pistons 4 pages back are quite interesting too. Strokin4, you running with them Wahl boyz in the Champ class at ER? Which sled are you riding in that pic? I was at Eagle River with Dean Joas when Bender was running those sleds. Thanks for all the history here, could easily make a career looking at all this stuff. Kahunas, that tar sled rocks!

[Kahunas]

Might as well put this here too.

http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww138/misterfuzzer/DSC_0357.jpg

http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww138/misterfuzzer/DSC_0267.jpg

[Kahunas]

This belongs here also. It is an email I got from Tim regarding my tar sled and the Terminator Exciters.

Hey Guys, Tim Bender here. First of all Thank you to all of you for your interest in some of my projects from the past and sleds over the years. I have been super fortunate to have been able to make a living in a sport I Love and also its really cool that you guys and a lot of others have collected and restored some of my old sleds. I have been trying to find a free day in my travels to stop by Jon Bertilino's near Chicago and see some of my old stuff. I have seen many pics of my old race sleds and they look to be in amazinly good shape. Obviously the guys that had them after me treated them better than I did, LOL. Also Jon did a great job with the Yamaha racing history book.
Anyway the Terminator, here is the answers to the questions, I think it was the summer of 1988 we built a limited ( 20 or so) build of special trail exciters that had hand built Bender Racing pipes, widened front end, Oil/lube tank in stock location, ported cyls, i think 44mm carbs, stock skis, special paint and graphics, airbox I believe was just gutted, fresh air inlet vent area below the head light, no pipe temp and no water temp pods, I believe some had Fox shocks in the rear skid and they did have a warning sticker on dash. As far as clutch and carb set ups go, I do not have any of that info any more.
We also built a total of three I think (88,89,90 i believe) Exciters for me to race in Formula III also called Terminators. I think that those are all still are around, I think Bob Weaver in NY has one and I think there is one is in the Hall Of Fame Museum (that may be Jons), and I have the last one in my attic that was the first (that I know of) race sled with a reverse engine, carbs in the front, straight pipes out thru the seat that I was leading the FIII final with in Valcourt and crashed, hit a frozen hay bayle and broke my femur.
Anyway I hope that helps out with the Terminators.

I did not know there was a forum around just for Vmax4 stuff, that's great. My most favorite race sled of all time was the 92 Vmax4, (now owned by Jon) looked cool as hell, 187HP, 475# (they said 468# when they disqualified me for being under weight at ashland wi in 92 after smoking the field, Their scale was wrong!!) and FAST as sh_t, WOW, what a ride!!! SO fast that in one year on the race track it made the competition lobby to change the rules in FIII down to 600cc. Lucky for them cause we were just getting rolling as the 93 800 would have made well over 200 HP and I probably wouldn't be typing this.

Anyway, for those interested in what Im doing now, after a brief Nascar Career I am back doing what I love, snowmobiles. I am the Team Manager for the National Guard Polaris Hentges Snocross Race Team and the technical coordinator (build and tune all the Mod sleds) for the Hentges, Judnick and LaVallee Snocross Race Teams. I work out of the Polaris Industries Race Dept in WI and am responsible for a lot of what you see on the Polaris IQ Race sled. When you see TJ Gulla, Brett Bender, Levi LaVallee (1st, 2nd, 3rd in 09 Pro Open points) and Ross Martin on the track, they are all on my stuff.
Attached is a pic of Brett (my son) clowning around in practice here in northern MN. We are headed to Duluth MN for the ISOC season opener in the morning. All of the ISOC races are on the Versus TV network this year and the X Games will be on ESPN.

So again, Thanks for the interest,
Tim Bender

[turch]

The stuff on this web site is AMAZING!
I am so glad I joined, hats off to the guys that make it possible.

[INLINE4]

Man I remeber that post tech line...Thats when Ski-Doo came out with tho's Mach-1X's...Bickford Racing some real good people..I have to try a dig out some pics..I think Pat Hauck was also at that race..Wow great stuff..

[robtan88]

Does anyone have a picture of one of those Terminator Exciters? Would like to see one...Rob.

[82SRX500]

Great post! Very nice to see Tim's history and comment. Tim last spring of 2010 stopped by my house and spent quite a bit of time with me discussing all of his custom sleds and race sleds. Unfortunately, the Vmax 4 #19 was still in the SHOF and the #91 was not complete so I was not able to get a picture of him on one of the Vmax 4's. The #91 Sackett Vmax 4 is now finished and reside in my garage next to the Terminator.

Here are a couple pictures from last Spring of Tim sitting on some of his built sleds.

Enjoy67296728.6727

[82SRX500]

Here is a picture I took of the #19 a few years ago.6730

[Kahunas]

I can see I need a garage like that! Sweet place and pics!

[robtan88]

82SRX500. Thank you for sharing with us. Very cool stuff, and you are a very lucky man to have such an awesome collection. Beutiful showroom you have aswell...Rob.

[8BU]

Nice shop! Sweet collection. The wife just laughed and said don't post a pick of your garage.

[Kahunas]

One thing I noticed here... Tim still fits in his leathers after 19 years. I would look like a stuffed sausage in mine!

[opsled]

One thing I noticed here... Tim still fits in his leathers after 19 years. I would look like a stuffed sausage in mine!

LOL!!!

I've got Tim's problem.

A guy told me once-- "You get any skinnyer yer gonna fall through yer ass and hang yerself."

I laughed like hell.

opsled