Interview with Larry Tiede

by Jim & Chip,

We would like to thank Larry Tiede for taking the time to answer some of our questions and being an all around great guy! As many racers all ready know that if you need a hand Larry is the best guy to check with. He is always willing to help out with answers to your problems or parts for the solution. There has been many times that Team Snowcross has been in the Woody's rig looking for advise and have always been able to lean on Larry for it. Thanks Larry! It's guys like Larry, Woody's race director that make this sport great and keep it fun. Thank you for your support of snowmobiling at all levels!

We took the oppuritunity to corner Larry and ask some questions!

TSN - How long have you been at Woody's?

Larry - I've been here for 5 years now. Before that I was with Airgas U.S. in the medical device labs. I've been a Woody's racer for over 26 years.

TSN - How did you get stated in racing?

Larry - In 1977 my dad and I bought a 1977 Arctic Cat Z 340 and started sprint racing all around the state from there we started racing ice drags and grass drags for the next 20 years. We were very successful winning many points titles and ISR World Series Championships. (17 in all) during the span I was able to drive and work with some great teams like Draper Racing, Bierlein Racing, Dunigan Racing and then Team Woody's for the last 9 years, when I came to work at Woody's my children started to Snowcross Race.

TSN - What are you duties at Woody's?

Larry - My business card says Race Director and Public Relations, I'm also the head of R&D, which means when we go racing we get to try all sorts of new products. I also have a team of test riders that are out testing new products year round. During the week I take calls from racers and work on our sponsorship programs for racers and for the factory race teams. I also work with the marketing team on which events we will sponsor and who will travel to those events. The biggest thing this time of year is new product development.

TSN - What makes a racer successful?

Larry - Working with all the racer that we do the one thing that sticks out in my mind is that all of the successful ones have a great work ethic. It doesn't matter if it's Carl Kuster of Blair Morgan Racing or Don Leddy or Gary Fettig they all have that same get the job done attitude.

TSN - How many racers do you help out?

Larry - At this time we have over a 1000 racers on the Woody's race program

TSN - How does being the title sponsor of WSA help out Woody's?

Larry - We like the fact that at snowcross races you see a lot of families participating and it is also the fastes growing type of snowmobile racing at this time. It's a great place to meet young and new snowmobile enthusiasts that will be using our products for a long time to come. Also it's an exciting form of racing that draws spectators from the snowmobile community and those are the people we want to show our products to.

TSN - How do you plan on promoting Woody's in the future?

Larry - At this time I feel we do a pretty good job at getting our name out in front of the snowmobile crowd. We will continue to help racers both the factory super stars right down to the local kid just starting out. We will also continue to help race organizations and do dealer visits or anything else we can do to promote this great sport.

TSN - As a new racer what is the best way to approach Woody's for help?

Larry - That is the easy part, just walk up to me and say Hi! I always have race applications in my pocket. You can also go to http://www.woodystraction.com and go to the form section and get the application off the website and fax it in.