Snocross (also snowcross) is a racing sport involving

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

specialized high performance

snowmobiles A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

on natural or artificially-made tracks consisting of tight turns, banked corners, steep jumps and obstacles. Riders race at speed of up to 60 miles per hour (96 kilometres per hour).2007 Rock Maple Snocross Racing
, January 26, 2007, Retrieved December 4, 2007 Jumps are up to 30 feet (9 meters) tall, so riders travel up to 130 feet (40 meters) before they touch the ground. According to the World Snowmobile Association which governs snocross,

watercross Snowmobile skipping, snowmobile watercross, snowmobile skimming, water skipping or puddle jumping is a sport and/or exhibition where snowmobile racers hydroplane their sleds across lakes or rivers. Basics Snowmobile watercross consists of crossin ...

, and hillcross racing, snocross is the most popular form of snowmobile racing. Snocross was derived from the sport of

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competiti ...

. The name is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsman-made Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotations Artificiality ...

.WPSA SnoCross Duluth Results
November 27, 2007; Jeffrey Banks, Off-Road.com, Retrieved December 4, 2007 Tracks are generally located in higher latitudes in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

since temperatures below freezing are required to maintain the frozen track surface. Motorcycle riders in

and

supercross The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from ...

frequently compete in snocross in the winter. Snocross became an event at the

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

in 1998.The Best North American Snowmobile Competitions
; snowmobilingweb, June 4, 2007; Retrieved December 5, 2007 X Games is a popular gathering place for some snow-related sports in the United States. The course at the first snocross event at the X Games resembled a

course; it was significantly longer than courses are now. It had deeper holes and higher jumps that are now filled in with snow.

Equipment

The snowmobiles vary significantly depending on their class. Sanctioning bodies are governed by International Snowmobile Racing (ISR) rules. Drivers are required to wear a

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protect ...

with a minimum of 50% International (Blaze) Orange. (Rule of thumb, a credit card placed anywhere on the helmet must contact orange), racing suit (must have a minimum of 144 square inches of orange on front and back), gloves,

goggles Goggles, or safety glasses, are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and ...

/eye protection, leather boots, shin guards, elbow pads, neck braces, knee guards, and upper body protection (Motocross vests are NOT legal for Snocross. Hearing protection is often required in non-stock classes.

Event

Races start with the drivers forming a line abreast at the start line. The event begins with either a drop of a green flag by the starter or by the starter turning on a light. Like other sports derived from

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...

, the winner is often the rider who has the best holeshot.Polaris shows 2003 440 ProX racer
Wade West; October 15, 2002, Retrieved December 4, 2007 The event may be stopped for a dangerous condition. The snowmobiles are lined up for the restart by their position in the race, with the drivers involved in the stoppage starting in the rear. The winner of the event is the rider who finishes first in the feature event. Events attract over 10,000 spectators. Typically, a snocross event uses the standard short-track motorsport standard of qualifying rounds, heat races, consolation final, and the feature.

Major events

, Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado * Duluth Nationals,

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior, Wisconsin, Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: Downtown Dul ...

. Held the weekend after Thanksgiving every year since its inception. The unofficial start to winter and the official kickoff to the Snocross racing season. Riders from New England, Canada and points beyond will join the ISOC teams in Duluth to get a jump on their upcoming seasons. * Snowcross World Cup Finals at Lugnet Riksskid Stadium in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabitan ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

* Grand Prix Ski-doo de Valcourt in Valcourt, Quebec, Canada, in February. * World Championship Snowmobile Derby at Eagle River, Wisconsin, United States on the third weekend in January. The snocross track is quite small yet still exciting and is constructed inside the famed high-banked half-mile ice oval.

Snocross by region

United States

The national sanctioning body for snowmobile snocross racing i
International Series of Champions
(ISOC), owned by John Daniels. ISOC sanctions the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series (ACS) national tour, along with regional series in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

, and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. ISOC replaced Joe Duncan's World PowerSports Association (WPSA) starting with the 2008-09 season. The ACS will consist of eight points-paying races in 2015–16, beginning with the AMSOIL Duluth National at Spirit Mountain on November 27–29. Highlights from ISOC's National events are televised on the CBS Sports Network. In the northeastern United States (New England and New York), Rock Maple Racing sanctioned snocross racing from the winter of 1991-92 until being sold (for the second time) in May 2010. New owners Eric Scott and Bob Roscoe chose to form the East Coast Snocross (ECS) series to carry on the tradition RMR had created. Now owned by Mass. native Kurt Gagne, East Coast Snocross (ISOC's eastern affiliate) will sanction eight points-paying events in 2019, along with one ice drag event. Previous years have seen hillcross events sanctioned as well. Snowmobile racing is big in northern New England where snows are deep and temperatures often remain cold for weeks. ECS races throughout New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. Mountain West Racing sanctions on eight events in northern

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

states. There is a snocross track in

Wauconda, Illinois Wauconda ( or ) is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 14,084. It is the site of the Wauconda Bog Nature Preserve, a National Natural Landmark. Wauconda Community Unit School District 118 ...

. It is home to the Winter Thunder Challenge snocross club, an ISOC affiliate, and they have to make snow to make up for the lack of natural snowfall.

Canada

The Canadian Snowcross Racing Association (CSRA) hosts 5.5 (five full weekends plus one one-day event) regional & regional plus one additional national-only points-paying events across Ontario and Quebec. Owned by veteran promoter Ken Avann, the CSRA is Canada's national tour. Despite being an ISR (the rules body) affiliate, CSRA technical rules differ for various classes, making competition between series' on either side of the border challenging for riders and crew. The Quebec based SCMX series normally sanctions eight events across Quebec. The Ultimate Canadian Motorsports Association (UCMA) previously known as the North West Racing Association (NWRA) hosts 8 to 10 events in Central and Western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, with races held in the provinces of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

and north-west

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Europe

The sport is popular in the Nordic countries, especially in Sweden and Finland, yet its popularity is also growing in former Soviet Republics as well as Iceland and the Alps. There have been several manufacturers in earlier years, but Lynx -a subdivision of the Canadian company BRP, is the only producer left besides the big four; Yamaha, Polaris, Arctic Cat and Ski-Doo (also made by BRP). Racing is competed in several classes, but the most competitive ones are the Pro Stock and the Pro Open. Both are for a maximum of 600 cm³ and for adults at least 16 years old.

Video games

* '' Polaris SnoCross'' – N64, PSone * '' Ski-Doo: Snowmobile Challenge'' – Xbox 360, PS3 * '' Sled Storm'' – PSone, PS2 * '' Sno-Cross Championship Racing'' – PSone * '' Ski-doo X-team Racing'' – PC * '' Sno-Cross Extreme'' – PC * '' X Games Snocross'' – iPhone/iPod Touch

References

External links

The International Series of Champions
(United States, Canada) * East Coast Snocross (United States)
Canadian Snowcross Racing Association
(Canada)
Ultimate Canadian Motorsports Association
(Canada)
United States Cross Country Snowmobile Racing Association
(United States)
Winter Thunder Challenge
(United States) {{Extreme Sports Snowmobile racing