September 22, 2008
Blair Morgan Injured
Well it looks like I might be getting my first taste of the white stuff a little earlier than expected. Our whole crew is 
packing up and heading out to the Fairmont Chateau Whistler this weekend for the Yamaha Motor Canada, 35th Anniversary Dealer Conference. Randy Swenson (who just finished putting his sled away for the season) sent in this photo taken topside of Whistler just yesterday. I’m thinking my trusty Birkenstocks aren’t going to cut it.
Richard from the PassionYamaha Forums sent me an email reminder this morning about a very interesting event which will also take place this coming weekend. Gilles Gagne and his Attak team from Gagne Lessard are goi
ng to make their final assault on the world snowmobile land speed record. Gilles is pictured in this months Supertrax with his G Force Division twin turbo Yamaha Attak. The magic number is 200mph and if I know Gilles, he’ll most likely exceed it. His dream was to perform the run during the Bonneville Salt Flats speed week but the promoters of the event do not have a class for sleds and consequently required an additional 30,000 USD to establish one, ouch! The record attempt is now going to be for the Guiness book instead and will take place at the Val d’Or Airport on the 27th. Good luck guys.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Yamaha snowmobiles recorded the world distance record (Bob ‘Hondo’ Davis) and the world land speed record both within the same year. Hmmmm I can see it now, the worlds most reliable and the worlds fastest… the boys in Valcourt won’t be very happy when they hear about this! 
I hate to end on a down note, but as you have likely heard, Blair Morgan was involved in a nasty crash at the Montreal Supercross this past weekend, sustaining a very serious back injury. There has been a black cloud hanging over our office all morning and we are all hoping to hear some good news from the surgeons and wishing Blair a complete recovery. He has been the defining icon of snowcross for over a decade and a fierce competitor in Canadian motocross. Get well Blair.
cr
UPDATE: I received the following information this morning and am passing along to all of you…
We have received this update from Blair Morgans wife, Terri letting us know what his condition is. Please free to send this out to the media and they can post this on the industry websites as you feel.
Blair Morgan September 22, 2008
As most of you know Blair has suffered a substantial injury due to a crash while practicing for Montreal Supercross at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
During Saturday afternoon practice in Montreal, Blair sustained substantial injuries to his middle back. A surgery was performed and went well, however it was soon discovered that as a result of the vertebrae separating from each other on impact, Blair’s spinal cord was severed, leaving him with paralysis from his middle back down. He was taken off the ventilator soon after surgery and has been progressing well since. This afternoon (September 22, 2008) he was moved out of ICU to the orthopaedic floor and arrangements are now being made for his transfer closer to home. He is resting now and he is focused on recovering and working closely with the physiotherapists. I know as most of you do as well, Blair is a fighter and this incidence will not keep him down for long.
Special thanks to everyone for their well wishes, just so you know there are so many people rooting for Blair and we really appreciate it so much.
Please feel free to e-mail your questions and well wishes to Blair at blairmorganrecovery@gmail.com
Chris, the last few days have been very hard as Blair is a very close personal friend of mine. Life can be so harsh and the challenges thrown at us may seem insurmountable, but I firmly believe 7c is going to inspire us with his tenacity and unwavering confidence that he can beat anything!
Thank you so much for your thoughts and I will be sure to pass this on to Blair and his family
Sean
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:58 pmcr is celebrating a birthday …
Happy birthday my friend.
As mom always says… “age is just a number baby” cr
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:07 pmHappy birthday Chris!
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:10 amThis is not his first broken back…….however it dosen’t sound good.
He is an icon in the sport.
Always wondered why sleds were not at the salts….
200 mph – hmm- that will be interesting.
Happy Birthday – like I mentioned before – I turned over another primary digit – not so bad…
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:52 amHappy b-day CR!
We are getting – c temps here too at daily basis. Not too long to go!
And let´s all hope good recovery for Blair.
Ike
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:49 pmA NEW WORLD RECORD FOR THE TEAM G-FORCE ONE !!! 210.3 MPH WOW !!!!!
Pics comming soon to C.R
Excellent… that is extremely fast!!! Thanks for the good news Richard cr
September 27th, 2008 at 6:28 pmhttp://lcn.canoe.ca/cgi-bin/player/video.cgi?file=/lcn/actualite/regional/20080927_moto.wmv
September 27th, 2008 at 9:19 pmDevelopment of Land Speed sled, Beginning with RX1, after a Attak
http://passionyamaha.superforum.fr/discussion-generale-f2/179-mph-pour-debute-t2620.htm
Thanks Richard, everyone enjoys and appreciates the pictures of this technology… cr
September 28th, 2008 at 11:38 amHey Chris,
not sure this is the correct place to make this comment, but oh well.
Is there any chance of Yamaha coming out with a billet reverse lever for the Nytro?
Yamaha has added some great looking billet parts this year, but all are essentially created for improving looks. A billet reverse lever would look great and provide a functional upgrade to the plastic handle. That plastic handle is not strong enough in my opinion.
Keep blogging,
Chris G
Hey Chris, good suggestion. I understand Chad is making a nice piece at CR Racing I’ll check with our guys and see if it makes sense for us to pursue… cheers cr
October 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pmHi Chris,
Wondering if you know when the dealers will be getting the accessories catologe. Thanks
Hi Big5… just checked and the new brochure is complete and in proof circulation internally, should be at the printer this week and in dealerships before months end…
cheers cr
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm