Jeff Goodwin
When Jeff Goodwin took over Ski-Doo’s race program as North American Ski-Doo Race Manager a little over a year ago he was almost immediately faced with a huge budget cut. He was faced with maintaining a program that was perhaps the most successful of the past decade with a fraction of the cash it used to have. Add to that the fact that Ski-Doo went winless in the Pro class on the National snocross circuit the year before and you have some serious odds stacked against the team. Or maybe not. Goodwin proceeded to not only make do with a tiny budget, but he quarterbacked the team to a Pro Stock National snocross points championship, it’s first Pro National title since Steve Martin won the Pro Open points in 2005. Read on as we find out what Goodwin thinks about the state of snowmobile racing, where Ski-Doo racing is headed and what the hardest part of his job is.
sledRacer.com: You’re in your second season as Ski-Doo Race Director, how do you like the job?
Jeff Goodwin: It’s probably the most gratifying thing I’ve ever done work-wise because I’ve always liked challenge. I’ve worked for BRP for 27 years this year and they have been very good to me. We were signed in ’83 to go race for Ski-Doo, and then I raced for them for 14 years. I had a small stint working as a general manager in Ted Nielsen’s store for just short of three years. That stint was preparation for me to become involved in the sport on the corporate end. It’s been a cool ride. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been rewarding at the end of the day. It’s stressful, but I love racing and I love the snowmobile industry. The politics is the tough part.
Tim Tremblay won the Pro Stock National points this past season.
sR: How did your first season go?
Goodwin: Much better than expected. I was dealt half the financial portfolio from the year before and I thought we were going to get half the results. But we worked harder than most people. It wasn’t me; it was the group of people that I surrounded myself with that provided me the results. I enjoy having people surround me that are smarter and better than me, that’s what makes your overall program. I’ve never been a control freak, it’s a team.
sR: You were a snowmobile racer for many years and you still race cars, how has that experience helped you in your new position?
Goodwin: I had raced motorcycles, cars, sleds and because I’ve taken a green flag and checkered flag numerous times I think I have the respect of the riders. They can’t pull any BS on me. Granted, I was never a Tucker Hibbert or Blair Morgan, but I’ve experienced the ups and downs of racing. A racer can relate to another racer and I think that’s the key.
Drew Robertson has become Goodwin's right-hand man.
sR: How has Drew Robertson helped your program?
Goodwin: He is by far one of the best assets I have in my program. He and I work very closely, I bet we talk three times a day. I’ve let Drew be part of the problem, the solution and the future. Our conversations are unbelievable because we’re on the same page about 95 percent of the time. He’s not only a trainer and nutritionist, but he’s really good at lines, watching a rider’s off-track attitude, behaviors and he takes that stuff out of the equation for me so I don’t have to do it. We never question each other about what we do because we know that it gets done. He was one of the keys to my success last year. Our motto was to do more with less and it still is.
sR: Specs on the 2011 Ski-Doo race sled were released in the Spring this year, which is almost unheard of. Why?
Goodwin: If you go back to 2008, that was the start of the 600cc engines, the 2008s were less than what was expected. The 2009 was better and the 2010 was better still. But one thing I wanted to do was work with the people in Valcourt to produce a better machine. In 2009 we were number three of three vehicles out of the box. Last year we were on par with everyone else and we worked hard to develop the machine for 2011 to put us above the notch. I wanted to announce the majority of the changes early to let people know Ski-Doo is back.
Emil Ohman found the pace quickly and was competitive in his first season on the Pro snocross National circuit.
Last year I asked for more power, better power and more predictable suspension for 2011. We raced the 2011 sled in mod form at Lake Geneva. I was so happy because two weeks prior to that they didn’t want to race the sled. I said, “We can’t wait til April and May to test the sled. The only way we can test the sled is to put it in real conditions because you can’t duplicate that in testing.” I was so happy because the first time that sled hit the track was Thursday at Doug Gust’s place in 60-degree weather. We didn’t know what it was going to do because it had never been on the track. We had to take the risk and it turned out to be a great gamble that paid off. And the new sled is very trail, or should I say woods-worthy. The Arctic Cats have been killing us in cross-country and with this new sled I think I have a bullet in the gun to come after them. Arctic has been my bullseye the whole time. Not to discount Polaris because Tom’s got a great program, but Arctic is the one I’m shooting for. I’m not expecting anything, but I’m excited to race that vehicle.
sR: What is the hardest part of your job?
Goodwin: Not having enough time in a day. It’s really about time management. You try to give as much time to the job as possible but I wish I had another two or three of myself because ultimately you end up cutting someone short when you don’t want to. The other hard part is saying no. There are so many young talented people out there and it’s hard to have to say no to them. I had people tell me before I took this job that saying no would be the hardest part. It’s a word you don’t want to use but you have to.
Nick Roehl of RVP Racing is fixture for Ski-Doo on the cross-country circuit.
sR:Are you happy with where snowmobile racing is today?
Goodwin: Where we’re at today with snocross at the forefront is a result of consumers being able to go sit at a venue like Salt Lake and the fact that it has television coverage, that’s why we see such a heavy emphasis on it. Am I completely happy? I’m happy where we’re at with snocross but there are other forms of racing the manufacturers should be competing in. We compete in grass drags and I know two of the other three manufacturers do not. Cross-country definitely has a place. Is it fan-friendly? Not as much as snocross, but what I believe cross-country gives is grassroots. It brings things back to the dealer and you don’t need a $500,000 hauler to be competitive. I went to one event and saw numerous racers who were competitive with very modest setups. And I think hillcimbs are very important for the development of our Summit. Is there too much focus on snocross? I believe there is, but I believe it will change. It is the best form of racing we have today where the consumer can make the connection between the sled on the track and the sled on the showroom floor.
sR: In light of the economy and the fact that the industry is half as big as it was 10 years ago as far as units sold, what will snowmobile racing have to do to remain healthy?
Goodwin: The whole industry is under a stress. You’re going to have peaks and valleys in racing and the economy effects racing more so than anything. Having said that, I think snocross racing is stable and cross-country is growing and I think oval racing is making a little bit of a comeback.
sR: Is a 300-sled build enough for race sleds? It’s sort of opened the door for OEMs to build what amounts to modified racing machines that have no connection to consumer sleds.
Goodwin: At Ski-Doo we race what we ride, we ride what we race. I think the other manufacturers, just based on the way the industry is going, will be forced to follow our hand. In 2008 Arctic had built this brand new race sled and Polaris had its IQ and here we were with a trail sled. Three years from then we’re in a very good position.
sR: OK, let’s rephrase the question a little – Arctic Cat and Polaris race sleds are basically a limited build, modified race sled while Ski-Doo’s race sled is based on a consumer chassis. Does that put you at a disadvantage on the track?
Goodwin: I don’t think anyone has a real advantage. I think consumers can relate to our sled. Arctic has the Sno Pro 500 as a production sled now, but I think Polaris, at some point, is going to have to race the RUSH. That’s their direction for the consumer. The main focus for us racing is to make an impact on the consumer. The more sleds we sell the more money we have for R&D and for racing. I don’t think any one manufacturer has an advantage, but I think the way the industry is going the other manufacturers are going to have to follow suit. It’s just too costly to build a one-off vehicle.
I think the next hurdle for BRP is we have to race our technologies. We did a little bit last year, we raced our 4-TEC in grass drags, we raced our 600 E-TEC in hillclimb and there were some competitors who raced our 600 XRS E-TEC in cross-country. The manufacturers will be forced to use current technologies at some point moving forward and that’s something I’m going to work for. BRP’s future is E-TEC, it’s proven itself with the EPA, the consumers are happy with it, I wanna race it. Point blank, I want to race the E-TEC technology.
sR: What’s more important, race wins or championships?
Goodwin: Championships. Really, if you take out the X Games and look at what you achieved at the end of the year you want to see the championship. To be a true champion you have to look at what it took to compete in 10, 12, 14 races throughout the year. Race wins are great but being a champion lasts forever.
Oval racer Malcolm Chartier benefits from having Mike Houle's experience in his trailer.
sR: What’s in Ski-Doo’s racing future?
Goodwin: I think the sport has lost a little bit in that we put so much stock in Pro racing. If we lose focus on that 10 year old junior racer we’re going to be in trouble 10 years from now. And that’s maybe the direction we were heading, or maybe are heading. But my whole thing is I don’t just want to think about this year, I want to think about the next three, or the next five or 10. We were competitive in the Sport class last year. People ask me why I care about that and I tell them its because those guys are our future. It’s gratifying to see a Junior or Sport rider, basically the average Joe, find success. That’s where we all started. That’s where I started with my brother racing out of the back of a four place open Leland trailer freezing our butts off.
sR: What are your goals for this season?
Goodwin: The goals this year are to win some championships in many forms of racing. Another one is to get more involved in cross-country. We’re going to do it slowly. Arctic Cat has put a lot of resources in cross-country and I think they believe it’s a good form of engineering for them which I believe as well. Goals personally, I would like to have the success we had last year. We’re going to take the same approach we did last year. We’re not going to expect anything and we’re going to work hard and bring it back again.
