Moto-Ski a passion for Humphreys

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This article was published 15/03/2019 (2411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Darren Humphreys was practically born on the back of a snowmobile.

When he was growing up, his parents would wrap him up when he was a little baby and take him out for rides, exploring the area around his farm near Brandon, a tradition he maintains to this day.

Humphreys received his first snowmobile, a Moto-Ski, from his uncle when he was 10, launching a passion that has lasted for more than 30 years.

“I grew up thinking they were the best ones,” Humphreys said, adding that he still feels that way.

Visiting his close neighbour Ken Davies every Saturday morning, the two would be out working on sleds when they weren’t checking out Ski-Doos in Brandon.

“Summertime, wintertime, it didn’t matter — I could go over and talk about snowmobiles,” Humphreys said. “Every week we would be gone snowmobiling.”

Continuing his obsession with sleds, Humphreys spends almost every day riding or tuning up his prized possessions.

Boasting a collection of about 75 new and vintage snowmobiles, Humphreys is especially fond of his Moto-Skis. He has a massive collection of about 50 Moto-Skis, along with all the smaller Moto-Skis made for kids and teenagers over the years.

“I ride the old ones more then I ride the new ones,” Humphreys said.

For the most part, the Moto-Skis are rarely ridden. Instead, each one has been painstakingly restored, carefully curated and maintained in a heated garage.

“My wife thought she was going to be parking in here. I had other plans,” he chuckled.

Confident he has the largest collection of Moto-Ski gear and memorabilia in the world, Humphreys estimates that he has amassed thousands of knick-knacks from the brand.

“My plan is I’m going to build a bigger museum to hold everything,” Humphreys said.

His oldest sled is a 1963 Moto-Ski — the first one ever released by the company. He has two of the five known to still exist.

Well known in the snowmobile community for being into Moto-Skis, the sleds were brought into his orbit by a fellow fan.

“A guy contacted me to see if I would be interested. He knew I was a Moto-Ski collector,” Humphreys said. “I took them for sure.”

Having a huge collection of Moto-Skis proves interesting, as one can see how the sleds evolved over time, tracking the ride quality and suspension changes.

The biggest change to the brand came in the 1970s when the Moto-Ski brand was purchased by Bombardier.

“A lot of the later ones are just the same as the Ski-Doo brand, they’re just orange,” Humphreys said.

His personal favourite is the Sonic Moto-Ski — his “childhood dream machine,” purchased about 10 years ago.

Owning almost every Moto-Ski he ever wanted, one machine remains elusive — the sled driven by famous Quebec race car driver Gilles Villeneuve.

“They built him a one-of-a-kind Moto-Ski racer,” Humphreys sighed wistfully.

Humphreys has travelled to Chicago to visit Villeneuve’s racing snowmobile, which has been restored and is currently sitting in a collection. He hopes he can one day add it to his collection and has made it known he would scoop it up if it ever became available.

A collector for years now, Humphreys has seen sleds come in all stages of restoration, to the skeletons of sleds that look near impossible to fix to, to others that look nearly new.

Ready to tackle any project, for the most part, his massive collection has all the parts he would ever need while working on a snowmobile.

“I’ve stocked up lots I have kind of my own inventory,” Humphreys said. “I like working on them more then I like riding them.”

When all else fails, he looks to the internet and others in the Moto-Ski community to track down parts.

Humphreys recently completed work on another shop for his sleds. It has proven to be one of his favourite places on the farm because it is where he works on both his old and new machines.

The shop is a snowmobile rider’s dream, featuring a test track and timing system for racing.

Surprisingly, summer keeps Humphreys just as busy, as he drag races his sleds on grass.

He has travelled as far as Minnesota and Wisconsin for the grass races.

Humphreys’ daughter Paisley, 6, is just like her dad, riding snowmobiles practically from the day she was born.

“Five years old we were on the trails and she was following along with her own little sled,” Humphreys said.

Just as obsessed with sleds as her dad, Paisley is eager to hit the trails eager for any opportunity to kick up some snow.

“This morning at 6:30, she was shaking my arm at the edge of the bed asking if we were going snowmobiling soon,” Humphreys grinned.

» ckemp@brandonsun.com

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