2000 Arctic Cat “Yellowstone Special” Prototype
YEAR: 2000
MANUFACTURER: Arctic Cat
MODEL: Touring Yellowstone Special - Prototype
ENGINE: 4stroke Arctic Cat 660
OWNER: World Snowmobile Headquarters
Eagle River, WI
FEATURES:
“THE SNOWMOBILE THAT SAVED SNOWMOBILES IN YELLOWSTONE”
Thank you to Bill Howell and Clyde Seely for donating this 2000 Arctic Cat “Yellowstone Special” Prototype to the museum for display.
Clyde Seely and Bill Howell, in the 1970’s was the first to market “Snowmobile Yellowstone.” Their fleet grew to 260 rental machines. On November 22, 2000, a Record of Decision was issued that would have banned snowmobiles in Yellowstone because of air and sound pollution.
Bill Howell and Clyde Seely, owners of Yellowstone Arctic/Yamaha, knew Arctic Cat was about to come out with a 4-stroke snowmobile. We encouraged them to send two prototypes of the machine to us and name them the “Yellowstone Special.”
Through a series of meetings and one-on-one demonstrations with the Assistant Secretary of Interior, it became apparent that this machine satisfied the noise and emissions requirements. We asked Arctic Cat to build us fifty 4-stroke snowmobiles for the winter of 2000-01.
The rest is history. We are not alone in saying that if Arctic Cat had not produced the Yellowstone Special that year, the world would have been denied seeing the beauties of Yellowstone on a snowmobile. Without it and the efforts of other access groups, snowmobiles would not be allowed in Yellowstone today.
Bill Howell and Clyde Seely are both members of the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame.