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Boa Ski B.A.R. : Alsport's little known racer

Having recently fulfilled a 10 year search for a Boa Ski B.A.R. racer it seemed like a logical choice for my first effort at any type of historical article. No aspect of this is intended to be taken as absolute fact. If any one out there has anything to add for information on or pictures of the elusive Boa Ski B.A.R , please send the info to me @ oldsleds@midmaine.com.

Mike Duffy of Colorado was generous enough to send me his mint condition 1975 Boa Ski brochure. This is a priceless addition to the B.A.R. page.

The Boa Ski B.A.R. is one of the lesser known models from snowmobile racing history. It would appear that when Alsport purchased Boa Ski some interest developed in building brand image by producing a racer. The idea was sound , having been done by any number of manufactureres in the past , but I believe Alsport's timing was a bit off. The heyday of the factory produced Mod racer was nearly at an end when the B.A.R. appeared.

The first aspect of this model to look at is the name . Although I have no proof , I have long maintained that "B.A.R." was a convenient shortening of "Boa Ski Alsport Racer". It is amusing to wonder if the engineers also may have intended a thinly veiled reference to the original "B.A.R." ( Browning Automatic Rifle) of WW II fame which itself is a more than formidable weapon. That's the first of many questions we may never know the answer to.

First produced in the fall of 1973 , the B.A.R. is one of the wildest looking sleds to ever hit the snow. Built on what were essentially rolling chassis' manufactured by Texas Industries it is readily apparent that these were a very purpose built sled. Having started with a platform that was essentially a Thunder Jet clone , Alsport need some mechanical aspects & styling cues that would make the sled their own. One need look no further than the sunburst head Kohler motor & Day-Glo graphics to see that this was achieved.

I had always thought that there was only one year of production of the B.A.R. but have recently been told that the narrower version was a 1974 model & the wider version was produced for the 1975 model year. I do know that a pre-season press release photo of the 1975 B.A.R. appeared in an edition of Snowgoer magazine in the fall of 1974 featuring the 36" stance model. I suspect any B.A.R.'s offered for the 1975 year were carry over inventory from the later production '74's.

The possibility also exists that the B.A.R. was not ever actually offered for sale in the '75 model year.

Powerplant choices for the B.A.R were all of Kohler F/A origin & were offerd in a 340 twin , 440 twin, 440 triple & the monster 650 triple.

The B.A.R was produced in 2 configurations. The first was a 32" ski stance version with a flatter "grass drag" style seat & an essentially open hood design.

The alternate choice in the B.A.R. was a 36" wide chassis with a high back "oval track " type seat & a hood treatment that had a "nose cone" effect.