Influences come from many places in a person’s life, but few find a more perfect match with their opportunities than Durmont Wahl. Part of a Greenbush, Minnesota, family heavily influenced by the proximity of the Arctic Cat and Polaris snowmobile factories, Wahl grew up with welding and tools, design and fabrication. In the early 1960’s, Durmont was a young man racing the family sleds and fabricating parts for early Arctic Cat suspensions before being offered a spot as a fabricator and tuner on the first Arctic Cat factory racing team in 1970 by the legendary Dave Thompson.

Making the most of this opportunity, Wahl became a mainstay of the Arctic Race Department, specializing in engines and chassis. A key tuner and set-up master as part of the famous teams that produced Arctic Cat Hall of Fame champions like Charlie Lofton, Larry Coltom, Dave Thompson and Bob Elsner, Durmont was one of the storied speed wizards who kept the team sleds alive and always in the hunt throughout the Sno-Pro oval track racing era until the team was disbanded in 1981.

After this long factory racing career, Wahl turned his skills and experience to building racing sleds in partnership with his brother, Dave. Starting in his garage, the brothers began building racing sleds and components for oval and drag competition. Realizing perhaps even greater success in this family venture, Durmont was a key part of the Wahl Brothers racing successes in the 1980’s and 1990’s that included four World Championships and countless high-point titles for Wahl sleds in Oval and Drag Racing.