66 AMERICAN SNOWMOBILER • http://www.AmSnow.comIt’s never too early for a Cat
I met a father and son
at a show where they were
showing off their Kitty Cats. Doug
Monson and his son Jacob had a
great story to tell about the life of
Jacob’s vintage Cat.
Doug bought a 1972 Kitty Cat
modified to look like Arctic Cat’s
1977 Sno Pro racer. Steve “Buck”
Olson from Forest Lake, Minn.
was the guy who built the sled.
Modifications included a new
belly pan and hood along with a
custom seat, and nice hook han-
dlebars just like on the Sno Pro
race sleds.
Jacob, now 32, said this was
the third Kitty Cat he had ridden
by age 4, so he was becoming
experienced and his dad decided
to turn up the wick with this Cat.
He started by shaving the head
to add compression, then widened
the exhaust port and raised it.
Doug also cleaned up the casting
in the transfer passages and the
exhaust and removed a little of
the piston’s intake skirt.
After working on a few of his
friends’ Kitty Cats and bypassing
their governors, Doug was still
not a fan of how they accelerated.
So he clipped a few coils off the
governor spring, allowing for
cleaner acceleration. He also
increased the size of the main jet.
Then for better steering on ice
he fashioned a quarter-inch key
stock on the edge to mimic car-bide ski runners.
Jacob recalls a tale from when
he was 4, Doug would take him to
a local high school to practice. The
way it was plowed the parking lot
made for a great oval track with
high berms. One day Jacob had
enough of the oval and headed up
over the berm and down the front
of the schoolyard toward the road
with Doug in hot pursuit on foot!
Just before Jacob made it to
the road and Doug failed at his
second attempt to leap out and
stop him, Jacob made a 180 back
toward the parking lot, making it
back up the hill and over the
berm. Doug was still in pursuit, he
says “I was out of wind with my
tongue hanging out.” But he made
it back to the parking lot to find
the sled parked next to their truck
with Jacob inside warming up!
After a few years, getting older
and upgrading to a larger sled,
Jacob still has that Kitty Cat, but
now it’s tucked next to the end
table in his living room.Minnesotan Les Pinz is a vintage sled
expert with an extensive collection of
historic and other antique sleds, and
is a former snowmobile racer. He is a
member of the
International
Snowmobile Hall of
Fame and one of
AmSnow’s regular
test riders.NOT SO STOCK KITTY CAT This gorgeous 1972 Arctic Cat Kitty Cat was made to look like Cat’s 1977 Sno Pro racer. This fancy Kitty was built by Steve
“Buck” Olson from Forest Lake, Minn.■ BACKTRACKS LES PINZ
ON THE WEB // More vintage stories at
http://www.AmSnow.com/vintageArctic Cat’s Kitty Cat was the sport’s only
snowmobile for kids. Starting in 1971 Cat made pro-
totypes, testing different engines, even making yellow
and red hoods for about 50 sleds each in 1972.
Those first season Kitty Cats were available at
dealers, the starting price being about $295. Kitty
Cats were made from 1972 through 1999 – minus
1982-’84 while Arctic Cat was in bankruptcy. Over
those years Kitty Cats made a lot of kids happy and
they’re still very much in demand.
The Kitty Cats originally came with 2.8-horsepow-
er 60cc Kawasaki single-cylinder engines, which
continued even through 1976 when Cat changed to
Suzuki Spirit engines for the rest of their lineup. By
1977 though the Spirit engines, again 60cc with 2.8
hp were standard in Kitty Cats. Fuel tank capacity
was ½ gallon and the top speed was roughly 8 mph.
The tiny Cats started out at about 95 lbs., were 56
inches long and 23.5 inches wide, with a seat only 13
inches high so little riders could easily hop aboard.
The sled’s rubber track was 10x54 inches long using
two shafts with bogey wheels for track suspension
that had no movement. Front skis and leaf springs
had about two inches of movement and the skis were
22 inches long and 4.5 inches wide.
Cat created a very easy pulling throttle lever with
a kill switch right next to it for safety. The drive clutch
was centrifugal so all you had to do was give it gas to
increase the speed. The Kitty Cat’s brake was an
outside band on the drive clutch, which was like a
chainsaw clutch driving a chain to the main drive
shaft through drive sprockets.
Heck, for summer use Cat even offered a wheel
kit on the skis as an option. Great memories!ONLY ONE MADE FOR KIDS