Freestyle Snowmobile

There’s a natural progression in extreme sports: when somebody perfects a trick, it’s only a matter of time until fans demand to see the same stunt on a new apparatus. Take the backflip. After Mat Hoffman did one on a BMX bike, the expectation for a backflip on a dirt bike became huge. Once Mike Metzger did twenty-one flips in a single day, a snowmobile backy emerged as the new competitive grail. Enter Jay Quinlan – who on March 28, 2003, became the first man to do a backflip on a sled in competition.

From Racing to Freestyle

Born in Alaska in 1979, Quinlan scored a snocross racing sponsorship as a teenager. Successful years at the X Games and on the circuit followed, but Quinlan felt the need to take his talent to a new level. So he packed in his snocross gear and started perfecting freestyle runs on his own dime.

His work paid off with a win at the 2000 Gravity Games, over a course that combined quarterpipe hits, huge tabletops, and gap jumps. Quinlan saw what the sport was capable of, and he was determined to help it get there, bringing his tricks to the masses with groundbreaking video segments. Fans took notice. And they started asking about the backflip. Quinlan’s friend Jim Rippey had landed one in the backcountry, but nobody had ever done it in competition.

The Backy

At around 450 pounds, a snowmobile is 2½ times heavier than a dirt bike, and its weight is forward rather than centered. Quinlan knew that achieving a natural rotation wasn’t going to be easy, so he and his buddies built a special ramp to send the sled nearly vertical.

"I totaled four snowmobiles and took a trip to the hospital for a concussion, but in February 2003 I pulled off the backflip," the athlete remembers. Next, he had to throw it down in a contest. Red Bull Fuel + Fury in Jackson Hole provided the opportunity, and Quinlan didn’t disappoint. On March 28, he made history by completing a soaring backy in competition to take the gold medal.

To the next level

Having accepted a special award from the governing body of snowmobile competition for his dedication to improving the sport, the man people call the "Godfather of Freestyle Snowmobile" continued to push the envelope.

During the 2003 Red Bull Revolve Freeride Sled Tour in Australia, Quinlan set a new Southern Hemisphere jump record, spanning an amazing 30 meters. And at his return to Red Bull Fuel + Fury in 2004, he completed the first-ever consecutive backflips on back-to-back gaps in competition. Quinlan still counts that moment as the most emotional of his career.

Still, Quinlan made perhaps the biggest positive impact for snowmobiling when he agreed to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2005. "His staff asked me if they could build the whole show around it," Quinlan recalls. "At first things were intimidating. They had a storm blow in, my sled wasn’t running right due to the temperature there, and they wanted me to do the backflip. But it turned out to be one of my best highlights." He adds simply, "I tried to represent the sport well."

Quinlan has a stellar reputation for doing just that – representing the snowmobiling community with integrity. "I’ve taken a step back from projects that are trying to turn snowmobiling into what it isn’t," Quinlan notes. "For example, I’d like to see us get away from events that emphasize ramps or running on wood chips with no snow – it’s like putting a surfer into sand dunes."

That’s why he’s collaborating with Rath Films (which is owned by guys who actually ride sleds themselves) to create seriously entertaining videos. And it’s why he’s so stoked about participating in contests like Red Bull Erzberg Challenge, a timed endurance event in Austria, as well as the ever-evolving Red Bull Fuel + Fury. "It’s been moved to Alaska for a multi-day event, which is nuts!" he says happily. "Everybody gets paired up with a cameraman, and whoever creates the best segment wins. I think it’s really cool."

Quinlan firmly believes that the future of snowmobiling is in Alaska, which is one of the reasons he has become a helicopter pilot and instructor. Although he currently makes his home in the more centrally located Colorado, someday Quinlan hopes to move back to the forty-ninth state, riding snowmobiles in the winter and flying visitors in for remote expeditions during the summer.

"In Alaska, the kids are pulling backflips over 100-foot gaps in natural terrain – they just push it so hard," he says. "That’s where the progression is, and it’s where I love to ride most."