It’s been quite a year for Victory and for Victory Riders. Here is a look at several noteworthy highlights of the year gone by. Have no doubt, 2013 promises to be even bigger, busier and better for Victory Riders.

• Polaris officials broke ground in September on an expansion project at the Wyoming, Minnesota, Product Development Center. The Wyoming facility is home to nearly all Victory engineering as well as Indian Motorcycle and Polaris off-road vehicle engineering.

• Long-riding Victory Rider Lonnie Dickens in June reached the 100,000-mile mark on his Victory Vision, and he did so in fitting fashion: While completing what was at least the 11th Iron Butt ride of his career. Congrats to Victory Riders Rick Jackson, Peter Henson and Bobby Maxey, who completed the Iron Butt with Lonnie.

• Victory Rider and dealer Nick Van Strydonk won the Eagle River (WI) Snowmobile Derby World Championship in January with an incredible last lap, last turn pass of the race leader. Nick’s family owns and operates Erv’s Sales & Service, a Polaris and Victory dealership in Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

• Victory Iron Butt legend Steve “Rollin’” Rolland added to his list of firsts as he became the first Victory Rider to complete an “Ultimate Coast to Coast Challenge” Iron Butt ride. Steve rode from his Wisconsin home to Key West, Florida, to begin the ride, which took him from Key West (the southernmost coast) to Deadhorse, Alaska, the northernmost coast accessible by road. He covered the 5,613 trouble-free miles on his Victory Vision 8-Ball, then turned around and rode home to Wisconsin.

Steve Roland in Deadhorse, Alaska, at the completion of his Ultimate Coast to Coast Challenge.


• The Victory Boardwalk was parked on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange on September 13 as Polaris officials celebrated 25 years of Polaris being a publicly traded company. Polaris CEO Scott Wine gaveled the day’s trading session to a close and rang the closing bell.

Polaris at the NYSE.


• Victory contributed $100,000 to Wounded Warrior Project at Sturgis, with the dollar figure representing a $1 donation for every Victory demo ride provided in the previous year.

• Minnesota Victory Riders Gregor Moe and Dan “Happy Dan” Larson completed a “48-Plus!” Iron Butt ride, which requires riders to visit all of the Lower 48 states as well as Alaska – in under 10 days! Gregor was on a 10th Anniversary Victory Vision and Dan was on a Cross Country.

Dan Larson (left) and Gregor Moe in Hyder, Alaska, at the completion of their 48-Plus! Iron Butt ride.


• Victory’s global reach expanded further in the summer with the opening of the first Victory dealership in China. The grand opening was enhanced by the appearance of Victory riders/dealers/custom builders Arlen Ness and Cory Ness.

• A steadily growing number of law enforcement and public service agencies across North America and overseas began using Victory Police Motorcycles as their motorcycles of choice.

• Rick Tilbury reset the determination bar extremely high. He completed back-to-back “BunBurner 1500 Gold” Iron Butt rides to become the first to complete a BunBurner 3000 Gold. But he felt he hadn’t made it in time, so he repeated the two giant rides and became the first Victory Rider to complete a BBG 3000.

• Victory Riders Dave Koehmstedt and Mike “Jethro” Pearce continued their assault on the straight-line speed world in AMRA drag racing. One year after Dave won a 2011 AMRA points title, both riders earned spots in the top five in points in classes in which they competed.

• At the New York City IMS in January, Victory unveiled the Ness Café, a custom made from the Victory Judge by Zach Ness, with performance tuning by Lloyd Greer of Lloydz Motorworkz.

• Klock Werks introduced the “Tattooed for Life” custom Victory at the New York IMS in January. Later in the year the bike, which promoted organ donor awareness and honored two Klock Werks team members who had passed away, was auctioned off as a charity fundraiser.

• The Victory Judge proved itself as a fantastic bike that is fun, sporty and capable of covering high mileage.

• The December 2012 Long Beach International Motorcycle Show included the debut of the Midnight Metallic Flame Cross Country featuring Factory Custom Paint.

• Coastal Victory and HotVic.com produced – and they continue to deliver – a steady string of Victory customs and new accessories.

• Victory Vegas rider Lisa Harris set the pace during October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month – as she does every month of the year – to promote breast cancer awareness and fundraising.

Lisa Harris


• A new Victory brand was introduced, so the trucks in theVictory Demo Tour fleet were reskinned.

• In conjunction with the debut of the new Victory brand, Victory introduced a completely new collection of riding gear and sportswear.

• The Coastal BLU Energy Hammer campaigned by Coastal Victory set new East Coast Timing Assn. (ECTA) speed records in multiple classes in late April at The Ohio Mile.

• Victory moved to a new display space in downtown Sturgis and staged an exciting new display with Indian Motorcycle during the Sturgis Rally. Look for a bigger, better display at the 2013 rally.

• At the Sturgis Rally in 2011, Harley riders Rick and Ada Torres met Gunny, who invited them on a Victory demo ride, telling them “Ride One and You’ll Own One.” They rode, and they purchased – a new Cross Country Tour. Here the Torres are, reunited with Gunny in 2012.

• The up-and-coming group of riders on the Iron Butt scene are Victory Riders, who are completing a growing number of the distance rides each year, and who were featured in the spring 2012 issue of Iron Butt magazine. The article included coverage of the 2011 Iron Butt ride by Steve Menneto, Polaris VP Motorcycles.

• Five Finger Death Punch lead guitarist Jason Hook worked with the Victory Industrial Design team to create a one of a kind Victory custom bagger that was unveiled at Sturgis and later auctioned off for charity.

• The year ended with Victory helping to sponsor the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, which pitted the Air Force Academy against Rice University in Fort Worth. Gunny was on hand to deliver the game ball via motorcycle.