Purchased originally from the Polaris dealer (Missoula Chain Saw Supply),
Lloyd Twite paid $ 1,282.76 for the 295 and the 340 was purchased by Steve Kattre for $ 1,342.00 according to the shops records. A sign painter friend of theirs did their names & wives names along with the sharktooth design paint job.
Although they have been cleaned up and some parts repainted, seats, decals, hoods, & belly pans are original and are just the way they came off the track in 1973.
The 295 has the original track with titanic cleats and the 340 has a Kalamazoo ivolute drive titanium cleated track which I installed in 1973. It weighs about ½ the original track. These sleds were raced in Montana & Idaho by Lloyd, Steve and me, with numerous wins but the highlight was probably the second place I took on the 340 in the 1973 Butte International Snowmobile Race.
The sleds were separated for over 30 years. In 2007 Steve Kottre’s Daughter showed up at Kurts Polaris in Missoula with her dad’s 340 Starfire and traded it to Kurt for a snowplow for a 4 wheeler. Kurt called and said he might have one of our old race sleds. I went over and was amazed to see a 73 Starfire 340. It was the last sled I had raced. That got the ball rolling. My brother Steve told me he thought Lloyd still had the 295 which was the partner to Steve Kottre’s 340. I called Lloyd and he still had the sled. It was in a storage shed he owns at Missoula Golf Course. After telling him about Steve’s 340 he agreed to sell me the 295. It had been sitting there for over 20 years. So in April 2007n I picked the the 295.
In a partnership with Kurt I cleaned up both snowmobiles and after 30 years they were reunited and placed on display in Oct, 2007 at Kurts, in Missoula.
I don’t believe there is a nicer pair of original race sleds in the country. Their condition is remarkable. Yes they both run. I had to rebuild the motor in the 295 but the 340 just needed the carbs to be cleaned and it fired right up.
The sleds are currently owned by Ken Jacobson from Missoula Montana and Kurt Triede of Seeley Lake, Montana of (Kurt’s Polaris).
The N W Museum of Vintage Snowmobiles has the pleasure of displaying these two unique 1973 Polaris Starfires for the next few months. Come by and take a look.
Jerry Kienbaum
(509) 220-7091