A testament to courage

Tony Powell is serious about his sleds!!  See the story below about how he's fighting cancer and winning races at the same time.  2 years ago, we did some work for him, and he travelled the 3500 miles from the east coast to ride with us in the mountains.  Now Tony didn't win the race below with some wussy 100hp machine...this is a serious 1500CC monster running with NOS, making over 300hp.  Click on any of the pictures below to see the full size version.

Reprinted with permission from The Western Star (Corner Brook)

News, Wednesday, April 13, 2005, p. 1

Fighting cancer, snowmobiler crowned King of the Hill
Kean, Gary

Corner Brook - Tony Powell was a winner long before he arrived with his snowmobile for last weekend's Race on the Rock at Marble Mountain. The Charlottetown, Labrador man has been in the fight of his life since being diagnosed with cancer in January of 2004.

At the time, he was told he might only have six months to live and doctors bluntly told him only 30 per cent of those diagnosed with his type of cancer survived. That news worsened two weeks later when doctors told him the cancer was further advanced than originally thought.

Powell underwent surgery and had a grapefruit-sized tumour removed from his throat and 34 lymph nodes taken out. He hasn't been able to eat solid foods since. Still undergoing radiation treatment at the Health Sciences Centre, he still took his wife and son to Marble Mountain in 2004, even if it was just to watch the sport he loves from a window in the lodge. While still fighting for his life, Powell returned for the 2005 version of the Uphill Drags component of the competition. This time, however, his Ski-Doo Mach Z was in tow and, even though his 208-pound frame has been reduced to a frailer 140 pounds, he was going to compete. And compete he did, winning the Pro Stock category. Nearly sapped of the little energy he had, Powell's real dream was still to be crowned King of the Hill in the open category of the uphill drag races. A bowl of soup and bottle of Boost nutritional supplement later, he felt strong enough to go for it. And Powell would not be denied. Even though he didn't have enough strength to haul his machine over to start it, he managed to maintain a tight grip and smartly manoeuver his snowmobile up the hill to consecutive heat wins and the championship final, winning each race by a larger measure than the one before.
"Last year, I never had much strength," he said. "I could only get to the window and watch. But I told the boys I'd be back. I've wanted to win that race for a long time. It wasn't looking too good for a while. I spent all winter in hospital, but I still kept up my hopes that I'd get another crack at it." While it was an awesome feeling to get the big win, Powell knew he had to ride hard and have luck on his side for a change.

"I didn't want to get my hopes up because there's a lot of things that can go wrong," he pointed out "There are a lot of fast machines and sometimes you're only winning by a hundredth of a second. I built up my confidence over the last four runs and I knew if I could get a good start, I'd take her."
Powell was assisted by pit man Norman Lang, who paid his own expenses just to help Powell realize this dream. Even Lang was left scratching his head as Powell's machine seemed to run better and faster with each successive run. The other racers were all supportive of Powell's courageous effort, but some of those left in his snowy wake couldn't resist asking him what modifications he had done to his machine or what superfluous parts he had removed to make it lighter and quicker. He couldn't resist frustrating them further by telling them he had somehow removed about 70 pounds. "I told them I never did anything to the machine. It's just that I'm almost 70 pounds lighter, that's all," he joked. Powell didn't know he had won the final until he was on his way back down the slope and saw the 32 ardent supporters from Happy Valley-Goose Bay waving their hands and a Labrador flag.

Proudest among them all was his wife, Ida.

"I was totally overwhelmed because I know the health of my husband and I know what strength he has and what strength he doesn't have," she said. "He didn't even have enough strength to haul that machine over. Somebody else had to start that machine, but he was able to sit on the back of it and hold on to the grip strong enough to go up that hill in 7.5 seconds. This from a man who crawled up over the stairs there (at Marble Mountain) last year with the help of me and his son to sit in the window and watch.

"It was very emotional and, only if you were walking in the shoes of his wife, could you possibly understand. I wanted him to win it so bad because Tony is very fortunate to even be alive and that is a fact. It was a sweet win for him and it was just like winning the lottery. In fact it was better.."

Ida noted snowmobile racing is a highly competitive sport. Racers spend thousands of dollars upgrading their machines and some keep their sleds under wraps so the competition can't check them out. No one handed the King of the Hill title to her husband without a fight, she said, applauding the fact virtually every racer made an effort to congratulate him on his amazing feat.

"They lost and they lost to Tony, but I don't think they would have wanted anyone else to win," she commented. "There's more to racing than having fancy parts put on your machine and sitting on it going up the hill," she said. "You have to know how to handle your machine and Tony is a born racer when it comes to the snowmobile.

"I'm married to the coolest man in the country right now because I'm married to the king and I'm his queen. So, eat your hearts out women!"