Tucked away behind the Cedar Creek Mall, not far from Gander Mountain, is a tiny, nondescript steel building in which three men labor every day.
Their only job: Make things go fast.
Not just any things. Snowmobiles. And not just any snowmobiles. Exclusively Polaris sleds.
The Rothschild shop is the only factory-sponsored performance shop Polaris runs in the United States, and three guys inside — Jeff Leffel, Joe Havel and Scott Wilczek — are responsible for making sure Polaris race machines are faster, more maneuverable and tougher than the snowmobiles fielded by Arctic Cat, Yamaha and Ski-Doo.
Some of their machines will be tearing around the track in Eagle River this weekend at the Amsoil World Championship Snowmobile Derby. But the three guys won’t be there to see them, because they are arriving today in Aspen, Colo., to ensure that Minnesota native Levi LaVallee and his teammates finish on top at next weekend’s worldwide Winter X Games competition.
To get Team LaVallee tuned to peak performance, the three men have toiled for thousands of hours. They’ve traveled all over the country, and Polaris has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars.
All to make things go fast.
“I just love what I do, I don’t really think about it,” said Leffel, a Stratford native with 21 years of experience who has been LaVallee’s lead mechanic for the last six years. “I don’t really think about who I work for, I just do my best regardless of who’s on the sled.”
Going for gold
LaVallee, a Minnesota native, started Team LaVallee in 2009 and has won a total of seven Winter X Games medals — four of them gold.
This year, he will be the only athlete to compete in four snowmobile events at the games: SnoCross, speed and style, freestyle and best trick.
That means his sleds must be light enough, strong enough and fast enough to launch him off enormous ramps and soaring through the air or to tear around tracks at speeds that would be illegal in a car on the highway, and then to return their riders to the finish line safely.
About the Team LaVallee mechanics
Joe Havel, mechanic for Kyle Pallin
Hometown: Greenville
Years as mechanic: Two with Team LaVallee
Scott Wilczek, mechanic for Jake Scott
Hometown: Lublin
Years working as mechanic: 13
Jeff Leffel, lead mechanic for Levi LaVallee
Hometown: Stratford
Years as mechanic: 21
