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When snowmobiles ruled the track at the Walworth County Fairgrounds.

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When snowmobiles ruled the racetrack

For a time in the '60s and '70s, snowmobile racing was a popular sport on the dirt track at the Walworth County Fairgrounds. Former Williams Bay resident Loren Anderson recently discovered these rare photographs from the 1970s.

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Loren Anderson leads the pack on his red Rupp during a snowmobile race in the early 1970s. Photo courtesy Loren Anderson/Snowmobile Hall of Fame.

View a slideshow HERE.

ELKHORN -- Loren Anderson was well-known builder and developer in Walworth County in the '60s and '70s. But his passion was snowmobiling.

At the time, he lived on a farm in Williams Bay and spent his days on projects like the Bay Colony Condominiums in Williams Bay.

But in his free time, he was all about snowmobile racing.

He's since retired to St. Germain in northern Wisconsin where the snow comes early, ushering in the roar of motorized sleds.

He's co-founder of the Snowmobile Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Germain and recently uncovered a series of photographs taken in Walworth County in the early '70s.

More photos have been posted to www.vintagesleds.com.

"It was about 1970, 71 or 72," Anderson said, "when the popularity of snowmobiling was at an all-time high."

"There were snowmobile races everywhere, every weekend."

And that wasn't only in winter.

For a time, the oval at the Walworth County Fairgrounds drew snowmobile racers from throughout the southern part of the state.

They raced on the dirt throughout the summer.

The photographs include shots of the oval track he built on his farm in Williams Bay, as well as photographs of his friend, Dick Kraft (now deceased) with a crew from Mann Bros.

Anderson says the photos brought back fond memories from Walworth County.

He'd show cattle during the fair, then race on the weekends.

"I spent a lot of the time at the fairgrounds," he said.