MINNEAPOLIS _ Not much kept David Johnson down.
Despite retiring in 1988, Johnson was a regular fixture at Polaris' plant in Roseau, Minn., giving tours and sharing stories about the company's history. At age 91, he was still checking in on the next generation of the snowmobile machines he had nurtured since co-founding the company in 1954. His first machine _ powered by a 10-horsepower lawn mower engine _ has since blossomed into a company that today generates $4.7 billion in revenue and manufactures all-terrain four-wheelers, motorcycles and modern day snowmobiles that boast more than 100 horsepower.
When he was 77, the Polaris Industries co-founder and creator of the company's first snowmobile, hopped aboard a Polaris machine and gunned it 900 miles across Alaska during an expedition with 11 others.
Johnson died Oct. 8 in his home at the age of 93. He is survived by his wife Eleanor, sons Mitchell, Rodney and Aaron and daughter Mary.
Johnson was born Feb. 5, 1923, and grew up on the Malung Township farm in Roseau County in northwestern Minnesota. Johnson became fast friends with the farm owners' grandchildren, Edgar and Allan Hetteen. Those friendships would span decades and various businesses.
When Johnson was in his 20s and serving in the U.S. Navy, Edgar Hetteen founded a business that made straw-chopping equipment for combines. It was called Hetteen Hoist and Derrick. Each month, Johnson sent some of his service pay home to Edgar to buy into the business.
After leaving the Navy, Johnson went to work with Edgar, focusing on product engineering and manufacturing. Allan Hetteen joined them in 1950. The three men changed the company's name to Polaris Industries in 1954.
While that business focused on serving farmers, Johnson and some co-workers had other ideas. They envisioned a vehicle that could zip them miles away to remote hunting and fishing shacks in the middle of winter without a fuss.
Using a car bumper as the skis, a Briggs and Stratton motor and chains and other parts grabbed from the straw-cutter machine shop, Johnson and his friends created their first "snow traveler" in 1955.
They made their first run across a snowy Roseau in January 1956. Four years later, they were making excursions across the country in search of dealers who could sell the idea that the snowmobile was a recreational wonder that would help fishermen, hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts conquer winter.
In 1960, Hetteen took the machine on a trip across Alaska.
In 2000, Johnson, Hetteen and the CEO of Polaris at the time, Tom Tiller, snowmobiled across Alaska with 10 others as part of a Polaris anniversary trip.
For his 90th birthday, Johnson took a three day, 150-mile ride aboard a Polaris snowmobile from Roseau to his old cabin in Northwest Angle. He spent a day riding near Lake of the Woods, and returned to Roseau on the third day.
Johnson was inducted into the Polaris Hall of Fame in 2004, the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 1999 and received numerous honors from snowmobile clubs and associations worldwide.
