Find a niche – even if it’s in the snow – and fill it.
That’s what Domenic Lacaria is doing. He’s in his first year with STAR Towing – a service for snowmobilers broken down on OFSC trails between Kapuskasing and New Liskeard, including the Timmins-Iroquois Falls area.
Lacaria is an engineer and wanted to provide the same type of service as a highway tow truck.
“So I built it myself,” he says, “because there was nothing out there specifically designed for snowmobile recovery on the trails.”
He has a half-scale tow truck with a crane on a snowmobile track, and two work sleds with a custom sleigh that answer the majority of calls.
“Somebody blows an engine or has an issue on the trail, the (tilthead) sleigh will come and just winch up the broken snowmobile and then haul it back.”
Lacaria is aiming for CAA-type wait times of about two hours. “I have a 30-foot float trailer that I run the equipment up the highway to the nearest trail road crossing. And then I offload the equipment at the trail side in order to zip down the trail.”
Star Towing charges by the call. Or you can buy a CAA-style membership.
Lacaria hopes to offer GPS transponders next year, his second in operation. He’s also aiming to expand to the entire Ontario trail system.