Meet Edgar; an important common link.
The top two American ATV brands share both a common founder and founding state. Edgar Heeten formed Arctic Cat in 1960 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota and prior to that he was co-founder of Polaris Industries in Roseau, Minnesota around 1954.
Edgar Hetteen, a farmer before heading off to WWII, was the son of first generation Swedish immigrants. Sadly, he passed away back in 2011 at the age of 90.
Named after the North Star, Polaris was in fact the northern most company in the United States at the time of its founding.