MDOT reveals 299 winners of Michigan snowplow naming contest
Even inanimate objects deserve a name. That's why the Michigan Department of Transportation named each and every one of its roughly 330 snowplows this year.
Some are named after movie characters or songs, while others are clever puns. Many Michiganders will likely be able to connect to "I'd Rather Be at the Beach" as they shovel their driveways in 5-degree weather.
MDOT employees sifted through more than 15,400 possible plow monikers, all submitted by the public, to select the 330 winners, according to Nick Schirripa, one of the project organizers.
Although the names won't be painted onto the plows themselves, they will appear on the MiDrive website, where residents can check the name and location of each plow in real time. The website only lists the names of the 299 currently active plows — the rest are backup plows in reserve.
"It is a lot of fun," Schirripa said. "But one of the biggest drivers internally for me was that this is a great way to humanize a group of folks in our agency who really don't get enough attention, and who really go unnoticed, and are often taken for granted. And that's our snowplow drivers, our maintenance workers, who I believe, and a lot of us believe, are absolute rock stars, they are superheroes."
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If you didn't get a chance to submit a name this year, Schirripa said it's possible they'll ask for more submissions in a couple of years once this inventory of plows rotates out.
The 299 snowplow names
Blue Water Bridge
Blue Water Express
Huron Hero
Ol' Blue
Sarnia Scooper
Bay region
Beast
Big Bertha
Blade of Glory
Blizzard Boss
Chippy
Coyote
Dreams of Summer
Frankenmuth Chicken
Gordie Plow
Hannah's Hero
Herbert H. Plow
Highway Hero
Ice Princess
Ice to Meet You
I'd Rather Be at the Beach
Large Marge
Ol' Seven Fingers
Pillsbury Plowboy
Plower Power
Polar Patroller
Road Warrior
Rolling Thunder
Salt Salt Baby
Saltosaurus Rex
Slushy
Snow Force 1
Snow Mater
Snowdown Please, I'm Plowing
Snowflake
Sparkles
Spirit of Saginaw
Storm Slayer
The Abominable Snowplow
White Out
Will B. Snoday
Winslow
Grand region
Aaron Brr, Sir
Applesauce
Arctic Fox
Auntie Arctica
Baby Snowda
Cheerio, Snow!
Clearing Present Danger
Clementine
Derek Sleeter
Driftcatcher
Fast and Flurryous
Flake Michigan
Frost Responder
Gladiator of the Great Lakes
Glitter Gator
Grind Line
Heikki Lunta
Icicle
Jon Bon Snowi
King of Winter
Lumi
Marshmallow
Mitten Muscle
Mr. Salty Pants
Newaygo River Roadster
Northstar
Plowderpuff
Plownelope
Rupert Slushington IV
Scooper McGavin
Sleetwood Mac
Snow Rapids
Snow Wolf
Snows Buddies Business
Sparky
The Big LePlowski
The Great and Plowerful Oz
The Scrape Gatsby
Thunder Blade
Metro region
Blizzard Wizard
Bringin' Pavement Back
Drift Master
Droppin' Salt Like It's Hot
Ice Ice Baby
Kid Rock Salt
Mr. Snow Miser
PlowMaster
Salt Life
Sleety Pie
Snow Warrior
SnowJoe
Trail Blazer
North Region
Alice Scooper
Bluster Buster
Captain Banks
Chill Out
Drift Buster
Frostin Powers
Han Snow-Lo
Ice Buster
Old Salty
Optimus Plow
Orange Blazer
Orange Slush
Plowzilla
Rusty McSaltmeister
S'no Problem
Salty Dogg
Scoop Dogg
Sno-no-mo
Snow Slayer
Snowbegone Kenobi
The Beast
Superior region
Biboon Ogichidaa
Big Mac
Blizzard T Snowplow
Catch My Drift
Close Shave
Coldfoot
Da Rumbler
Dr. Plow Good
Drift Crusher
Frostbite
Get Into Scrape
Have Snow Will Plow
I Think I Can
Ice Force One
Ice Sleigher
Laker Scraper
Mighty Mac
Mighty Yooper
Mr. Sandman
Nick Flurry
Orange Crush
Orange Yooper Storm Trooper
Plow Avenger
Plowdy Duty
Polar Express
Shock and Thaw
Sisu
Snobank Maker
Snomac
Snowba Fett
Sparky McChatter
Superior Snowbuster
UP Winter Force
Whitefish Plowder
Winter Fresh
Yooper Scooper
Southwest region
Almost Summer
Barry Salt-and-Sanders
Beach Buggy
Betty Whiteout
BettyLou Blizzard
Big Kahuna
Big Poppa
Blade Runner
Blades of Steel
Bliz Wiz
Blizzard Buster
Buffy
Buzz Iceclear
Cheese Puff
Chill Bill
Ctrl Salt Delete
Darth Blader
Detroit SnoWings
Frosted Flake
Frosty
Git Snow Git
Hamilton
Hulk
It's Snow Problem
Kalamazoo Canoe
K-zoo
Lady Lake Effect
Lake Effect Collect
Lead Dog
Let It Snow
Licensed to Chill
Lil Snow Peep
Love Mi Plow
Lumber Jack
Machine Plow Kelly
Move It Move It
Moxie
Mr. Plow
Pavement Liberator
Plowabunga
Plowasaurus Rex
Plower Ranger
Plowriffic
Plowthagorean Theorem
Ramrod the Destroyer
Rocky Salterton
Salt Whitman
Salt-N-Peppa
Salty Attitude
Seymour Snow
Sir Plows-A-Lot
Sir Salts-A-Lot
Slush Puppy
Snow Can Do
Snow Captain
Snow Digitty
Snow Hunter
Snow It All
Snow Place Like Home
Snow Shall Not Pass
Snow Shifter
Snowbacca
Snowboni
Snowcrusher
Snowfire
Snowmaggedon
Sodium Slinger
Steve Icerman
The Kraken
Tiger
Winter Commander
Winter Express
Winter Snowdier
Yukon Cornelius
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University region
Austin Plowers
Baby It's Cold Outside
Below Zero Hero
Borealis
Bumble
Burley Bear
Buttercup
Chilly Dog
Clearopathtra
Dewey Defroster
Dolly Plowton
Dottie
Eagle Eye
Ebenezer Scoop
Edgar Allan Snow
Fluffy
Freezy
Frostbitten Mitten
Frosty the Snowplow
Good Roads Earle
Happy
Herbie
Hercules
Hipplowpotomus
Ice Cube
Kaplowie
Lake Scooperior
Lightning McClean
Little Mack
Lola
Marco Plowo
Maximus
Meatball
Melton John
Melty the Snowplow
Mishigami
Mission Implowsible
Moose
Mr. Blade
NaviGator
Nieve
Ol' Gus
Patience
Pebbles
Pegasus
Peppermint
Peppy Le Plow
Remy
Road Runner
Roxy
Saltimus Brine
Saltnado
Salty Sven
Saul T. Streets
Scooter
Señor Flurry
Snow Worries
Snowball
Snowprah Winfrey
Snowy Robinson
Spirit of Michigan
Squall Bunyan
Still Shorts Weather
Stormbreaker
Subzero
Sunny
Sunshine
ThawSome
Thunderhawk
Tiny
Truck Norris
Walter
Weird Plow Yankovic
Whiteout Wrangler
Wolverine Whiteout
Yeti
Dave Boucher contributed to this report. Contact Emma Stein: estein@freepress.com and follow her on Twitter @_emmastein.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MDOT releases 299 winners of Michigan snowplow name contest
