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Minnesota News
Andrew Krueger

'Betty Whiteout,' 'Ctrl Salt Delete' top winners in MnDOT Name-a-Snowplow contest

Snowplows on a snow-covered highway.
MnDOT plows clear snow from Interstate 494 in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., as a winter storm hit southern Minnesota on Dec. 10, 2021. MnDOT has announced a new slate of winners in its "Name-a-Snowplow" contest.
Andrew Krueger | MPR News 2021

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A tribute to a Golden Girl will soon grace an orange truck clearing snow and ice from Minnesota highways.

"Betty Whiteout" is the runaway winner in this winter's Minnesota Department of Transportation Name-A-Snowplow contest.

The name honoring Hollywood icon Betty White, who died Dec. 31 at age 99, received 40,024 online votes in the results announced Thursday.

Coming in second with 21,372 votes was "Ctrl Salt Delete," followed by "The Big Leplowski" (17,478), "Plowasaurus Rex" (13,209) and "Scoop Dogg" (13,144).

"Blizzard of Oz" (12,742), "No More Mr. Ice Guy" (11,198) and "Edward Blizzardhands" (10,664) rounded out the top eight.

Find complete vote totals here.

Later this month, those winning names will go on MnDOT plows serving each of the agency's eight districts around the state.

The "Betty Whiteout" name will go on a MnDOT plow serving District 8, covering parts of southwest and central Minnesota.

Alas, it won't be plowing highways in the Twin Cities — home to White's fictional character Sue Ann Nivens from the “Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Or the roads near St. Olaf College or Otter Tail County's St. Olaf Township, which shared a name with the oft-mentioned hometown of White's "The Golden Girls" character Rose Nylund.

The destinations for the other winning names are:

  • “Ctrl Salt Delete” – District 7 (southwest and south-central Minnesota)

  • “The Big Leplowski” – District 4 (west-central Minnesota)

  • “Plowasaurus Rex” – Metro District (Twin Cities)

  • “Scoop Dogg” – District 3 (central Minnesota)

  • “Blizzard of Oz” – District 2 (northwest Minnesota)

  • “No More Mr. Ice Guy” – District 1 (northeast Minnesota)

  • “Edward Blizzardhands” – District 6 (southeast Minnesota)

The eight winners are from a field of 50 finalists that went up for an online vote last month. Nearly 60,000 people cast votes, choosing up to eight names per ballot.

The 50 finalists were selected from more than 22,000 ideas submitted by the public in December.

It's the second winter MnDOT has held its Name-a-Snowplow contest.

Last winter's winners were "Plowy McPlowFace," "Ope, Just Gonna Plow Right Past Ya," "Duck Duck Orange Truck," "Plow Bunyan," "Snowbi Wan Kenobi," "F. Salt Fitzgerald," "Darth Blader" and "The Truck Formerly Known As Plow."

Two of this winter's winners — "Blizzard of Oz" and "Edward Blizzardhands" — had been among the names that fell short in voting last winter.