Three-time UTV champion Chad George came into the season with a fire to earn his fourth title in the highly competitive Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS). After overcoming a winless streak through the summer, George is back on top with two victories in three races and regaining the points lead in the class. The Monster Energy Kawasaki Teryx driver sat down to talk about his season so far, his battles with fellow Kawasaki driver Austin Kimbrell, and what it takes to be a champion.
Chad George: "It’s always nice to run away with the lead, but when you have a guy that you can go back and forth with, battle head-to-head, and stay fairly clean with, it definitely makes it more fun."
Our team started the season pretty strong. We got some wins under our belt and put a little gap on the points. Then something happened where we were having some bad luck combined with the car not being where it needed to be. We weren’t doing bad, still on the podium and finishing up there, but the points lead I had wasn’t there anymore. Austin Kimbrell went on a win streak and I found myself with a point’s deficit to him. There are a lot of points to be had during a weekend between qualifying and caution-flag lap-leader. At Glen Helen I got my first win in about six races. Mentally I needed that to tell myself I could still win. I didn’t think I had lost my ability or anything, but sometimes I need that win to boost my confidence again. After that I was feeling good and after our last two rounds in Surprise, Ariz. I regained the points lead with another win. I did have some bad luck, but I felt the weekend went great as a whole.
One of the other Kawasaki Teryx drivers, Austin Kimbrell, and yourself seem to have great battles when the two of you are up front. How is it racing with him?
It’s always nice to run away with the lead, but when you have a guy that you can go back and forth with, battle head-to-head, and stay fairly clean with, it definitely makes it more fun. I can rely on Austin to not just take me out. Unfortunately there are people that will intentionally do that, but Austin isn’t one of them. We have some serious battles and it makes it really exciting. I am stoked when I get in the car and can beat the best in the class like Austin, because it means I was the best that day. He’s a good driver and I like racing with him.
Being the points leader and a 3-time champion, how do you approach a season to come away with a championship?
I definitely look at the season as a whole. While I do take it one race at a time, I want to go out and do my best every time I get behind the wheel. Now when I have the championship in mind, I’m not going to go out and throw away a race trying to get one extra position because that could end up being costly. As cliché as it is, consistency wins championships. The wins will come. It’s close to impossible to win every time in our sport. There are a lot of things that can go wrong and often times they do. But whether it’s driver error or a mechanical, I realize that coming across the finish with points is a great race, even if I didn’t win. Don’t get me wrong, I want to win, but my main goal is to be consistent and consistently on the podium. Every race counts, from the beginning of the season to the very last race.
Going back a few years, how did you get into racing UTV’s?
I started racing about five years ago, before Kawasaki had a vehicle in the category. My family had always played around with UTV’s out at Glamis and I heard about places you could race them. I thought the racers were crazy when I first heard about it. I went to Lake Elsinore with a stock UTV and raced in both the stock and modified classes. I think everyone thought I was now the crazy one because I didn’t have any experience, but I was jumping everything I possibly could. I had regular clothes on, no drivers suit. I was hooked instantly. There ended up being this one guy I couldn’t beat. If you know anything about the Funco family, we don’t go to race for second. We ended up building a fully modified car to beat that one guy, but that is where the sport of UTV racing was going. Like off-road truck racing, it got more and more competitive and now we have a pretty deep group of racers that come out and do this for the whole season. So I can say that I was there from the beginning of the sport of UTV racing. It’s been cool to be around from the start.
Do you still get out to the dunes in your free time?
I wish I could get out there more, but racing full-time is very time consuming. I have been going out there since I was little. I have been riding Funco-built sand rails forever it seems like, but this is what I love too. I don’t see it as a bad thing that I don’t get out there as much because that means I’m out racing.
