RENO, NV (Feb. 25) – Lucas Oil UTV racer Tyler Pfeifer is preparing for the Off Road Season. He’s part of the surging growth of the UTV Class in the off road world.
Tyler Pfeifer stands by his Turbo UTV he’ll race in the Lucas Oil Off Road Series this season.
Like many racers Pfeifer’s history in goes back many years but not in off road.
“I’ve been racing motocross almost my whole life started when I was about 5- or-6-years-old,” he said. “I raced pro motocross for a couple of years, did some of the nationals then kind of took a break from racing for a while.”
The climb up the motocross ranks stopped when he was 21 and he’s now 16. Although Pfeifer is away from the sport he still has his bike and rides when he can although our recent snows kind of stopped that for a while.
He’s also been working in the family business Cutting Edge Construction owned by his father Frank.
A few years ago things changed when his father, who used to race in AMA Flat Track took a look at UTVs that are sometimes called side-by-sides.
“My dad was interested in the UTV stuff so we picked one up but we didn’t think we’re going to race it. Then we ended up actually racing it,” he said.
When his father got the UTV it was for fun and they drove it around a few times.
“We still have a motocross track out at my house so I started taking it around the track and started doing all the jumps on it,” he said. “Then I asked ‘do they race these things,’ so we looked it up and they had that NorCal Rock series so we started racing that. Then we started getting a little more serious and saw the Lucas Oil was on TV and wanted to start racing that series.”
Pfeifer explained that before a driver can compete in the national series they need to do some regional events. Then they get a license from Lucas Oil and can compete in the nationals.
“It’s not like a set in stone thing, I think they just want you to race a few of the regionals, not like in motocross where you need 100 pro points to get your AMA license. It’s more like they want to make sure you are able to drive safely and have your car up to par with everyone else in terms of safety,” he said.
To get a UTV ready for competition is quite an undertaking.
“It’s still adding up,” he said. “It’s crazy, thousands and thousands of dollars goes just into safety.”
Among the things are a new seat, a five-point harness, nerf bars on the car and the list goes on and on he explained.
“The suspension work isn’t mandatory but if you want to do good you really need the suspesion,” he said. “Shocks, springs, revalving and the car is lowered from when it was stock and I don’t even know how far but it goes down for about 10 inches.”
Another item is the roll cage. While an UTV comes with one it has to be changed out for one that’s up to spec for what Lucas Oil wants, which includes a certain kind of steel and how thick it.
The safety equipment, driving suit, socks, gloves as well as helmet must met the specifications and as he pointed out they also have an expiration date so must be replaced very few years or so. Even the five-point harness has to be replaced when it expires.
“When you go to tech inspection Lucas Oil checks all your gear and everything to make sure it’s not expired,” he said. “You have to have a neck brace now a HANS.”
None of these things are inexpensive but all are necessary for a driver’s safety.
While he doesn’t remember the date his first UTV race was over the hill at Prairie City, outside of Auburn, California.
“I remember I was doing pretty well for it being completely stock except for the roll cage and harness,” he said. “Other than that stock suspension and stock pipe, everything.
“We were doing pretty well but we wound up breaking an axel in the heat but we still made it to the main. But in the main we were going but the radiator, that’s a big issue on a Can-Am so you have to get an after market radiator.”
What happened is when the motor overheats it goes into a Limp Mode and cuts the power down to about 70%. The resulting lack of speed kind of finishes the racing for that day.
Since then they’ve put in an aftermarket one works.
Moving up to the national series means racing every month including a couple in July. The season begins on March 16 at Glen Helen, the series races twice in May and three times in June and it will be here for a Saturday night event on July 27 at Wild West Motorsports Park.
He explained that one big difference between Lucas Oil and motocross is that one can go out and buy a 450 bike, race it and not expect it to break.
“With the UTV’s it’s so like a new sport so when you buy one off the show room floor you need to reinforce a lot of things. Pretty much everything that attaches to the wheels,” he said. “The trailing arms, the A arms all that stuff should be replaced it’s not a “if its going to break,” it’s when is it going to break.”
Pfeifer is actually racing two different UTVs, one is in the Turbo class while the other, a Yamaha runs in the Production 1000 class.
“It’s be a pretty busy weekend every weekend,” he said. “In motocross when you’re not racing you work on the bike a little bit but on these things you’re working on the car like 24/7 up until the race.”
One big difference between both sports is that in motocross riders always practice a lot. Racing an UTV there isn’t that much practice since one needs to keep the vehicle ready to race.
There still is a need for a driver to keep in shape. While racing a UTV might not be as physically demanding as controlling a motorcycle at speed where are still demands on a driver.
Pfeifer has been going to the gym as he’s getting in shape for the nationals.
Another difference is in motocross no one is talking to the riders but in racing it’s mandatory for someone to be talking to the drivers.
His father carries two radios, one for him and the other listens to what the Lucas Oil officials are saying. This allows him to relay information to his son about cautions and other things.
Rollovers are a part of off-road racing and so far Pfeifer has been lucky.
I’ve been racing these for a little over two years and I still have yet to roll over,” he said. “Surprisingly since I’ve been racing everyone that I’ve been racing with they’ve all rolled over.”
He also explained the worst thing a driver can do is to let off the gas, especially if they feel the UTV going up on two wheels. At that time a driver relies on giving it a bit of gas and using the steering to get back on four wheels.
Another technique he’s learning is to use both feet while driving.
“A lot of the people I’ve talked to and race UTV’s are two-foot drivers where they use the left foot on the brake and right foot on the gas,” he said.
Others only use their right foot for the gas and brake but it’s a matter of comfort for each driver
Racing is expensive and sponsors are important to any racing but so far Pfeifer’s efforts are primarily self-funded.
“We haven’t really gotten too many sponsors because we haven’t been racing that long so it’s kind of hard to produce a resume with only a couple of races under our belt,” he said.
Standing by Pfeifer’s racer is sponsor and owner of UTV Addiction Rob Gott.
However there are two appreciated sponsors and one of them is RCV Axels while the other is local, UTV Addiction.
Pfeifer expressed his appreciation for all the help and assistance Rob Gott, owner of UTV Addiction has given him.
Looking ahead to the 2019 season that begins next month Pfeifer is optimistic but knows the challenges the team will face.
“We are really hoping to get some top three finishes, I think finishing every race is a huge goal and if we finish every race I think we can be in the top five for points. That’s the hardest thing in these classes is finishing every single race.
For this local racer the challenges and fun are about to begin.
OTHER RACING NEWS
- This weekend Nevada Kartsport Racing Team was at Prairie City for a go kart race. Four locals had pretty good results.
Cain Frericks won in KA100 Junior while Nick Short was the KA100 winer. In Junior 206 Matt Fecko was second while Tanner Schultz placed fourth.
• Once again do listen or stream Teresa’s Garage Radio Show from 2 until 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. The show covers all things automotive.
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While I won’t be in the studio this week I will call in with my preview segment around 2:15. You can not only listen to it but stream it over the Internet or watch the show live on Face Book.
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Our first sponsor is Reno Motorsports. Not only do they have about anything a rider might want or need and the store also has a full service shop.
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