From King of the Hammers to Racing in Brazil
Words: Anastasia Leniova
Photos: Justin W. Coffey, Billy Bartels and courtesy Sara Price
She races trucks, UTVs, bikes, cars, does stunts for movies and owns SP Motorsports. Sara Price started her colorful career at eight years old racing motocross, winning every possible race in the U.S. she could enter. Later diving even deeper into the motorsports industry by rediscovering herself as a racecar driver. At the moment she is taking a second shot at Extreme E series for Chip Ganassi Racing, but also jumps in any other possible race in the meantime. We caught up with Sara Price to talk about her cars, recent races and travels.
UTV Sports: Your life looks super intense on social media. What’s on your mind right now; stunts for movies, some upcoming races, car tests or something else?
Sara Price: Life right now has a lot of moving parts from Extreme E (next two races of the series are in Italy this July), traveling and racing all around the world. When at home, I’m racing a Polaris RZR and preparing for certain races in a trophy truck. I’m currently more busy with racing than stunts; as when I’m traveling or gone racing, I’m not as available for stunt jobs. Stunts always seem to come when I’m gone lately (laughs).
USM: Let’s start with King of the Hammers 2022. Was that your 7th time? How was the race going for you before it was over?
SP: Wow, it was my seventh time! It’s crazy to do the math and think about that. King of the Hammers is always a brutal race. Just to finish it is a huge accomplishment. I unfortunately haven’t had the best finishes, but we’ve had really good positions until we were out of the race. This year we were in the new Polaris Turbo R built by Rhys Millen, and it was an incredible machine. 4 Wheel Parts, our title sponsor, saw our potential to win last year and wanted to have the best build for our RZR. Having good companies with proven products behind us is important for this race. We were running in a good position and unfortunately we broke down just 20 miles from the finish, which took us out of the race. King of the Hammers is that one event that I never want to miss every year.
USM: In general, how is preparation for cross-country rallies like Sonora different from preps for races like KOH?
SP: Preparing for King of the Hammers you don’t really think about weight. You build your UTV to be strong, to be able to take a beating, to be able to make it to the finish line. Not necessarily the fastest car out there. So you put extra skid plates on your clutch to be able to climb in the rocks, you have larger tires to have more clearance over rocks. In rally you’re trying just to make the car go longer distance and be able to make it to the end. You also want to cut weight, make the car more agile and have it survive. It needs to run as fast and easy as it can.
USM: After all preparations are over, what do you feel during a race like KOH? How do you cope with ups and downs?
SP: King of the Hammers is a tough one to recoup from, it takes a lot to do KOH the correct way. The aftermath is a lot of complete teardowns and prep to get your vehicles back to the shape they were before. Rocks are brutal on equipment, so that takes a lot of prep to be able to fix. One thing about King of the Hammers is you learn what works and what doesn’t work. You learn the weaknesses of your program and what to change to come back stronger the next year.
USM: Are you returning next year? What would you like to get out of this race?
SP: I would love to win King of the Hammers and just have a solid run and get that chance I haven’t yet had. A solid run to be able to show our speed and capabilities. You know, every year we’re running in the front pack, showing that we are there to compete, but then we have something that brings us down on time or keeps us from finishing. It’s the one event I always try to make and go big at.
USM: You won the Mohave Valley Raceway event in March just in between in Brabec’s car, how was that? Is the victory feeling the same as you had when you were winning all mx races as a teenager, or different from time to time?
SP: Oh boy, that race is such a blast, total grassroots backyard racing at Mohave Valley raceway!
Ricky Senior, Ricky Brabec’s dad, actually had that car sitting out in the driveway for four years. Ricky was there the weekend before me and was like “We are getting the car ready for you, you’re going to race that next weekend at the circle track!” At that time I was gone overseas racing with Extreme E, and then when I raced, Ricky was gone racing overseas. We took that thing out. Never ever raced on a circle track before. I started first in our qualifier and ended up winning the qualifier. I definitely had to figure it out fast. I started first in the race and just went for it. We ended up having a lot of yellow flags but I still kept the lead and I took her to the finish winning!
It was a down-home fun family race and you know, it’s crazy to think that winning something like that feels the same as winning anything else. I love racing and I love doing well at it, because it’s what I put my whole life into. So to get that feeling, it’s just one of those things that makes me tick. I will forever have it in my life.
USM: At the end of Extreme E 2021 you said it was a crazy year and your team couldn’t have gotten more unlucky. Could you briefly describe what was going wrong?
SP: Being a part of Chip Ganassi Racing and our first year in Extreme E, we came in as the offroad all-American team and with high hopes to do very well. We had the speed, that was for sure. But the one thing we didn’t have was results due to a lot of truly unlucky circumstances. It was the first year for the series, the first year for the team, and we had a lot to learn about the equipment and where we were racing. One thing is for sure, our team is one of the best out there, as shown in CGR racing history. And I have no doubt that we’re gonna come back stronger this year. We already did great at our first race and plan to do so the rest of the year, and be a contender for the championship.
USM: Is travel for racing a burden or fun?
SP: I absolutely love traveling! If you would’ve asked me five years ago what my dream would’ve been, it would be traveling around the world racing. And look at me now, it’s pretty crazy to think that that dream came true. And not only did it just come true, but it came true in an even better way – to be racing Extreme E for a team like Chip Ganassi Racing.
I think when you’re traveling for racing you want to get there, you want to perform and do your best as an athlete. Then, if the race goes good, you would like to stay and kind of sightsee, you get to see different parts of the world. Being a part of Extreme E, we have legacy projects to highlight environmentally impacted areas, and they take us on pretty much like field trips before the races. All the drivers get to see real parts of where we’re racing, what those areas represent to the world, and how they impact our environment. So we actually get to experience the places we go, and learn about these new parts of the world along with the series and other racers. I think world travel is so great for any person, it enriches your life in such a positive way.
USM: What brought you to Brazil recently?
SP: I went to Brazil with Extreme E to highlight the Amazon for the legacy project. We had an incredible trip with the series, highlighting what has happened to the Amazon forest like deforestation and what we can do to help it.
While I was there, I had a good friend out there, Nuno, who welcomed me with open arms alongside Polaris Brazil and his family. They set me up with an RZR to go racing! That’s such a cool experience with companies like RZR (Polaris) being worldwide and having the same passion to go racing anywhere.
USM: For KOH it was Turbo R, and in Brazil it was Pro XP. How did you test and finetune them?
SP: Sometimes I don’t get to test. I get into vehicles that we don’t get a lot of testing in, and you have to adapt and be willing to learn as you go, so we did exactly that. I’m used to hopping in very different types of vehicles from trophy trucks, RZRs, and Extreme E to circle track cars. In the stunt world we are in all kinds of vehicles both offroad and on the street. So it’s up to me to be adaptive and be the best driver I can, as fast as I can.
USM: What is racing in Brazil like? Did you like the format and terrain of Rallymakers UTV cup?
SP: The Rallymakers UTV cup and Brazil was very different from anything I’ve ever raced. We raced in a cornfield with no visibility and you don’t know what corners are coming up. We also didn’t get practice laps on the track, so you kind of have to memorize these long courses through the corn fields. I was racing a Polaris Pro XP built by Lonestar that was a Dakar Racing Vehicle, so quite heavy in comparison to a lot of the other stock UTV’s. But we gave it our all, did the best we could, and we had a blast, learned a lot and did pretty well. Brazil was an incredible place to visit and especially getting to experience the racing there was out of this world. So thank you Brazil for having me.
USM: Any special memories about the country – food, nature, music?
SP: So many special moments about Brazil! From getting a trip deep into the Amazon and being with families that live off their own land, making us these magnificent meals and learning to grow crops with them, to getting welcomed by Nuno and his family and his daughters that were cheering me on at the races and now are like my sisters. The nature there is absolutely incredible, they have a very wet climate, so it’s very green. Where I’m from it’s pretty much a dead desert. The food was amazing, I ate a lot of cheese, bread and fruit. Fruits are out of the world there. Most of all the people of Brazil are just incredible, they all are so happy and living life to the fullest – it’s contagious.
USM: Do you race mostly factory cars at the moment or your own cars as well? What’s in your garage?
SP: When it comes to Extreme E and trophy trucks, they are not my vehicles. I am a hired racer to race those, and so it’s more of an arrive and drive program. When it comes to Polaris RZRs, those are my personal race cars and vehicles. That is my own team program I run out of our home shop. Currently right now in our shop is a Polaris Turbo R, Pro XP with a Pro R on the way.
USM: Dakar still on the wish list?
SP: Dakar is very much still on the wish list. I’m hoping to get there in the next few years and find the opportunity to do so. I’ve wanted to do Dakar since 2015 when I first started racing UTVs internationally. We are going to continue to train, be the best athlete we can be, race Sonora Rally and other nearby rallies that can provide us with as much experience as possible to be ready when the time comes.
Sara is a racer on the move, always testing her limits behind the wheel in far off lands or right at her backdoor. If you’d like to follow Polaris Factory Driver, Sara Price, find her on Instagram and Facebook or on the web at https://sarapricemx.com/