The Rewards of Chase Mankin’s Dedication
Story By: UTV Sports Magazine & Kris Mankin
Photos Provided By: The Mankin Family
The passion for off-road racing doesn’t just stop out of nowhere. It bolsters. What seemed like a hobby suddenly becomes a living and everything people do revolves around satisfying the hunger for the races. This month’s Little Ripper, Chase Mankin hasn’t been in the game for very long, but already can proudly say a thing or two about how being involved in powersports has affected his everyday life. We wanted to find out what impact racing has had on this eleven-year-old Ripper from Menifee, Ca, so we reached out to Chase’s mom Kris for a little insight.
How long has Chase been racing?
Chase started racing in 2017 after getting a RZR 170 for a Christmas present. Our intention was to use it out in the desert on our family camping trips. We would do 6-8 trips a year to Glamis and the hardpack areas. After a few months of trips out to the desert, we learned of a local race called Dirt Series. They were having an event at Glen Helen and we thought we’d give it a try. Well, that was it. His expressions after the first practice were priceless, “I felt my back end slide around and it was awesome,” which is how he described it. By 2018, we had a full race schedule, racing Dirt Series, WORCS, UTV World Championships and Winter Nationals. So much for the family trips to Glamis. Now the family trips are to the races.
What impact has SXS racing had on Chase’s life?
Racing requires focus and concentration for a longer period of time compared to any other sport. We see this ability to focus for long periods help him in school and his other activities like karate, and I think it’s due to racing and needing to focus, concentrating and paying attention. He is also learning how to speak in front of others and talk to people he is not familiar with. Doing interviews and talking with people in the industry. This has also helped in school and he always performs well with his speeches. SXS racing has also taught him the importance of taking care of his things and maintaining his equipment. Proper preparation leads to success.
What are Chase’s hobbies?
Chase enjoys gaming and studying the games he is playing on youtube videos. He also rides mountain bikes and scooters. He gets additional physical activity by participating in a type of karate called American Kenpo. Chase’s goal is to get his black belt. He has been doing this for 6 years.
How often does Chase practice?
When Chase started racing at eight years old, he was not naturally fast and did not finish very well, but he comes from a very competitive family, so he and his dad were determined to change his results. They started practicing nearly every weekend in his RZR 170. At first, it was disappointing to Chase that his buddies were not able to join him at the track to practice nearly every weekend, but we soon learned that Chase was getting faster and faster, and catching the kids that were beating him. Therefore, Chase and his dad made it a mission to practice consistently and usually alone in their goal of becoming a champion. In 2019(Chase’s break out year), we made sure to get to the race a day ahead of time to take advantage of the practice schedule for both Lucas Oil and WORCS racing. We also spend time out in the desert to work the desert terrain, and on the asphalt with kart training, which has taught Chase how to read lines, keep momentum and enter and exit a corner. After the 2019 race season where Chase won the UTV World Championship and WORCS Series Championship, he was very determined to keep improving his skills. He just finished a 4-day winter training camp with coaches Troy Adams and Ronnie Anderson, which was really cool and taught him a lot.
Tell us about his 2019 season.
Chase had an ambitious race schedule in 2019, including WORCS, Lucas Oil Regionals, BITD Parker 250, UTV World Championships, and the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix, as well as a few smaller races. Chase set a few modest goals for the season: Win at least one WORCS race and podium in the WORCS series points, make the podium for the UTV World Championships and make the podium in at least 1 Lucas race. At WORCS Round 1, Chase won and surprised a lot of people, beating both the prior Lucas Oil Champion and WORCS Champion. He then won a couple more WORCS races early in the year. He entered the UTV World Championship with a lot of confidence, but still wasn’t a favorite to win or podium.
However, he won the UTV World Championship by 11 seconds—coming from the second row to beat 50 of the fastest youth racers. It took at least 10 minutes before the results were announced and we thought for sure one of our main competitors won the race because he started from the first row and didn’t have to battle through the pack like Chase, but when they announced, “Mankin is the winner on adjusted time,” we were in shock. He ran a flawless race. Smooth and steady the whole 35 minutes. He is the youngest driver to ever win this race, winning at 10 years of age. He went on to dominate the WORCS series winning 5 of 9 rounds and taking the top spot at the end of the season by a wide margin. In November, he won the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix. The Lucas Regionals was a new style of racing for Chase and 2019 was his rookie year. He was able to work his way up and finished 4th overall in that series.
What are Chase’s plans for 2020?
Chase wants to run the same schedule as 2019 and add the new BITD mini series and Mini Mint to the schedule. His goals are to repeat his performances and be on the podium at the end of the year in the Lucas series. He will race his RZR 570 a little more in the WORCS and desert races and will run it in all the Lucas races.
What are Chase’s goals and does he plan to keep racing?
Chase’s life is dedicated to racing and it’s all he talks about doing in the future. Chase plans to continue racing in our family based team over the next several years (or as long as mom and dad can afford it lol). His long term goal is to earn a spot on a big racing team. He has enjoyed watching Seth Quintero and other younger racers join the Redbull Youth Racing Team and compete on the World stage, and he thinks that would be really awesome as well. He also has a long term goal of getting his black belt in Karate which will take a few more years of training and dedication to the sport. Chase is in 5th grade and his parents expect him to make honor roll each semester as part of the racing commitment. A little known fact is that Chase is sort of a math whiz, scoring in the 100 percentile on state math testing. He loves to apply mathematical calculations to racing, whether its calculating series points standing or reviewing video to see if he can drive his car an extra few feet deeper into a corner.
What does Chase like most about the sport?
He loves the high speeds, the battles, the fight for the hole shot, making the pass and catching the checkers!
