UNDER THE HELMET - A Conversation with Conner McMullen

A Conversation with Conner McMullen

By Mike Ingalsbee

Conner McMullen is one of those racers who can step into anything, and be fast. That comes from his many years of racing experience. He is a second generation racer who grew up in the sport, and knows as much about what makes a race car work, as he does how to hustle one around the desert, or a racetrack. He currently competes in the 6100 truck class.

Race photo by Justin Brown Photo Conner McMullen photo by Dirt Nation

“It’s amazing how much class 10 teaches you about being fast. You can’t slow down. You have to have the right RPMs to make sure you don’t lose time coming out of the corner. You can’t afford to lose even half a second in any corner.” Photo by Dirt Nation

Mike: Conner, how long have you been racing?

Conner: I’ve been in the off road industry since I was about fi ve years old. I’m 21 now. It all revolved around my dad, Kevin McMullen. He’s been doing this off -road racing for 35 years. He and I own a business together, working on off -road race cars, doing prep stuff . Basically, my entire life revolves around off -road racing, 24/7 365 days a year. When I turned fi ve years old, I got my fi rst Trophy Kart. I started doing all the Whiplash series races for a few years, and then we switched over to the Lucas Oil Short Course series. I did that until I was about 16. So really, my whole life has been around the Trophy Kart stuff , the short course, then all the off -road stuff . When I aged out of that at 16, I transitioned over into the desert. Now my addiction has risen 110%. You know,

I absolutely love being in the desert. It’s a whole lot of fun.

Mike: That’s interesting. I was going to ask you, if you like short course better or desert and why.

Conner: Short course gave me a huge stepping stone in my drivability. Short Course teaches you so many diff erent aspects of driving, on how to corner with speed, and learning how to set the truck up. There’s a bunch of specifi cs that short course teaches you. The desert has its own dynamic and driving styles and stuff , but you implement short course driving style into your desert driving style. That’s why you see Brock Hager, Brock Dickerson, Christopher Polvoorde and all of us short course guys going fast in the desert. It gives you that edge and that drive

to be able to go out into the desert and have that 110% on edge, push the whole entire race mentalty. If you are doing it right, saving the equipment, treating it right, you’ll be there at the end of the race and always be on top of the box. My personal opinion is that I love the desert, I love the longevity of the race, and you get to race a whole lot longer. You really get to test your skills on keeping the car alive, you know, being there, every single race. Being on top of the box and being there consistently. Like I said, I love the desert.

Mike: Some desert guys who haven’t raced short course; they don’t really understand that momentum in the turns like you’re describing. Plus, I think it’s fantastic that by the time you were able to drive on the street, you were already a veteran racer.

Conner: Right. It’s defi nitely a crazy thing to think about. I transitioned my skills from the desert to the street. It’s kind of cool to be able to say, you know, this is what I do, out in the desert, tell them how I race; even though I wasn’t even old enough to have a driver’s license.

Mike: When you switched over to the desert, was it something you just picked up right away?

Conner McMullen shown at the 2019 Silver State 300 as he drove his Alumi Craft buggy to the class win on his way to the 2019 Class 1000 Championship. Photo by Dirt Nation

Conner: No, I would say it took me about two or three years to really get the hang of it and understand the terrain, how to read it, where to hit stuff , how to hit bumps, you know, where to take the whoop sections out. There’s just a bunch of stuff that you have to get used to. It takes quite a while to get adjusted and used to something that diff erent; having enough seat time and being comfortable with it. It takes a lot of time and dedication to be able to really get on your peak game. It takes a few years to get used to the rhythm. I started in our three seat prerunner down at Rocky Point. And I did that for about three years and got used to the car, how to shift, how to run the desert. From that class I jumped into class 10 I think during the 2018 season. It took me about a season or a season and a half to get used to that. After I got used to it, man, we just started DirtVenture 63

dominating and dominating and winning all kinds of races and being up there with the overall 6100 spec trucks, and the class ones, the trick trucks. We were talking a minute ago about momentum, and speed. It’s amazing how much class 10 teaches you about being fast. You can’t slow down. You have to be in the right gear, every single corner that you take. You have to have the right RPM’s to make sure you don’t lose time coming out of the corner. You can’t aff ord to lose even half a second in any corner. I think that class defi nitely has made me into a whole other driver.

Mike: How diffi cult was it to go from doing loop races to a big point to point where you never see that same turn twice?

Conner: It was diff erent. It took me a while to adjust to it, but once I started doing it, I’m just like, man; this is so much more fun. I enjoyed it so much more. I enjoyed that whole short course atmosphere, but defi nitely doing the desert stuff , and learning that dynamic, it was just a whole lot more fun and a better experience for sure.

Mike: What part of racing do you like the best? Some people like to go fast. Some people enjoy the super technical stuff . Others just thrive on the competition thing, you know,

Conner McMullen swept the two-day 2020 BlueWater Desert Challenge to earn back-toback Class 1000 Championships. Photo by RnR Photos

they just want to win. What do you think really drives you the most?

Conner: Honestly, there’s a whole bunch of it. When we go to races, our key mindset is we’re there to win, no matter what, no exceptions. That’s our mindset, every single race we go to. But I think the thing that drives me the most about it obviously is being there, the crowd the competition, you know, all that’s amazing to be around. For us it’s a huge family thing. We’re there to have fun with all of our guys that volunteer and spend their time to help us out. We like having good relations with all the racers and the teammates. We just love the atmosphere. The atmosphere defi nitely drives us; it brings us back doing whatever it takes to get as many people out there. I think it’s super cool to have all these people come out and experience this type of

In 2021 Conner stepped up to V8 power and dominated Class 6200 at the Laughlin Desert Classic for the weekend victory. Photo by Bink Designs

racing; it’s just so unique. Desert racing is so unique because of how much time it takes. I like how the mechanics work on the car, the car itself, it’s so interesting. All I do is work on race cars, and then I race, so I get to really appreciate this equipment all the time.

Mike: So you do your own work on the car. Does that give you confi dence when you’re racing, knowing that you put it together and you know how it works and you know how much punishment it’ll take.

Conner: 100%, but I think the coolest thing in the world is being able to work on other people’s cars. When a car comes to our shop, every single car that comes through our shop, no matter if it’s a desert car, road race, whatever it is, whatever transaxle, whatever comes through here, we treat everything as if it’s our own. And I think that’s one of the key reasons we’re so successful and why everybody wants to come to us. It’s because we treat everything with respect, and we treat everything like it’s our own. The prep work that we do, me and my Dad, along with all the guys here at the shop, we have a lot of confi dence. We take the time to do it, right. We don’t slack on anything; we don’t second guess; we just do everything right. That’s how it’s supposed to be done. It’s cool to being able to see all these guys go out there and do really good and win races and championships on our equipment; on our prep. The hard work that we do to make these guys successful after they’ve done so much to be successful; it’s very rewarding.

Conner McMullen moved into the 6100 ranks this year and drove his Brenthel Industries truck to the Parker 425 class victory. Photo by Jason Zindroski, HighRev Photography

VP’s new Trophy Truck fuel provides more power and better detonation protection for endurance-style racing. Formulated for off-road desert racing, Trophy Truck is exceptionally stable under high operating temperatures.

“Going from a buggy to a truck, you’ve got way more wheel travel, you’ve got bigger tires, bigger shocks, everything’s just huge and massive and so much bigger.” Photo by Daniel Curiel Photographic

when you’re coming up on a car that you prepped? You know he’s not going to break it, so how do you get around them?

Conner: Right? It’s defi nitely, you know, you have to treat them with respect. You know, I think that goes for everybody. You can’t get all crazy and hit him. You do your little taps and stuff like that but, you know, my Mojo is I treat everybody with respect on the race course. I hate, even if it’s not our guy, smashing into people and doing all this diff erent stuff . There’s going to be hard racing going on; stuff ’s gonna happen, but it’s all in a good state of mind. We race hard. If there’s someone behind us, pushing us, you have to pass them. Just keep it clean and it’s all good racing.

Mike: I’ve interviewed a lot of racers over the many years, and a lot of the super-fast guys will tell me that nerfi ng somebody and making contact actually slows you down.

Conner: If you’re getting frustrated, you’re beating yourself up, and you’re beating the equipment up trying to do that. That’s where I feel like it’s going to slow you down

a whole bunch. You’re not going to be able to gain that much time. The longer you stay behind them and mess with them, the more you potentially do something to ruin their car or yours. It just causes a whole other set of circumstances and confl ict. You have to learn how to get around quickly, and smoothly.

Mike: So now you’re in a truck. How do you like the truck compared to an open wheel buggy like a class 10?

Conner: It’s a huge transition. I still have my buggy. I still run my buggy at certain races, but being in a truck now, it’s the ultimate. Going from a buggy to a truck, you’ve got way more wheel travel, you’ve got bigger tires, bigger shocks, everything’s just huge and massive and so much bigger. It’s amazing the stuff you can hit and let the throttle out and just, you know, mash through stuff like big whoops. You can just carry so much more speed in a truck than you can in a buggy. There’s stuff in a buggy where you’re gonna be a bit lighter, you’re gonna be able to carry more speed through this corner or the soft stuff because it’s not going to want to dig in much, there’s not as much wheel spin, and with buggies you’re gonna get beat up a little bit more than when you’re in a truck. I love both worlds. I love being in a truck. I love being in a buggy. I think, for me, I’ll always be a buggy dork. That’s what they call us guys. I love it. We defi nitely can perform very good in a buggy, we can perform very good in a truck and I just I believe whatever we’re in, we can defi nitely perform really well.

Mike: A truck has that incredible suspension under you. How does that aff ect your feel for the vehicle? In a buggy you can feel every single thing. When you get in the truck and you have all that suspension absorbing it, does that take away with from your feeling the

Not every race goes as planned. Such was the case at this year’s Silver State 300. Conner still managed to get back in the race for a fi nish. Photo by Trent Noble

At the Silver State 300, Conner McMullen just missed the top 6100 qualifying spot by just a tick over one second. Photo by Justin Brown Photo

course with the truck?

Conner: Yes, and no, you’ve definitely got a lot more suspension in the truck, so you can hit stuff a lot harder. In a truck, the bigger stuff gets smaller and in a lot of ways. You can just hit it and you’re like, oh, man, that’s crazy. The truck will just blow through that stuff. But yeah, there’s a lot of stuff going from truck to buggy. There is still some stuff you just have to slow down for or you’re gonna yard sale the thing.

Mike: I’ve heard that in a truck when you crash or you lose it, by the time you figure out that you’re crashing it’s already too late. That DirtVenture 73

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“Our goal is to focus and learn this 6100 truck as much as we can. I’m really comfortable in it now.” Photo by Daniel Noble Photography

doesn’t sound like a good feeling to me.

Conner: It takes a lot of time to be able to get used to how fast you can hit stuff and how to drive it the right way. There’s defi nitely a right and a wrong way. If you’re gonna go out with the mentality that I’m in a truck and this thing’s got so much suspension and stuff , I can hit anything out there. You’re going to end your day pretty quick.

Mike: You’re in a 6100 now, what’s your ultimate goal? Conner: Our goal is to focus and learn this 6100 truck as much as we can. I defi nitely got the hang of it super quick. I’m really comfortable in it now. We’ve gone over a lot of stuff , we’ve done a lot of adjustments, suspension, the tuning stuff ; we’ve done a bunch of stuff to the truck to fi t my driving ability and to be able to perform better. It’s defi nitely going a whole lot better than we’d expected. At 100 plus miles per hour, you have to get that stuff correct and on point. It’s 100% necessary for the car and for your own safety as well. DirtVenture 75