drew schultz 320
Member
To Quote Billy Madison "Well, I made the duck blue because I'd never seen a blue duck before and I wanted to see one"
Basically, I've wanted to build a General ever since they were released. I knew they would never be the fastest, but who cares? It is unique and different. After moving back to Minnesota, I really started to miss the desert. Short Course racing is a freaking blast, but nothing compares to the desert. When my good friend Nick came to visit me in July, I mentioned how cool it would be to race a General. He then disclosed to me that he was interested in purchasing a General in the near future to use for hunting. We laughed and talked about how funny it would be to race it one weekend and then use it to hunt the next. The laughter and joking turned into a "Well, why not?" moment. I told Nick that with the help of contacts and friends I've made through years of UTV racing, we could build the most badass General out there!!!! So we did it.
I ordered the General the day after the 2018 units were released. I knew we wanted to wait because they would be coming out with a few significant changes.
Not being one to let a new build get tore down right away I proceeded to get the new general stuck in a snowbank with 1.7 miles on her. Also, this gave me the opportunity to use the winch making me realize we might as well race King of the Hammers.
Now that I had thoroughly broke the motor in I decided it was time for a rebuild so I proceeded to tear the motor down to see what we were working with. Much to my suprise Polaris had really beefed up the motor for 2018 much like I expected they would do.
Knowing all of the series we were going to attempt to race in were going to limit the motor to a 1000CC unit I left the bore and stroke stock. but that's about it. Dont believe me? protest it. I dare you!
The first snag we hit was when we ordered the 2018 unit and it took 11 weeks to show up. This put us drastically behind schedule to begin with. The second snag we hit was when I tried to ship this unit to Arizona for final build out. After going over all of our options we decided that Nick would come and pick it up. He drove 60 hours round trip to get this thing!! why so long you ask? he ended up getting caught in a ice storm just south of Des Moines Iowa. Probably the worst place to think you are going to die. But he did it and Our hopes of running King of the Hammers were still on!! I bet you thought I was kidding about that.... nope!
Now that the unit was down south and enjoying the sunshine it was time for the real magic to happen. By whom you ask? none other than Eric Ringler. If you dont know who that is its probably because in the off road UTV community he goes by a different pseudonym. Being a family friendly site I will leave it at that. Eric wasted no time getting to work on this unit and within hours he had her down to the frame. Now mind you when Nick and I hatched this crazy scheme we still had the idea of using it for hunting one day. When Eric sent us the first set of shots it was pretty evident that we were going for more of a race car feel and not so much utilitarian.
As far as suspension goes it was pretty obvious who we were going to go with. Then after my first call to HCR I knew we had to go with them. Also not like I had much of a choice. For some reason General Long travel is tough to come by, who knew. Damon was ecstatic about the build but when I told him we were going to attempt King of the Hammers the laughter that ensued made me question my decision.
Now is the part where I wish I could post a video of us tearing up the Arizona dirt and trying out winch lines and other things me and my co driver Nick had never done but with the ridiculous timeline I put on this project we are not quite there yet. Nick did go and check out the fitment and he is blown away by it.
I leave tomorrow to head down to Arizona to help Eric button this thing up. Am I nervous it won't be complete? not at all. The entire purpose of this project was to bring friends together. Get us all back out in the desert around the campfire laughing at all the stories we have and the ones we just made. Nick asked me the other day if I would be better off with a more experienced co driver with this being his first race and all and I responded that it is about having fun and having a good time with your buddies. I mean, if I was in it to win it would I have started with a General 4 seater?
Basically, I've wanted to build a General ever since they were released. I knew they would never be the fastest, but who cares? It is unique and different. After moving back to Minnesota, I really started to miss the desert. Short Course racing is a freaking blast, but nothing compares to the desert. When my good friend Nick came to visit me in July, I mentioned how cool it would be to race a General. He then disclosed to me that he was interested in purchasing a General in the near future to use for hunting. We laughed and talked about how funny it would be to race it one weekend and then use it to hunt the next. The laughter and joking turned into a "Well, why not?" moment. I told Nick that with the help of contacts and friends I've made through years of UTV racing, we could build the most badass General out there!!!! So we did it.
I ordered the General the day after the 2018 units were released. I knew we wanted to wait because they would be coming out with a few significant changes.
Not being one to let a new build get tore down right away I proceeded to get the new general stuck in a snowbank with 1.7 miles on her. Also, this gave me the opportunity to use the winch making me realize we might as well race King of the Hammers.
Now that I had thoroughly broke the motor in I decided it was time for a rebuild so I proceeded to tear the motor down to see what we were working with. Much to my suprise Polaris had really beefed up the motor for 2018 much like I expected they would do.
Knowing all of the series we were going to attempt to race in were going to limit the motor to a 1000CC unit I left the bore and stroke stock. but that's about it. Dont believe me? protest it. I dare you!
The first snag we hit was when we ordered the 2018 unit and it took 11 weeks to show up. This put us drastically behind schedule to begin with. The second snag we hit was when I tried to ship this unit to Arizona for final build out. After going over all of our options we decided that Nick would come and pick it up. He drove 60 hours round trip to get this thing!! why so long you ask? he ended up getting caught in a ice storm just south of Des Moines Iowa. Probably the worst place to think you are going to die. But he did it and Our hopes of running King of the Hammers were still on!! I bet you thought I was kidding about that.... nope!
Now that the unit was down south and enjoying the sunshine it was time for the real magic to happen. By whom you ask? none other than Eric Ringler. If you dont know who that is its probably because in the off road UTV community he goes by a different pseudonym. Being a family friendly site I will leave it at that. Eric wasted no time getting to work on this unit and within hours he had her down to the frame. Now mind you when Nick and I hatched this crazy scheme we still had the idea of using it for hunting one day. When Eric sent us the first set of shots it was pretty evident that we were going for more of a race car feel and not so much utilitarian.
As far as suspension goes it was pretty obvious who we were going to go with. Then after my first call to HCR I knew we had to go with them. Also not like I had much of a choice. For some reason General Long travel is tough to come by, who knew. Damon was ecstatic about the build but when I told him we were going to attempt King of the Hammers the laughter that ensued made me question my decision.
Now is the part where I wish I could post a video of us tearing up the Arizona dirt and trying out winch lines and other things me and my co driver Nick had never done but with the ridiculous timeline I put on this project we are not quite there yet. Nick did go and check out the fitment and he is blown away by it.
I leave tomorrow to head down to Arizona to help Eric button this thing up. Am I nervous it won't be complete? not at all. The entire purpose of this project was to bring friends together. Get us all back out in the desert around the campfire laughing at all the stories we have and the ones we just made. Nick asked me the other day if I would be better off with a more experienced co driver with this being his first race and all and I responded that it is about having fun and having a good time with your buddies. I mean, if I was in it to win it would I have started with a General 4 seater?
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