Phil Blurton Interview | Monster Energy’s Hottest UTV Desert Racer

Talk some more about your dad. Did we read somewhere that he actually got the UTV game rolling with Sal Fish and the SCORE off-road series all the way back in the early 1980s?

Yeah, what my dad did was basically take a Honda Pilot (the precursor to the UTV) and, along with the help from Sal Fish, turned them into a new class of vehicle for the SCORE events. My dad worked on taking the Pilots from air-cooled to liquid-cooled, which allowed them to race over far greater distances and in rougher terrain. So these were the 34 and 44 class vehicles at SCORE. And it was basically the first UTV class. They didn’t race in Mexico at first, because Sal thought they were too small and had too low of a profile – making them more difficult to see when faster vehicles were overtaking them. But now, in any off-road race you go to, UTVs are the largest class at every desert race.

The Pilot, man. Every kid wanted one of those. Do you remember anything from that era with your dad, or were you too young?

The story my dad tells is that when I was six days old, the first time I actually left the house, my mom and dad took me to a Mickey Thompson off-road race at the LA Coliseum.

Were you chasing the desert race scene as a grom back then? What vehicle did you first run out in the desert or high country, and how did it progress from there? Minibikes, dirt bikes, quads, off-road trucks?

I started out on a Suzuki 50cc quad, then moved up to a 90cc quad - all passed down from sisters. Once I got into dirt bikes it went from a CR80 to a CR125 and then a CRF250R.

In addition to your dad, what racers did you really look up to when you were starting out – both off-road and motocross?

A guy named Glen Harrison, when first started getting into desert racing, I leaned on him a bit. Glen was a Factory Mazda racer back then. But I really didn’t have that many idols, really. I was more along the lines of focusing on the challenge of just making my own car that I built better. Beyond that, I hadn’t really followed off-road that much, to be honest. While I was into motocross (Jeremy) McGrath was big. I’d broken legs, ankles, and feet. Met my wife in high school, at 17, found cars, and then you pretty much just forget about motocross (laughter).

Talk about how you got involved with Monster Energy and how many years you’ve been with the company as one of your sponsors?

This is my second year with Monster Energy, with last year (2021) being our first full year. Monster’s always like the company you want to partner up with. Didn’t pursue Monster, but Matt (Chapman, Monster Energy Motorsports Manager) got ahold of me – which I was hoping I was on their radar. Worked out a deal and it’s been a good relationship since then.

Your go-to Monster Energy flavor?

I’d have to say Ultra Zero.

What is it that really draws you to off-road racing in UTVs, as well as the rock crawling events?

I like the logistics. The challenge. The pit strategy. The car setup to the support vehicles. There’s so much to it. And you’re so remote. No ambulance next to you. That makes it even more challenging and exciting. That and the endurance is unbelievable in a 24-hour race.

Do you travel much with the Ultra4 series, or pretty much just stay on the west side of the US?

At this time we just do the King of the Hammers, Best In The Desert, and SCORE.

UTVs are off-the-charts popular right now. And really an affordable way to go from trailer-to-desert, without much modification. At what point does somebody need to enlist the help of you and your engineering team, fabricators for their UTV?

The tipping point, from a weekend warrior to doing what we’re doing, is the majority of our business. Play cars – and having one that’s better than your buddies is pretty much it. People bring us brand new UTVs, $30K, and can put $80K into it – before they even drive it. Side-by-sides are like Harleys. People want them tricked out. But even then, these days the ones right out of the box are amazing. Crazy fast through the desert.

You’re listed amongst a wide range of athletes that Monster Energy backs. Outside motorsports, which action sports do you get a kick out of the most… doing and/or watching?

I love the downhill mountain biking the best. Have so much respect for that. I had a short phase of snowboarding at high school and used to hit Boreal (Mountain, Calif.) a lot. We’d go on the cheap. Then, like most kids, I raced BMX before I raced motocross. We had a pretty good track in Roseville up here. But now the only stuff out of all that I do is hit the trails a bit on my KTM 500 EXC.

Back to UTVs, being you’re on the cutting edge of the technology that’s raising the bar of the sport, what is going to be the next big advancements in UTVs?

Honestly? I don’t really know. They’re getting so much faster. We’re in a weird debate now in that we’re starting behind certain classes – and the UTVs have got so fast that now we’re passing them. We might be faster than a 6000-pound truck and we weigh only 2000 pounds. And they (SCORE) don’t want to the larger vehicles to tangle with us. Beyond that, we’re the only factory-backed class anymore. So unlike the other classes, UTVs are just getting faster and faster in every race.

Will they go electric soon?

I know all the big manufacturers have absorbed electric companies. Word is that Can-Am is releasing an electric motorcycle. That might be a test to start releasing another vehicle – possibly an electric UTV. But that would likely be for an industrial or agricultural application to start.

Finally, do you have a preference between running flat out in the desert, in BITD and SCORE events, and the explosive rock crawling/rock racing events of Ultra 4?

That’s tough. The higher the intensity the better for me. One of my favorite things is qualifying. And that’s coming from motocross where everything’s intense. Like Laughlin, built up, berms, jumps. Lot more fun than cruising down a fire road. But yeah, the closer to motocross the better.

Look out for Phil in the SCORE Baja 500 (June 1-5) then BITD Vegas to Reno (Aug. 10-13) – the longest off-road race in America.