Tyler Kulesa

**Tyler "Chico" Kulesa** is a driver in the Utica Rallycross Series. He drives the #10 car for Thunda' from Down Unda'.

 Car no., team
 Best Points
 First race
 Last race
 First win
 Last win

## Before Utica Rallycross

Before Chico came to be interested in any type of motorsports he was working in Australia as an Alligator Handler. During his tenure at the Australian Reptile Park, Chico took on one of the most daunting crocs you’ve ever seen, appropriately named Godzilla. It was roughly 14 feet long and weighed in somewhere around two tons. No one could actually weigh the beast because of its super aggressive attitude. While wrestling the beast, Chico made one wrong move as he was trying to clamp the gators mouth shut, this resulted in the loss of his left pinkie and middle finger.

Although this life wasn’t very glamorous he felt like he needed just a little more adrenaline. One of his co-workers and best friends before being killed by Godzilla introduced him to the underground Australian Outback racing scene where he was quickly enthralled. Chico took all the money he had saved up to buy his girlfriends engagement ring and instead bought a beat up Subaru and started racing. He became one the most bet on underdogs winning his first 5 races in a row. Money was getting short and Chico started to use a friend to bet on his races. Some loan sharks were involved and because of this situation Chico relocated to the United States.

## Engineering

Kulesa attended Idaho Poly-technical University and graduated with high honors in the field of automotive engineering. Sporting an impressive portfolio, Kulesa was hired by Evans Engineering Inc., an engineering firm and racing development team owned by Neal Evans and his son, Matt Evans. Utica Rallycross Series, LLC, a start-up racing series, approached the company and hired them to design a car to meet the strenuous needs of the series. Kulesa was one of several on the team that developed the car for Season One of the Utica Rallycross Series.

Kulesa stayed with the team throughout the first season. He acted as head mechanic in the team's garage, but was promoted during the off-season to Head of Development. By the end of Season Two, Kulesa felt it was time to move on to form his own racing operation. In the months following the season finale in Dead Man's Curve, Kulesa formed Chico Motorsports and began work on entering the Utica Rallycross Series as an owner/driver.

## URCS S3

Kulesa finished thirteenth in his debut in Yuma, but followed it up with three top ten finishes at Elk Horn Pike, Blackpool, and Paparone.

Kulesa secured his first victory in Budva, running a near flawless lap that topped Stephen Carter by two hundredths of a second. He followed up his victory with a top five finish in Dubai.

Kulesa was in the midst of a season long battle dubbed "Tyler vs. Tyler," where he and Tyler Benoit were the frontrunning favorites for the championship. Despite a solid lead for most of the schedule, blunders in Laos and Hong Kong allowed Benoit to catch up, lowering the gap to only two points.

Kulesa attempted the Dead Man's Curve Qualifier event, setting a blistering pace and topping the speed chart at the event's end. Kulesa looked to be the car to beat heading into the race weekend, however, a random draw of fourth car up for the main event looked to crush his chances. Even worse, his only remaining championship competitor, Tyler Benoit, was the last car up for the race. Despite this handicap, Kulesa ran a solid run, becoming the second car to complete the course and taking the top spot and the needed bonus point.

With one car left to run, Kulesa was sitting fifth overall. Benoit needed to finish second or better to defeat Kulesa, but managed to finish third instead, tying him in the points. Kulesa ad Benoit had one victory this season, so the tiebreaker went by most top fives, which Benoit had seven, compared to Kulesa's five.

## Personal Life

Kulesa owns a pet kangaroo named "Dundee," of which he holds dear.

## Trivia

* Kulesa is one of six drivers to finish every event they started along with Dillon White, Brandon Bayne, Dylan Theroux, and Alex Hawkins.