With no one being able to win this title back to back in a long time, it underscores just how hard it is to be consistent and lucky in three-hour off-road races. Have you done anything different to prevent that kind of bad luck and inconsistency? You haven’t had many bad races the last two years.
I think the biggest thing I’ve found, at least for myself, when you get to a track you don’t like or whatever, is your attitude. Before, if I didn’t like a track, I wouldn’t come ready to race—I’d come ready to leave! I would just want to go home. Now, I feel like I can enjoy each race for what it is. I will try as hard as I can, and if something happens I’m not going to give up. This year I had a big crash in Indiana and I came from way back to finish third. With two laps to go I was still two minutes out of third place and three minutes out of second, and I came back to catch Thad [DuVall] for second right at the end—I didn’t get around him, but I charged all the way to the end and tried my hardest. I think that’s the biggest thing. It all comes with experience.

You looked furious after that one, too.
At the time, me and Charlie were so close. Those extra points for second could have made all the difference at the end of the year. To lose those extra points, it fired me up.

Just explain this to some people who might not be super familiar with all aspects of the series. Your dad, Jeff Russell, works for the series [full disclosure: Jeff Russell is also married to Carrie Coombs, who runs the GNCC series, and GNCC racing is a sister company of Racer X] and builds the tracks. You’ve had to deal with that as a controversy your whole career—people thinking you might have an unfair advantage. How do you react to that?
Yeah, the whole deal, my dad builds the tracks and my family runs the series, or whatever, it’s pretty much a pain in my ass! I deal with it all the time. You know, “Oh, they build the tracks for Kailub” or whatever. It really sucks because the people who are saying that are just ignorant. They don’t know what they’re talking about. It gets me mad. You look at the other riders, like Charlie. His dad is there with him on the starting line, he’s got his KTM team shirt on, and he’s right there with him at the finish. My dad, during the race that I’m in, he pretty much has to disappear [to avoid controversy]. He’s nowhere to be found. So he doesn’t get to be part of my racing, and it sucks to not have him able to be in full support of me at the races. That’s actually something I’ve had to overcome compared to some other riders, and then it sucks for people to say I still have an unfair advantage. I’ve tried to kind of separate my life, but it’s a shame that people still think that.

But you’ve won a lot of races in a lot of classes for a long time now—don’t people just think you’ve proven yourself now? I understand stuff gets said in mini-cycle ranks or amateurs, but you still hear this stuff now?
It still happens. People still make ignorant remarks. It’s whatever. They know who they are.

I know, personally, that it’s not like you were driving to the tracks with your dad in the company semi on Tuesday, building the track side-by-side with him all week. Like you said, you’ve had to live a pretty separate life.
I’ve really only lived with my dad for a year. It’s not like we’re sitting there all night making plans for tracks together. But when you’re winning like I am right now, people are going to say whatever they want.

So what’s next for you now? Is the goal to just keep piling on titles, or do you look to try other things?
I’d like to look into some other stuff, but just here or there. I don’t want to commit to racing a full different series. If I were to go to the National Enduros, I’d be racing Charlie there, and I’d have to bring my A-game. It’s tough because it’s not like supercross and motocross where you race one series, that’s over, then you go to the next series. In off-road you’d be racing a second series while GNCC is also going on, during alternate weekends. That’s tough—it can hurt your confidence. So I’d like to just focus on the task at hand.

When we talked a year ago at this time, you said you were doing better in the races because you started riding less during the week. Is that still the program?
I probably rode more this year, but it was more on technical riding and fine-tuning my skills. I stayed at Taylor Roberts’ house during the winter and worked on rock riding and technical, extreme racing. It’s exciting to do something new, and it’s good balance training, too. I don’t want to say I don’t even ride, but it’s just the fact that all of the buddies I used to ride with have gotten jobs or have gone to college, so I’m just kind of lacking the motivation to go out and ride by myself all day. It is what it is; I know what I need to do to get the job done.

What’s up for the next two races?
I’m racing a 150. 

Are you serious?!
Yes! Have you not heard about this?