Ryan Beat "Champions" Chicago Pneumatic for His Garage
January 8, 2020
"Rowdy" Ryan Beat has never been one to shy away from rubbin' elbows... or doors. His confidence and driving skills have now won Beat, in his second year as a Chicago Pneumatic sponsored athlete, his second Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) Pro-Lite Championship in a row.
"It was really cool to win a second one," says Beat, as he prepared to step up to the next level of racing, in the Pro 2 class of short course off-road racing. Pro 2 is a premier class in 2-wheel drive, full-size trucks on a standardized chassis. "You always want to go out on top, and go out a champion, and the stars aligned and we were able to do so."
After winning his first Pro-Lite Championship in 2018, Beat started his second season on top, too, winning his first race of 2019 at the historic Glen Helen Raceway in California in March. He established himself as the LOORRS Pro-Lite class points leader early, also taking 2nd place at Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, Arizona, in April, and 3rd at Estero Beach Resort in Ensenada, Mexico, in May. The success followed them all the way through the championship.
"It's a lot of prep and a lot of work," says Beat. "We had all the parts and pieces in place, working in the shop." And that includes a lot of Chicago Pneumatic Tools.
It's hard to find good electric tools that are good enough to do what we do and still have battery life that stays with us. Broken tools can put you behind. These are by far the best tools we have every used in the shop, and we've had the best money can buy. These go toe to toe.
And believe him when he says he's in it for the long haul. Beat's career in racing started at an early age with motocross racing, where he won 12 amateur championships. A career-ending injury led Beat to the LOORRS UTV class races, and then to Pro-Lite class racing. There, he continued his winning ways, earning back-to-back Challenge Cup podiums and his first career truck win at the Wildwest Motorsports Park in Reno, Nevada, in fall 2012.
A few months later, in January 2013, he won his first Pro-Lite Race. Beat started his own race team, Ryan Beat Motorsports, in 2015, and was World Pro-Lite Champion in 2017. He was named 2018 Driver of the Year, and 2018 Rick Huseman Award Winner -- the annual award given to a driver who exemplifies talent, skill, and sportsmanship. In 2019, he was nominated for a second time for the Off-Road Hall of Fame Impact Award for Short Course racing.
That's a lot of racing, and a lot of wins at every level. Beat credits his success to a lot of work by a great team -- and great tools from Chicago Pneumatic. "They make our day-to-day life easier here," he says with a smile.
Beat, 32, is married to Shawna Beat, and they have one daughter. Beat is from El Cajon, California.