Printed with permission from Dirt Sports Magazine from the 2009 March/April issue.

To dismiss Heidi Steele as a real racer is understandable—at least at first. But set aside motorsports for a moment. It’s hard to imagine a more real human than this blonde-haired off-road racing champion. She is neither the steely-eyed, blood and guts equivalent to the four men that preceded her as Dirt Sports’ Driver of the Year, nor is she an estrogen-challenged tomboy with gas and oil flowing through her veins like some kind of androgynous human catastrophe.

Blessed with model good looks, an obvious intelligence and that oh-so-rare personality that is equal parts humble and sweet, Heidi Steele’s impact on those who surround her—both lifelong friends and newly-introduced acquaintances—seems to be the same. She is disarmingly warm and welcoming.

Spending time with Mrs. Steele only serves to reinforce a realization that nothing will bubble to the surface and tarnish your initial first impression. It’s hard to imagine anyone, be it male or female, possessing such high levels of the components that make up that elusive “whole package.”

But, she didn’t win the Dirt Sport’s Driver of the Year title by being a wonderful and inspiring person. She earned this award and rewrote the record books by becoming the first woman off-road racer to ever earn two major season championships (SCORE’s Class 7SX and BITD’s Class 7100) in the same year. Thanks to her Desert Assassins team, she completed every mile in the SCORE series and all but one in her Best in the Desert campaign. And she did it without compromising what she stands for.

In short, our 2008 pick as Driver of the Year inspired us all, broke yet another racing stereotype and did it by never once apologizing for the fact she is, most importantly, just out to have fun. Having fun and winning. Now that’s a novel concept indeed.

Hanging with Heidi
In years past, photographer Boyd Jaynes’ primary objective in shooting our annual Driver of the Year feature has been to elevate each winner’s image into the category of off-road badass. With the late Jason Baldwin, Shannon Campbell, Carl Renezeder and Rob McCachren, that successful formula was fairly easy to maintain. Not so with Heidi Steele.

Heidi’s persona isn’t that of a badass, rather a sweet ass in the personality sense. She is, in marked contrast, the golden warmth of a perfect summer morning. No matter the situation, Mrs. Cameron Steele is always smiling and friendly, and any attempt by Jaynes’ to alter her engaging personality into something intense and serious immediately came across as forced and contrived. Washing her race truck in a pair of Daisy Dukes? Now we’re talking.

But behind that charm is also a racer, one who shared the single instant she will cherish from many experiences in her 2008 campaign. “My favorite moment was winning last year’s Baja 500,” she explains, still smiling despite her tear-filled hazel brown eyes. “Honestly, it was the best race I ever had. I started first in class and for 102 miles I was leading the entire race. It was the first time I felt like, wow, I can actually drive because I was holding all the guys off.”

But was she completely excited or nervous or tearing up in the car at that point?

“I was actually giggling,” she explains with a laugh. “I kept asking my co-driver, are you sure they aren’t back there yet? It was so fun!”

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Fueling the Fire
When Heidi Van Vlaenderen married Cameron Steele (above right) in 1998, her spouse could not claim the lofty public personality he enjoys today within the extreme sports world. Nor was Cameron off-road racing, despite growing up in the sport, thanks to the long and distinguished career of his father Mark. “That story was actually very touching,” shares Heidi. “You know, Cam got out of racing because his mom was battling cancer. So for seven years before she passed away the whole family pulled out of racing. When we first got married the Steele family wasn’t even in the sport.”

Like many, the Steeles couldn’t stay away from the sport they loved. As Heidi was finishing up her MBA, Cameron began getting his feet wet and asked his wife to join him for the 2004 SCORE San Felipe 250. She had no idea what off-road racing was.

“We chased Cam and had fish tacos halfway through,” she reminisces. “The whole thing was just so exciting. That was the point that I thought, wow, this would be really cool. I want to be driving.”

On the way home, Cameron asked Heidi if she wanted to come back, and her response was, “’I loved it, but next time, can I have a chance to drive?’ He said yes, and I was totally shocked.” With that, the couple entered their prerunner in the Sportsman class at an MDR race in Plaster City. She came in second.

That eventually led to more races, including the 2005 SCORE Baja 500 and Baja 1000. Her car was the now-famous “Pinkie” Raceco Class 12 machine that she entered in Sportsman with Justin “Bean” Smith. At the same time, Cameron’s career—both as a racer and a television personality—was growing, as was Heidi’s career as a top executive. Like all good marriages should, they feed off each other’s success and mutual racing interests and rode their rising tide together.

Above and Beyond
While racing costs a fortune, Heidi admits that Cameron’s very flexible schedule and prowess in finding such “amazing” sponsors as Lucas Oil, Yokohama tire, Currie, ATX, Fox Shox, KC HiLites and Camburg are the real keys to helping them fund both programs. “At this point, my whole vacation schedule—our whole lives—are all about racing. But that’s okay. You know, I couldn’t trade the memories we’ve made racing for anything; they’re incredible.”

And right now, she doesn’t see her racing career ending anytime soon. In fact, she shared that her ultimate dream, which, given her sunny outlook, took me aback once again. She doesn’t want to share the family Trophy-Truck with her husband, she wants one of her very own.

“Don’t mistake the fun attitude and the good times with the false sense that I’m not competitive. I am competitive.”

It is that contrast of seemingly sweet innocence and almost hidden competitiveness that is the most surprising—and perhaps most challenging—aspect of her persona that she so very much wants to overcome. Earning the Dirt Sports award, in that sense, is also a double-edged honor.

“There will be a lot of people who are going to be very excited and think it’s well deserving,” she says. “At the same time, I think there’s going to be just as much controversy. Let’s face it, I’m a woman. The first thing people are going to do is question the amount of miles that I drove.”

I admit, that very issue has been raised by others before I sat down for this interview.

“The answer is that I was there every step of the way. If there are people out there who are curious and want to know what I really did in the races, I’m proud of the fact I drove about half of every race except, of course, big races like the Baja 1000, which I raced the start and the gnarly Rumarosa grade,” she adds. “I was surprised to win. I don’t think I deserve this just because I’m a woman. People point out the differences to me all the time, and I agree with them. There are definitely differences between men and women. It makes it more challenging to be a woman racer. I don’t work on the truck. In fact, I changed my first flat tire at the last race of the season, but that was the only flat tire I’ve ever had to change because I don’t get flat tires.”

Heidi then adds: “Why do I think I deserve this award? My racing skills pale in comparison to racers like Rob MacCachren, B.J. Baldwin and others who are also deserving. But I’ve raced consistently, finishing race after race in a slower class in which it’s tough to even complete races under the official deadline, especially with stock parts and class limitations.”

As the photo shoot nears completion, Cameron returns from a shopping trip. He’s carrying three cases of Pacifico beer. He then goes out and returns with three more. He makes that round trip again. And yet again.

Apparently, the couple is preparing their handsome San Clemente house for yet another gathering of the Desert Assassins, this time to celebrate the birthday of Cody “Grumpy Bear” Stuart. As guests begin arriving, there, in stark contrast to the motley assortment of guys who seem to wear only black, stands our 2008 Driver of the Year in a classic white sundress. Even on this occasion, the petite racing phenomenon not only stands out, but somehow can’t help herself from warmly greeting each of the DA family on a night she’s sure will end up in madness and mayhem.

Perhaps, considering what’s about to go down in her still pristine home, Heidi Steele should win an award on that ability alone.

Heidi By Day
Heidi Steele, who in real life is a highly respected vice president of human resources at Accent Care (with 9,000 employees), understands the power of the people. While the award for Driver of the Year is a singular honor, she insisted that we give proper credit to the members of her Desert Assassins family who helped make it all happen. “As a team, we worked together to win not one, but two championships. These teammates were out there at all hours.”

Co-Drivers:Rene Brugger, Tim Lawrence, Danny Street Jr.
Navigators: Danny Street Jr., Alan Trimble
Prep/Logistics: Rene Brugger, Alan Trimble
The West racing team of: Dan Street Sr., Richie (Bobbie) Brugger, Carlos Brugger, Marty Hipwell, “Poncho” Arias, Benny Castaneda Jr./Sr., Jack Flores, Luis Casteneda Jr./Sr., Luis Pierda>, Javier/Xavier Hernandez, Sergio Padilla, Gus Meza, Scott Tally, Sergio Duran, Tony Aguilar, The crew from Trackside Performance/Yokohama.

2008’s Honorable Mentions
Desert: B.J. Baldwin (SCORE Trophy-Truck Champion)

Truth be told, if it weren’t for Heidi Steele’s historic performance during the 2008 racing season, this talented young driver from Las Vegas would likely have grabbed the top honors. In just a few short years, B.J. Baldwin has established his talent and influence on the sport with firm conviction, undeniable skills and a rebellious, hip style all his own. But it wasn’t Baldwin’s 2008 SCORE Trophy-Truck title – as significant as it was - that made us take notice. What really secured B.J.’s place in the judging was the rather astonishing performance he laid down as a last-minute substitute on Robby Gordon’s Team Dakar USA at the Central European Rally. Without benefit of pre-race testing or a lick of experience in competing in the rather complex (and restricted) ASO-managed rally, Baldwin played the role of supportive teammate perfectly until a mechanical failure struck his more famous boss. That opened the door for Baldwin to post his unexpected top 10 finish. No doubt, B.J. will be the real deal for a long time to come.

Short Course: Rob MacCachren
(CORR Pro-2 and CORR Super Buggy Champion)

2007’s Dirt Sports Driver of the Year Rob MacCachren continues to cement his status as one of the sport’s greatest with a pair of titles he earned in a CORR season series. One can only imagine the battle each of these short course divisions may have come down to at season’s end. Due to CORR’s tragically-shortened 2008 season, short course fans may have been robbed of a chance to see those battles, but in MacCachren’s case, the best man won. It’s astonishing that he did so with a team—as well funded as his Menzies operation was—that was brand new.
The stiff competition in CORR’s Pro-2 field only served to better showcase his incredible, timeproven ability to win no matter what. But, according to many, it was MacCachren’s incredible performance against the large, no-holds barred ranks of CORR’s Super Buggy class that really stood out. Either way, MacCachren eschews the frantic hype of Robby Gordon, B.J. Baldwin or even Carl Renezeder and just goes out and kicks off-road ass.

Rock Crawling: Shannon Campbell
(XXRA National Champion)

Another former Driver of the Year making our list this year is Shannon Campbell, who continues to impress us as one of those rare individuals who don’t just drive race cars, but are, in fact, true race car drivers. That is a huge difference, and in this modern era of specialization and “turnkey” race vehicles, Campbell’s wholly-unique skill sets as businessman, fabricator, designer, mechanic, personality and driver hark back to another era. He can do it all, and once again in 2008, put all those talents to good use by taking the XXRA National Championship. But that’s not all. He also spread his wings by building and campaigning his own CORR ProLite truck, a self-funded effort that became ever more competitive as his knowledge and experience grew by season’s end. Ever the innovator, Campbell, his brother Nick and the crew at Campbell Enterprises recently built yet another specialized car just for the season opening King of the Hammers race. The best part? They built it in just 30 days. Just ask Walker Evans. This guy is the real deal; a true racer’s racer.