Heidi Steele turns diamonds into dust

Diamonds or Dust

10 year wedding anniversary celebration or Vegas to Reno in the dirt?...Not a tough choice for the off-road series point’s leader.

The longest off road race in the USA was held August 22nd across the desert of Nevada and Heidi Steele of San Clemente, CA was faced with the choice of ideal female traditions or racing for a championship. Luckily for the Best in the Desert and SCORE series points leader, she is married to a fellow off road race junkie which made the non-decision that much easier. It was Heidi’s choice to turn what is normally the Diamond anniversary into Dust!

Heidi and her driving partner, Rene Brugger of Chula Vista CA, made a decision pre race that they would race to Reno to win but they had to finish at all costs to protect their series points lead. “We have added a lot of races this year by racing the two premiere off-road series and it has made us very aware of what is happening around us and what we have to do to complete this championship challenge” said Steele who is also the Vice President of Human Resources for AccentCare in Irvine, CA.

“I think I am living in role reversal, what husband doesn’t want to ride dirt bikes or car race on their anniversary,” said Heidi’s husband Cameron Steele who is a full-time competitor in the SCORE Trophy Truck series. “I just never thought I would be watching my wife race and be riding in the back seat of a chase truck from 6 am until 5:30 am the next day and have my wife land on the podium on our 10 year!” laughed Steele and added “She is a dream come true.” Heidi would take on the second half of the race after Rene drove the first half, a total of 457 miles. Steele saddled up at dusk and crossed the finish line at about 3:45 am. “She stayed out late for her anniversary celebration,” quipped Cameron.

Heidi, Rene and their team of key players Alan Trimble and Danny Street Jr., both navigators, went on to earn a 3rd place finish after overcoming some adversity along the way. “We were out to win as always but we were concentrating on a solid finish when we found ourselves in a two truck battle for the lead near mile 125, in a silt corner we ended up on the side of the truck which is never a good thing” said Brugger. “I know the panic Rene must have felt after Danny and I were stuck in the silt at race mile 266, all I could think of while digging was our plan of getting to the finish line” added Steele. With three wins on the season, including the Baja 500, and two other podium finishes it has become the team’s mission to complete every race mile they attempt.

The team came to protect their BITD points lead and bring a truck out of the battle that would be able to contend the next SCORE race on September 6th with a limited time to prep and that’s just what they did. Leaving Reno with a 3rd place finish and a 34 point lead on the next competitor was a solid way to spend your 10th wedding anniversary, even if it wasn’t very traditional.


2008 team tale of the tape as of August 26, 2008
SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge – Winner
BITD Parker 425 – Winner
SCORE San Felipe 250 – 4th
BITD Terrible Town – 3rd
SCORE Baja 500 – Winner
BITD Vegas to Reno – 3rd
Points leader Best in the Desert
Points leader SCORE International
Next up SCORE Primm Sep. 26th and BITD Mesquite Sep. 27th

The team would like to thank Lucas Oil Products, Yokohama Tire Corp., FOX Racing Shox, Currie Enterprises, ATX Wheels, Alloy USA, Camburg Engineering, Trackside Performance, Alpinestars, Mastercraft, Lightforce, Deaver Spring, UNI and West Racing.