November 11, 2021 • 37 mins
This week the guys spend time with one of off-road’s early crossover pioneers, Cameron Steele. The hall-of-famer talks desert racing and all things Baja.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Skinny with Rico and Kenna is a production of
I Heart Radio. I'm Cameron Steele and this is the
Skinny from the bath Heads I Wear Studios in Speedway, Indiana.
This is the Skinny brought to you by Toyota, Rhino, Classified,
General Tire and Dream Giveaway. This segment of the Skinny
(00:23):
is brought to you by Toyota. Man. I am excited
about today's show. One of my best friends in the
motorsports industry is going to join us here today, a
former colleague from television but really excited about his career.
And get him on here and have him chat a
bit about the ways that he has bobbed and weaved
through the shark waters and and still managed to succeed.
(00:47):
Ken stout here with the skinny. Michael Young will join
me here one more time the track Dude, thanks, but
I preach. I don't said one more time. That's kind
of that's kind of finite. A little sketch. The sketch
right now. The way I felt, honestly working with Kenn
it was only one more show that I was gonna have.
Let's introduce our guests. So sitting on the other side,
(01:10):
if you just heard the voice. His name is Cameron Steele,
the UH, the President of the Desert Assassin's not much.
He hasn't done, not much, he hasn't won in and
when it comes to motorcycles, he's been outstanding short course
off road, a championship winning driver there. He has won
the Baja one thousand. He is part of the Hall
of Fame for the off road UH Motorsports Hall of Fame.
(01:33):
He's on the board, I believe with the Hall of Fame.
The driving suit back behind him is from the two
thousand eighteen effort when he finally won at the Baja
one thousand and won the overall and man on man,
congratulations on that. I know what a struggle it was
because so many years you were you would be in
the top five, you'd be second, you'd be this, I
(01:53):
mean in the hunt, in the hunt, in the hunt,
and it would just kick you right square and the
gonads and you lay up a little bit short. But
finally two thousand and eighteen it paid off. By the way,
we want to mention his wife to Heidi, multi time
champion as well. Mr Cameron Steel, thanks for joining us, brother, Hey,
thank you so much for having me it's been a
minute since we've been together, so at least we get
(02:16):
some live web time together. But it's been a hell
of Iran. We've really enjoyed being a big part of
the off road community, big part of motorcycling, and just
all the things that make dust so epic and as
you said, that driving seat behind me. Unfortunately, my dad
passed away before we finally got the steel name at
the very top of the overall results of the Bahaman thousand.
(02:38):
But it wasn't from a lack of effort. Dad started
his journey there in seventy one, and uh I started
racing there in five and finally got that overall trophy
and the trophy trucks in two thousand eighteen. That's a
that's a heck of a journey, Cameron has a racer.
You said that that that fire suit has not been
cleaned and still as champagne of dirty. Is that is
(02:58):
that because that's the way you to keep it or
is that just because you never got a dry lean yet?
Actually it's just the way I wanted to keep it.
I thought that, Um, you know, in two thousand seventeen
we raised the Peninsula Run and I thought I knew
we were going to win the race. I had my
family and my dad and my wife and my daughter
come down. I was going to retire at that moment
(03:20):
aftery one. But the caveats to that was we finished
second overall, and I had about forty five seconds from
when my wife gave me my daughter inside the car
before I got to the podium, and I had to
make that decision. So when we came back in eighteen,
my dad's ashes rode with me. This was a suit
I wore. It was very meaningful to get to that um,
you know, the top of anytime you can climb to
(03:42):
the top of your sport, no matter what it is,
it's just incredible. So I just wanted to keep the
suit and its original style. It's actually pretty clean. It
doesn't smell bad um, but it does have the champagne
and the dirt from the Bahama thousand that year, and
it just we've been meaning to frame it and put
it in a box, but it's been sitting at the
top of the closet in our home office. So it
was ironic. It was easy to get to. So I've
(04:05):
I've got to ask you, man, you have seen the
highs and lows or some people refer to you as
Mr Baja. The McMillan's I think refer to you as
Mr Baha. A lot of people will say you're the
best ambassador for off road racing, desert racing. With all
of your involvement, you've seen the highest of highs. Of course,
a fire suit behind you certainly represents that. You've also
(04:27):
seen the lowest of lows. You've lost a couple of
your best friends, your best buddies, uh down there in
Baja as well. Talk to me about why that place
is so special for you and when did you first
start going. Well, the bottom line, the Baha Peninsula is
just a magical place. And it's not just the vistas
or the views or the the solitude you find there,
(04:52):
it's the people that you do see. The people. The
people of Baha are multigenerational now fans of the sport,
and everywhere you go you're well accepted. Off road racing
is a part of their culture. But that that majesty,
that that feeling that you get when you're just on
the peninsula and there's no one else around. It's really
hard to compare. But I also think what really brings
(05:13):
it around, and I think this is true for anybody
that has their special places. You go there with the
people that you love, people that you're spent are special
to you, and you grow that bond with them in
that place. And what I think really accentuates it for
Baja is there's no cell service for a big part
of the middle of the peninsula, and a lot of
places that we race, both north and middle and south,
(05:35):
have no cell service. So you're making that connection and
camaraderie with the people you're with, and also the people
that you meet along the way, and that's the ranchers
and the farmers and the people that live in the
beach areas, and it's uh. I think it just builds
that that feeling when you get back here to the
United States, and for the most part I live here
in Saint Clementi, it's a concrete jungle. There's beautiful beach
(05:58):
and beautiful views, but there's a lot of cell phones
and WiFi and communication and you don't have that time
down with your friends. And I think that's what builds
that that mystique of the peninsulas, that it's really a
one on one experience. You're talking to people that um
are there are with you because you're not stuck on
your cell phone all day long. So I think that's
what breeds it. I started my journey um as I said.
(06:21):
My dad went to the seventies Baja one thousand with
Parnelli Jones as his pilot. My dad owned two planes
but never had a pilot's license. And I's gonna tell
you a lot about my dad. I think he raced
in seventy one, and he raced all the way through
eighties six or seven. And at that point, my brother
and I had started racing, and uh we nearly won
(06:42):
the overall championship as a family. Mom got cancer and
got sick and ninety three and we didn't race between
ninety three and I came back in a two thousand,
so there was a little bit of time off there,
but I've been doing it basically my whole life. I
started going to Baha. My very first ball hot trip
was in seventy three. I was four years old and
(07:04):
I went down with my mom and dad did start
to experience the magical Baha, and I've been sharing the
same with my daughters already. Cam and the guys have
talked about various drivers and you just brought this up
about your dad. I find this amazing that he did
not have a pilot's license yet he flew. I find
(07:24):
these stories fascinating. Did your dad have any great or
did your dad have any great stories about piloting without
a license? And any crazy The answers had some crazy stories.
I would have imagined that your dad had a few
as well. Yes, the craz The craziest part of the
stories are for most people they don't know this, but
what is now the primary road paved road down the
(07:46):
ball Peninsula, Highway one was predominantly the race course in
many cases from sixty seven through seventy three and seventy
four they finished the road. Um. But really the main
access was private airplane and in those days there was
quite a few people flying around that it was a
probably uh you know, probably using between eight or twelve
(08:08):
different dirt runways. UM. Fuel was probably sketchy to get
as well. The funniest story, the craziest story my dad
told me was he was at Sandynez, which is in Caltamania,
about a little over a third of the way down
the peninsula, and h they were landing on the dirt
runway and they saw plane come in and he he
(08:30):
hit his prop on the ground on the dirt runway
as he's coming in, and they straightened it over gas
barrel with a hammer and got it to the plane
would fly again, which isn't Yeah, So the craziest part
of the stories the next morning, my dad had told
everybody that are the guys he was with, we gotta
go early because someone's gonna take off from here and
(08:53):
crash into these other planes. Because there were so many
planes sitting on this little dirt runway, so it showed
a store three to form. My dad got out of there,
and later that morning a guy crashed and took out
like four planes. I don't know if anybody has heard,
but that's just kind of how it all started um
in Baja for our family. And my dad was My
dad was a guy who loved adventure. Um, he loved
(09:15):
to share. He had a big heart. He was a
big man. He was six five plus pounds and uh
he he carried it with a giant smile on his face.
So the good vibe and the stoke is what I
got from him, and that's what we keep trying to
share in Baha. You know, people talk about our position
as ambassadors or whatever. But as far as I'm concerned,
as long as we're sharing with the people of Baja
(09:37):
and the people at home, that special vibe and that stoke,
that's what it's all about. For me. I don't really
care what they say about us, as long as everybody's smiling. No,
no interview with Cameron's day would be complete without at
least a mention a big Papa. He was. He was
a big part of Cameron's life, and if you were
part of Cameron's life, he was also a big part
(09:57):
of yours as well. I had the pleasure to meet
him a couple of times, and uh yeah, when he
walked in the room, he he commanded, Uh he commanded
some attention. He was just a big personality of big man,
and everybody loved Big Popa. We certainly do miss him. Hey,
we're gonna take a quick breakcare We'll be right back
on the other side of the more exciting information from
behind the scenes with Cameron Steele. This segment of the
(10:21):
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out at dream giveaway dot com. Welcome back to the Skinny.
We have Cameron Steele on the show with us here.
He is located at his home in southern California as
fresh off of another trip at ball Haa. I believe
I was down there pre running and speaking of that
with the timing of this show, uh sima going on
(11:06):
as we speak right here today. But the ball Hall
one thousand is just a few days away for you absolutely.
I mean we're closing in and I have to look
at my phone where it's the second of November. So
in sixteen days we'll take the green flag on the
longest continuous off road race in the world. This will
be the fourth longest Baha one thousand ever at and
(11:28):
twenty six plus miles and we'll be racing from Incinata
to the pause. As you were saying, I just got
back from Baja couple three days ago, maybe, UM, we
went down and did our first reconnaissance trip. Even though
we spend a ton of time on the peninsula, we
still like to go and verify all the different locations
and chase roads and make sure everything looks the same,
(11:48):
and then we come home and build our final two
week pre run plan. So I'm getting set to leave
and go back to Baja and I'll be down there
doing courser connaissance for about eleven of days. I know, UM,
it's impossible for you to answer this question in detail,
but but briefly, try to describe to the fans of
(12:09):
listeners here what all is involved to get a truck
to stay together run as hard as you guys run
for twelve hundred miles. What's involved to make that happen?
Tons of manpower, tons of heart from all of the team,
lots of equipment, and UM, a ton of money. I
(12:30):
gotta tell you, the sponsors make it possible for us.
We are totally sponsor funded. UM. I don't have any,
so to speak, backup money other than just what the
sponsors are putting in. So we've been super fortunate to
have great support UM for us. We just went through
our pit plan. We will have around ninety people on
(12:51):
the peninsula for the Bahama thousand, will have two race trucks.
We'll have I think the count was around sixteen trucks moving.
We have five trailers, we'll have five pre runners, will
have two helicopters, and uh, that's pretty much in a nutshell,
(13:13):
what it takes to do it. I mean, the real
truth of the matter is you have to be granted
passage by Baja to have a great day. Um, But
it really the pre race is when it really all
comes together. For us. We spent a ton of time
in Baja, and so does all of our crew, so
we have an advantage I think because most people that
race this race against us haven't seen the entire Baja
(13:35):
Peninsula since we raced in two thousand seventeen. Since two
thousand seventeen, I've ridden my dirt bike down the peninsula
five times. My crew has supported that with our ripped
Cobo trip, we do our trail emissions truck trip, and
we spend an inordinate amount of time down there. So
I think, Um, the real key to it is having
your people understand safety and make good decisions. But it
(13:59):
takes a ton of structure. UM for me, most people
don't realize it. But I don't have my name on
my race truck because I think it's disrespectful to our
entire team to have one name on the truck. And
so we just go as the Desert assassins as a group,
and that's the way we do it. So it takes
a massive effort. Can you've seen, um firsthand, what it
(14:20):
takes to go racing, obviously, but to race over um
miles and have that being an eight mile span down
a peninsula that has one two lane paved road all
the way down, UM, it's pretty incredible. And the people
that it takes to do it you rely on. You know,
we put our lives in each other's hands, So safety
(14:41):
is the number one thing that we preach. Camera so
much goes on in a race of that magnitude. What
is the most difficult part as a race? Or obviously
you want to go quick, but you've got to save
your equipment. I don't think people realize how grueling this
event actually is. I think it's really tough for people
to understand because they think about a twelve mile race
and first of all, I mean, just imagine driving twelve
(15:04):
miles in one day. Think about the last time you
drove twelve miles in one day, which is probably since
for most people. And that's what our race truck has
to do, and it has to do it in the dirt.
There are some paved speed controlled sections um and then
you have to rely on pit crews and all the
different things that go on. So I think for most
(15:25):
people they can't really understand it. If you if you
go to um the worst dirt road that you have
and the best dirt road that you have near your house,
it's a combination somewhere around that where we'll raise some
sections where we're going a hundred and thirty five miles
an hour, but we'll also raise some sections where we're
virtually crawling through a sand washer down the side of
(15:45):
a mountain, trying to make sure we don't slide off
the edge. So the mental aspect of it's very tough
because the truck is capable of going so fast and
going so fast through the big bumps, but you hit
the nail on the head. And I know it's very cliche,
but if you don't get the dank thing of the
finish line, you can't win the race. And so you
have to be just slow enough to win. UM. And
(16:07):
and that's the that's kind of the magic potion. And
what happens for most race car drivers and is that
they get in and they want to race, and yeah,
we're racing in The pace over the last five years
has really increased in the trophy trucks, but you still
have to get to the finish line. My prediction is, UM,
there will be four trucks more or less running in
(16:27):
the front group at mile nine hundred and we'll be
racing down down the last you know, three hundred or
so miles as a group of two to three. UM,
the attrition will be high. There's over thirty trucks entered
in the unlimited truck class of trophy trucks for score
and UM. I would say that there's a dozen of
them that have a great teams and great assets and
(16:50):
great drivers. Maybe more, But I think at the end
of the day, Baja is gonna, you know, park a
few of them. The drivers will park a few of them,
and we'll have five or less racing from Loretto to
Lapause trying to figure out who's gonna win that race.
So I've heard a number put on this race as
the million dollar race. And when you take a look
(17:12):
at the McMillan's and the Menzies, and the list goes
on and on and on, how close is that to
being correct? And whenever I say that, I'm talking about
all the time spent down there, all the pre running
that goes on. This is a race that takes place
over the course of months and months and months, and
then there's a final pay day if you will, I
believe your number can might be low because at the
(17:34):
ball at the end of the day you have to
go to the qualifying race, which is the Ball four hundred,
which was the last race we raced in. We'll be
starting fifth at this race. And the equipment itself. To
buy a truck, you're in excess of four hundred thousand dollars.
Some trucks right now going for eight hundred thousand dollars.
There are some trucks they're saying that are valued at
(17:55):
a million dollars themselves. So getting the equipment's one thing,
But then think about those six ten support trucks that
we have. So one support truck UM is at F
three fifty. We have all Ford support UM and buying
that trucks, the eighty thou dollar truck. Then you have
to outfit it with radio's racks, chase gear tools, utility beds.
(18:17):
I mean, the cost to to crew up for it
is incredible. But then you start talking about um rooming
eight people on the peninsula for four or five nights. UM.
The fuel costs the race fuel alone, UM in Baja,
you're looking at probably around fourteen dollars a gallon to
buy your VP race fuel down there, and we get
(18:39):
about two miles per gallon in our truck. Granted we're
sponsored and some of the costs are are helped and stuff,
and I'm just talking about overall overall costs you have
to face. And so you know, basically to to run
the race, you're you're looking at if you want to
run in the front and have this big group, you're
you're looking at a few hundred thousand dollars to do
it properly, UM in just the the time on the peninsula.
(19:01):
But that doesn't include your equipment or preparation or time spent.
Like I said, I didn't say on this show yet,
but in two thousand seventeen we finished second and the
second that I decided not to retire. I've been planning
this Peninsula run again. And granted we won an eighteen,
we were fourth in twenty and so we've had some
(19:21):
great runs um since that time, but the Peninsula run
is the one you want, and we've finished third and
fourteen and second and seventeen. Like I said, so we've
been planning ever since that. Micraft, our race engineer, myself
and my racing partner Bobby Pequo I have been working
on this NonStop along with Corey Fowler and Cody Stewart
and our entire team. So these guys are all bojab
(19:44):
wizards that any team that had one of these guys
would just be super stoked. But we have all of
these assets and we've been working on our plan all
that time. So you can go back and think about
the cost. You can also think about the time away
from family, all the time spent in Mexico trying to
get ready for this and and live those dreams and um.
(20:05):
You know, it's like any racer um, they make sacrifices,
they come up with the financial wherewithal to do it,
but it's a massive undertaking and unlike many forms of
racing where you're happening at one track in one couple
of miles square area. We're on the entire Boha Peninsula
trying to run logistics where like I said, there's no
(20:26):
cell phone service for about I would say at least
seven hundred of the miles on course have no has
no cell service, and so that makes it tricky for
the chase. Trucks and communications and satellite radios come into
play and all the different stuff to go along with it.
But it's just more and more costs to try to
get to the very front of the group. But um,
(20:48):
for us, it's our lifestyle. It's something that I've committed
my my life to. My dad handed this off to me,
and I'm not gonna let down our family name or
the Desert assassins because of so much effort that that
he puts in. He is a multifaceted character and he
comes off as cool, calm and collect You wouldn't think
(21:08):
he'd get too wound up. But I'll tell you, when
he puts the helmet on, the horns come out. He's very,
very aggressive. When we're going to talk to him about
some of the other things that he's extremely good at.
When we come back stay with us. This segment of
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(21:52):
Skinny is brought to you by Rhino Classified. Tired of
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Welcome back to the Skinny. Kent Stout, Michael Young sitting alongside,
and we have Cameron Steele who has joined US Hall
of Famer. Of course, he's also an extremely talented broadcaster
covered a lot of stuff along the way in his career.
(22:36):
As I mentioned the top of the show, he and
I did TV for many years for short course off
road with the Lucas Oil series, but he was also
a pit reporter for Indy Car and a number of
other disciplines out there as well. He's also a very
talented surfer. Believe it or not, he's a skateboard dorc
and a buggy dork. So if he's he's a dork
(22:56):
on a couple of different levels. But before we get
off on some of the other things that you've covered
in your career, I'm gonna ask you one last question
about desert racing. And it's a question that if you
stand there and think about it for very long, if
you talk to anybody for very long and the pits,
it eventually comes up. And of course they all say,
how do you go to the bathroom when you drive
the truck for miles? So go ahead, man, let it out.
(23:20):
I'll be I'll be driving the truck for about ten hours. UM.
I have always been like a little bit of a
nervous peer, so sometimes it's hard to go to the
bathroom of the truck. But we wear a condom catheter,
so we can just pee in the truck. But if
you have to go the other one, you gotta stop
and make it work. Or I've heard of people just
going in their pants, but I don't think I could.
(23:41):
I don't think I could drive through that. But the
intensity of it so high that, um, I don't think
your body wants to process the back end, so um,
just trying to get the fluids through you is tough enough.
But yeah, you just pee in the truck. It comes
out of a hose down by your shoe. And for
the ladies, My wife, she um, she tried a couple
(24:02):
of different things and she ended up just going with
a diaper type set up underneath her race you when
she was going to be in the car for more
than five hours. Um, if you're in the car for
you know, three or four or five hours, you can
probably manage it without going. But if you're gonna be
in the car for ten hours, it's a pretty big stent.
I've never I've never had to use it, but I
will admit here for the first time in public that
(24:24):
whenever I go up to spot for the five. I
put a diaper on because the last thing I want
to do is have to frea compete in the middle
of the five. I don't want to know that. But listen,
it's got the Gamins on it, so it's hey, cam,
Hey Cam, I heard the rite of passage down there
(24:47):
is whenever if you're in the restroom and everybody's everybody's
in the restroom wherever it is, all the drivers are there,
you really gotta watch your feet because there's a good
good chance you walk out of the restroom with wet shoes. Uh.
There's a there's a couple of rites of passage and
go along with the external catheter um. There's a there's
a number of times, a number of stories out there
where drivers are pete at the start line and it
(25:09):
comes out through the pan or the bottom of the
race truck, and like someone will be like, hey, it's leaking,
And someone will say, hey, well, why don't you smell
it and see what's leaking, you know, and they'll like,
smell it, smell on the thing. I've heard stories of people,
you know, licking it, like trying to figure out or
whatever that's that's happened more than once out there, for sure.
(25:32):
But yeah, if you're if you're not careful where you're walking,
your friends with their p tubes on, can can water
your shoes for you? For sure. It's just not right.
That's what I love about this sport right there. Man, Yeah,
not right in so many ways. So if you have
a yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure. I'm sure there's a
(25:53):
lot of camaraderie. Hey, thanks for dosing my shoes with
your p Thanks. But oh five, we brought Buddy Rice
down and he drove with us after he won the
and the biggest takeaway he had right away was that
we're camping and pre running with our competitors. He's like, man,
you guys hang out together and and help each other
and then you race against each other. That's pretty cool.
(26:14):
But yeah, Buddy had a great time. We we love
sharing it with him. Is there are a lot of
indy car drivers? I know there have been a couple
that have attempted this. Now. Do you find the popularity
has grown over the years. No, I think the popularity
has waned because a couple of things. I think, um
a decade or more ago, I think it was a
little bit easier to be competitive, and I think a
(26:35):
pretty good race car driver could come in and probably
find the funding and a ride pretty easily and be
competitive top five driver. And now I think that the
racing off road has gotten quite a bit quicker, the product,
the equipment has gotten better, and I just don't see
as many um other category racers coming in. We've been
really blessed to have great racers. One racer that I
(26:57):
think really had a great talent a lot of fun
was Jimmy Vasster. He spent quite a bit of time
racing in Baja. I know Sebastian Sebastian board Day came
and raced the Baja Challenge class, which is a smaller
lower level class. UM. And you know, so there's been
a number of heroes and stars along the way. Um.
Like I said, Buddy Rice came with us, Travis Craig
came with us once. UM, but you don't see much
(27:20):
in the unlimited classes now. UM, we do have a
factory Honda driver that drives UM in the unlimited midsized
pickup track class. And for some reason, my I'm totally
drawing a blank of his name, but he uh ROSSI right,
did you just say that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Alex. Uh,
I think Alex. I think ale Gender Rossi did did
(27:43):
get down there. He's he's done it before. He actually uh,
there's actually a pretty cool shot of him jumping over
a car. A car was going backwards on the side
of the race course and he jumped over the car
and broke its mirror off. But I think it was
him anyway. But if no one got hurt and he
didn't even know it was there because he had gone
off the jump on on a main road where there's
(28:05):
tons of fans and no one told him there was
a car there. Well, that's the same guy that uses
a third lane at the first restart of the five hundred,
so and somehow makes it work. Actually, so he's not
a lot of talent the drivers out there, two wheel
drive or four wheel drive. For me, I think two
will drive this year. We are too, will drive both
(28:25):
of our trucks. We discussed purchasing a four wheel drive.
The all wheel drive is very popular right now, um
a two wheel drive one the Baja five hundred and
all wheel drive won the two fifty and the four hundred,
So there's kind of the middle of the road there.
One thing that I think the week link for the
all will drive is that's never been race twelve miles
(28:46):
and the two wheel drive I think has a little
bit more stability when it comes to being more sure
footed for the long haul. But the all will drives
are amazing. And in the first five vehicles off the line, Um,
there's for all will drives and us in the tool drive.
If I'm not mistaken, Is that right? I'm trying to
(29:07):
think about that. There there might be one other too
will drive anyway, I think I think for this one
too will drive. It's a long way. Um. There have
been some changes in the course where I thought there
was gonna be bigger whip sections in the bottom, but
they didn't mark it that way, so I thought that
would really be an advantage, you know, after a mile
one thousand, having some big bumps for the too will drive.
But there's still a lot to ask of these cars.
(29:29):
And like I said, it doesn't matter two or four
will drive. I don't think there will be more than
five cars in the mix when we get to the retto.
And I'm talking about five cars within thirty minutes of
each other. I'm not talking about on the same minute
or anything like that. So a lot can happen from
from that race mile on. Quick question for you, Eumber
shift gears here a little bit, because in this world
(29:50):
we all know how important sponsors are. You talked about
it before. You're completely sponsor funded and certainly no easy task.
But you have been that way for many many years,
and I know you've been with Monster for many years.
I actually heard, and I'd love to confirm with you,
I actually heard a story and this is a number
of years ago, that you quite possibly was Monster Energies
(30:12):
first athlete. Is is that true? It depends on who
you talk to and how you how you frame it up.
They've they've talked about that accolade before, UM, but I
didn't race under the Monster banner for quite some time.
I was involved with them back in the late nineties. UM.
I was there pre Monster Energy with the parent company,
(30:34):
Handsome Beverage, helped them to get some athletes at the
X Games, and UH have worked with them hand in
hand for all those years. I you know, before Monster,
we raced under another brand that was partner brand of THEIRS.
But it's been a thrilling ride and to have the
UH then have them tip their hat to us as
(30:56):
one of their originals has been really cool, and you
touched it that we're totally sponsor funded UM in my
seventeenth year of racing unlimited trucks, which if you go
back to the starting lineup from that first race that
we were at, only I believe two three other teams
are still racing or three other drivers are still racing
(31:17):
in the sport. And I still feel very competitive. We've
we won the qualifying for Vegas Arena last year finished um,
you know, well at the last race UM at the
Baha four hundred, so I feel like we have a
great ability. We were fourth and last year's Baham one thousand,
so it hasn't left us yet. But um, I'm hoping
to make it to twenty years as a professional trophy
(31:39):
check racer and see where it goes from there. Michael,
any last questions, I wanted to ask something kind of bizarre.
It's completely off off the race theme, but Carl, our engineer,
said that your favorite movie was what tell us what
it is? My favorite movie up were between The Wizard
(32:01):
of Oz and shawsh Hank Redemption. So okay, so shaw
Shank is one of the things. Yeah, boy, boy, that
does take it a long way. Shaw Shank's one, you
can never shut off what you see it on television.
But Wizard of Oz strikes me because it's it's such
an old movie and you're not that old. What what
(32:21):
is it about Wizard of Oz that that has ranked
it number one in your life? The thing that I
think is the most important thing to lean back on
is I was talking about Baja and how you build
that camaraderie and there's that special direct connection. Well, the
Wizard of Oz was something that I spent time watching
with my mom. Like you said, Shawshank, Redeption, you can
(32:42):
never not watch it. And it was kind of the
same way for us whenever The Wizard of Oz came on.
So it was a special movie from my mom and
I and I've taken up that tradition and share it
with my nine year old daughter um starting about when
she was five, where we'll watch it every year and
whenever we see it on t V. And how we
were just somewhere the other day, I can't remember where
(33:03):
we were, and over the Rainbow was playing and I'm like, hey, kay,
do you hear that song? And it's like just that
special connection so on top of that, I love the
adventure story and I love how it flashes into the dreamscape,
and um, the dancing is super fun for me. If
I could, if I could nail down anyone dance in
this world, it would be the Strawman's uh Scarecrows dance
(33:27):
on the Yellow Brick Road when she first when Dorothy
first meets him, because I think that's one of the
most amazing pioneering moments and in all the moving making,
I would agree with that. But I have also seen
Kenn after a couple of beverages, and he could pull
that dance off pretty darn well. I was just trying
to walk. I don't think I would have ever envisioned
(33:51):
having a discussion about the Wizard of Oz ever. I mean,
if this show went on for another twenty years, I
would not envision having a discussion about the Wizard of Oz.
But there's no better way to end this show with
Cameron Steel in that because it shows the diversity, it
shows the complexity, uh that is your personality. Man. You
are such a unique soul and always in your own lane,
(34:13):
and the way you describe stuff is is always a
little bit different than everybody else. That's what I've always
enjoyed about you. I love the fact that you're you are.
I do truly believe you're the most emotional person I've
ever worked with in motorsports, where you really wear those
emotions on your sleeves, um man. I mean, you can
(34:33):
tear up in a second. But I've seen you. You're You're.
You've also gotten away with more warnings than anybody I've
ever heard of when you're out there on the racetrack.
I don't know, I don't know how you how you
know anybody? He would always he would always get a warning,
but he never got the damn black flag. I got it.
I just spent a week in Cancoon with Great Fouts,
who used to be the competition director at Lucas Oil Series,
(34:56):
and so he did. Eventually. He warned me a number
of times about jump in the start, which I was
really I thought I was really good out. He did
give me the black flag eventually, and he told me
he was gonna do it, and and I said, well, go
ahead and do it right. So I got it. I
serve my penalty, whatever, go to the back restart. It's
all good. We had so much fun racing the short
course series. I miss it, but um, yeah, you know,
(35:19):
I think maybe part of those warnings is because we
do try to carry ourselves as good people in the sport,
give back, raise money, um, do things that maybe other
people don't find the time to do. But it's it's
a really special thing for me to be able to race.
So I appreciate any kind of second chance I get
from any official. It's great stuff. Man, Hey, thank you
(35:40):
for what you do for the fans that are out there.
We've only scratched the surface with this guy googling. Take
a look at some of the trips, very very educational stuff.
He's in production. He's produced some wonderful shows of those
guys taking their trips down there as well. And if
you want to learn a little bit of the magic
of of Cobbo and down there on that peninsula. Uh,
there is no better guy than this guy. Hey, brother,
(36:02):
love you to death. Man, Thank you very much for
taking the time. Thank you guys for having me check
out our YouTube. We have tons of our content over
the last decade or so and I'd love to share
with you. Ken. I'm looking forward to you coming on
trailermissions next year in June, so make sure you marked
that spot on your calendar and come hang out with us.
It's gonna happen. Man, We've been talking about her for
(36:22):
ten plus years. It's gonna happen. I'm bring my son
down there, maybe my wife. We can get away, magic
magical trip. For sure. It's it's a bucket list item.
So thanks again, brother, Thanks ladies and gentlemen for watching
this one. Now you know a little bit of the
skinny behind Cameron Steele. Check him out. He's a unique individual.
Thanks for being with us here on the Skinny. This
(36:42):
episode has been brought to you by Toyota, Rhino classifies,
Dream Giveaway and General Tire for the latest and sunglasses,
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production facilities for I did buy Fatheads I Wear Studios.
(37:02):
All rights reserved. The Skinny with Rico and Kenna is
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Skinny with Rico and Kenna is a production of
I Heart Radio. I'm Cameron Steele and this is the
Skinny from the bath Heads I Wear Studios in Speedway, Indiana.
This is the Skinny brought to you by Toyota, Rhino, Classified,
General Tire and Dream Giveaway. This segment of the Skinny
(00:23):
is brought to you by Toyota. Man. I am excited
about today's show. One of my best friends in the
motorsports industry is going to join us here today, a
former colleague from television but really excited about his career.
And get him on here and have him chat a
bit about the ways that he has bobbed and weaved
through the shark waters and and still managed to succeed.
(00:47):
Ken stout here with the skinny. Michael Young will join
me here one more time the track Dude, thanks, but
I preach. I don't said one more time. That's kind
of that's kind of finite. A little sketch. The sketch
right now. The way I felt, honestly working with Kenn
it was only one more show that I was gonna have.
Let's introduce our guests. So sitting on the other side,
(01:10):
if you just heard the voice. His name is Cameron Steele,
the UH, the President of the Desert Assassin's not much.
He hasn't done, not much, he hasn't won in and
when it comes to motorcycles, he's been outstanding short course
off road, a championship winning driver there. He has won
the Baja one thousand. He is part of the Hall
of Fame for the off road UH Motorsports Hall of Fame.
(01:33):
He's on the board, I believe with the Hall of Fame.
The driving suit back behind him is from the two
thousand eighteen effort when he finally won at the Baja
one thousand and won the overall and man on man,
congratulations on that. I know what a struggle it was
because so many years you were you would be in
the top five, you'd be second, you'd be this, I
(01:53):
mean in the hunt, in the hunt, in the hunt,
and it would just kick you right square and the
gonads and you lay up a little bit short. But
finally two thousand and eighteen it paid off. By the way,
we want to mention his wife to Heidi, multi time
champion as well. Mr Cameron Steel, thanks for joining us, brother, Hey,
thank you so much for having me it's been a
minute since we've been together, so at least we get
(02:16):
some live web time together. But it's been a hell
of Iran. We've really enjoyed being a big part of
the off road community, big part of motorcycling, and just
all the things that make dust so epic and as
you said, that driving seat behind me. Unfortunately, my dad
passed away before we finally got the steel name at
the very top of the overall results of the Bahaman thousand.
(02:38):
But it wasn't from a lack of effort. Dad started
his journey there in seventy one, and uh I started
racing there in five and finally got that overall trophy
and the trophy trucks in two thousand eighteen. That's a
that's a heck of a journey, Cameron has a racer.
You said that that that fire suit has not been
cleaned and still as champagne of dirty. Is that is
(02:58):
that because that's the way you to keep it or
is that just because you never got a dry lean yet?
Actually it's just the way I wanted to keep it.
I thought that, Um, you know, in two thousand seventeen
we raised the Peninsula Run and I thought I knew
we were going to win the race. I had my
family and my dad and my wife and my daughter
come down. I was going to retire at that moment
(03:20):
aftery one. But the caveats to that was we finished
second overall, and I had about forty five seconds from
when my wife gave me my daughter inside the car
before I got to the podium, and I had to
make that decision. So when we came back in eighteen,
my dad's ashes rode with me. This was a suit
I wore. It was very meaningful to get to that um,
you know, the top of anytime you can climb to
(03:42):
the top of your sport, no matter what it is,
it's just incredible. So I just wanted to keep the
suit and its original style. It's actually pretty clean. It
doesn't smell bad um, but it does have the champagne
and the dirt from the Bahama thousand that year, and
it just we've been meaning to frame it and put
it in a box, but it's been sitting at the
top of the closet in our home office. So it
was ironic. It was easy to get to. So I've
(04:05):
I've got to ask you, man, you have seen the
highs and lows or some people refer to you as
Mr Baja. The McMillan's I think refer to you as
Mr Baha. A lot of people will say you're the
best ambassador for off road racing, desert racing. With all
of your involvement, you've seen the highest of highs. Of course,
a fire suit behind you certainly represents that. You've also
(04:27):
seen the lowest of lows. You've lost a couple of
your best friends, your best buddies, uh down there in
Baja as well. Talk to me about why that place
is so special for you and when did you first
start going. Well, the bottom line, the Baha Peninsula is
just a magical place. And it's not just the vistas
or the views or the the solitude you find there,
(04:52):
it's the people that you do see. The people. The
people of Baha are multigenerational now fans of the sport,
and everywhere you go you're well accepted. Off road racing
is a part of their culture. But that that majesty,
that that feeling that you get when you're just on
the peninsula and there's no one else around. It's really
hard to compare. But I also think what really brings
(05:13):
it around, and I think this is true for anybody
that has their special places. You go there with the
people that you love, people that you're spent are special
to you, and you grow that bond with them in
that place. And what I think really accentuates it for
Baja is there's no cell service for a big part
of the middle of the peninsula, and a lot of
places that we race, both north and middle and south,
(05:35):
have no cell service. So you're making that connection and
camaraderie with the people you're with, and also the people
that you meet along the way, and that's the ranchers
and the farmers and the people that live in the
beach areas, and it's uh. I think it just builds
that that feeling when you get back here to the
United States, and for the most part I live here
in Saint Clementi, it's a concrete jungle. There's beautiful beach
(05:58):
and beautiful views, but there's a lot of cell phones
and WiFi and communication and you don't have that time
down with your friends. And I think that's what builds
that that mystique of the peninsulas, that it's really a
one on one experience. You're talking to people that um
are there are with you because you're not stuck on
your cell phone all day long. So I think that's
what breeds it. I started my journey um as I said.
(06:21):
My dad went to the seventies Baja one thousand with
Parnelli Jones as his pilot. My dad owned two planes
but never had a pilot's license. And I's gonna tell
you a lot about my dad. I think he raced
in seventy one, and he raced all the way through
eighties six or seven. And at that point, my brother
and I had started racing, and uh we nearly won
(06:42):
the overall championship as a family. Mom got cancer and
got sick and ninety three and we didn't race between
ninety three and I came back in a two thousand,
so there was a little bit of time off there,
but I've been doing it basically my whole life. I
started going to Baha. My very first ball hot trip
was in seventy three. I was four years old and
(07:04):
I went down with my mom and dad did start
to experience the magical Baha, and I've been sharing the
same with my daughters already. Cam and the guys have
talked about various drivers and you just brought this up
about your dad. I find this amazing that he did
not have a pilot's license yet he flew. I find
(07:24):
these stories fascinating. Did your dad have any great or
did your dad have any great stories about piloting without
a license? And any crazy The answers had some crazy stories.
I would have imagined that your dad had a few
as well. Yes, the craz The craziest part of the
stories are for most people they don't know this, but
what is now the primary road paved road down the
(07:46):
ball Peninsula, Highway one was predominantly the race course in
many cases from sixty seven through seventy three and seventy
four they finished the road. Um. But really the main
access was private airplane and in those days there was
quite a few people flying around that it was a
probably uh you know, probably using between eight or twelve
(08:08):
different dirt runways. UM. Fuel was probably sketchy to get
as well. The funniest story, the craziest story my dad
told me was he was at Sandynez, which is in Caltamania,
about a little over a third of the way down
the peninsula, and h they were landing on the dirt
runway and they saw plane come in and he he
(08:30):
hit his prop on the ground on the dirt runway
as he's coming in, and they straightened it over gas
barrel with a hammer and got it to the plane
would fly again, which isn't Yeah, So the craziest part
of the stories the next morning, my dad had told
everybody that are the guys he was with, we gotta
go early because someone's gonna take off from here and
(08:53):
crash into these other planes. Because there were so many
planes sitting on this little dirt runway, so it showed
a store three to form. My dad got out of there,
and later that morning a guy crashed and took out
like four planes. I don't know if anybody has heard,
but that's just kind of how it all started um
in Baja for our family. And my dad was My
dad was a guy who loved adventure. Um, he loved
(09:15):
to share. He had a big heart. He was a
big man. He was six five plus pounds and uh
he he carried it with a giant smile on his face.
So the good vibe and the stoke is what I
got from him, and that's what we keep trying to
share in Baha. You know, people talk about our position
as ambassadors or whatever. But as far as I'm concerned,
as long as we're sharing with the people of Baja
(09:37):
and the people at home, that special vibe and that stoke,
that's what it's all about. For me. I don't really
care what they say about us, as long as everybody's smiling. No,
no interview with Cameron's day would be complete without at
least a mention a big Papa. He was. He was
a big part of Cameron's life, and if you were
part of Cameron's life, he was also a big part
(09:57):
of yours as well. I had the pleasure to meet
him a couple of times, and uh yeah, when he
walked in the room, he he commanded, Uh he commanded
some attention. He was just a big personality of big man,
and everybody loved Big Popa. We certainly do miss him. Hey,
we're gonna take a quick breakcare We'll be right back
on the other side of the more exciting information from
behind the scenes with Cameron Steele. This segment of the
(10:21):
Skinny is brought to you by Dream Giveaway. Dream Giveaway
has been giving away high end American muscle cars to
raise money for charity since two thousand seven. Dream Giveaway
is known for giving away classic and new muscle and
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that goes to charity. You'll have a chance at winning
(10:44):
some of the coolest cars on the planet. Check it
out at dream giveaway dot com. Welcome back to the Skinny.
We have Cameron Steele on the show with us here.
He is located at his home in southern California as
fresh off of another trip at ball Haa. I believe
I was down there pre running and speaking of that
with the timing of this show, uh sima going on
(11:06):
as we speak right here today. But the ball Hall
one thousand is just a few days away for you absolutely.
I mean we're closing in and I have to look
at my phone where it's the second of November. So
in sixteen days we'll take the green flag on the
longest continuous off road race in the world. This will
be the fourth longest Baha one thousand ever at and
(11:28):
twenty six plus miles and we'll be racing from Incinata
to the pause. As you were saying, I just got
back from Baja couple three days ago, maybe, UM, we
went down and did our first reconnaissance trip. Even though
we spend a ton of time on the peninsula, we
still like to go and verify all the different locations
and chase roads and make sure everything looks the same,
(11:48):
and then we come home and build our final two
week pre run plan. So I'm getting set to leave
and go back to Baja and I'll be down there
doing courser connaissance for about eleven of days. I know, UM,
it's impossible for you to answer this question in detail,
but but briefly, try to describe to the fans of
(12:09):
listeners here what all is involved to get a truck
to stay together run as hard as you guys run
for twelve hundred miles. What's involved to make that happen?
Tons of manpower, tons of heart from all of the team,
lots of equipment, and UM, a ton of money. I
(12:30):
gotta tell you, the sponsors make it possible for us.
We are totally sponsor funded. UM. I don't have any,
so to speak, backup money other than just what the
sponsors are putting in. So we've been super fortunate to
have great support UM for us. We just went through
our pit plan. We will have around ninety people on
(12:51):
the peninsula for the Bahama thousand, will have two race trucks.
We'll have I think the count was around sixteen trucks moving.
We have five trailers, we'll have five pre runners, will
have two helicopters, and uh, that's pretty much in a nutshell,
(13:13):
what it takes to do it. I mean, the real
truth of the matter is you have to be granted
passage by Baja to have a great day. Um, But
it really the pre race is when it really all
comes together. For us. We spent a ton of time
in Baja, and so does all of our crew, so
we have an advantage I think because most people that
race this race against us haven't seen the entire Baja
(13:35):
Peninsula since we raced in two thousand seventeen. Since two
thousand seventeen, I've ridden my dirt bike down the peninsula
five times. My crew has supported that with our ripped
Cobo trip, we do our trail emissions truck trip, and
we spend an inordinate amount of time down there. So
I think, Um, the real key to it is having
your people understand safety and make good decisions. But it
(13:59):
takes a ton of structure. UM for me, most people
don't realize it. But I don't have my name on
my race truck because I think it's disrespectful to our
entire team to have one name on the truck. And
so we just go as the Desert assassins as a group,
and that's the way we do it. So it takes
a massive effort. Can you've seen, um firsthand, what it
(14:20):
takes to go racing, obviously, but to race over um
miles and have that being an eight mile span down
a peninsula that has one two lane paved road all
the way down, UM, it's pretty incredible. And the people
that it takes to do it you rely on. You know,
we put our lives in each other's hands, So safety
(14:41):
is the number one thing that we preach. Camera so
much goes on in a race of that magnitude. What
is the most difficult part as a race? Or obviously
you want to go quick, but you've got to save
your equipment. I don't think people realize how grueling this
event actually is. I think it's really tough for people
to understand because they think about a twelve mile race
and first of all, I mean, just imagine driving twelve
(15:04):
miles in one day. Think about the last time you
drove twelve miles in one day, which is probably since
for most people. And that's what our race truck has
to do, and it has to do it in the dirt.
There are some paved speed controlled sections um and then
you have to rely on pit crews and all the
different things that go on. So I think for most
(15:25):
people they can't really understand it. If you if you
go to um the worst dirt road that you have
and the best dirt road that you have near your house,
it's a combination somewhere around that where we'll raise some
sections where we're going a hundred and thirty five miles
an hour, but we'll also raise some sections where we're
virtually crawling through a sand washer down the side of
(15:45):
a mountain, trying to make sure we don't slide off
the edge. So the mental aspect of it's very tough
because the truck is capable of going so fast and
going so fast through the big bumps, but you hit
the nail on the head. And I know it's very cliche,
but if you don't get the dank thing of the
finish line, you can't win the race. And so you
have to be just slow enough to win. UM. And
(16:07):
and that's the that's kind of the magic potion. And
what happens for most race car drivers and is that
they get in and they want to race, and yeah,
we're racing in The pace over the last five years
has really increased in the trophy trucks, but you still
have to get to the finish line. My prediction is, UM,
there will be four trucks more or less running in
(16:27):
the front group at mile nine hundred and we'll be
racing down down the last you know, three hundred or
so miles as a group of two to three. UM,
the attrition will be high. There's over thirty trucks entered
in the unlimited truck class of trophy trucks for score
and UM. I would say that there's a dozen of
them that have a great teams and great assets and
(16:50):
great drivers. Maybe more, But I think at the end
of the day, Baja is gonna, you know, park a
few of them. The drivers will park a few of them,
and we'll have five or less racing from Loretto to
Lapause trying to figure out who's gonna win that race.
So I've heard a number put on this race as
the million dollar race. And when you take a look
(17:12):
at the McMillan's and the Menzies, and the list goes
on and on and on, how close is that to
being correct? And whenever I say that, I'm talking about
all the time spent down there, all the pre running
that goes on. This is a race that takes place
over the course of months and months and months, and
then there's a final pay day if you will, I
believe your number can might be low because at the
(17:34):
ball at the end of the day you have to
go to the qualifying race, which is the Ball four hundred,
which was the last race we raced in. We'll be
starting fifth at this race. And the equipment itself. To
buy a truck, you're in excess of four hundred thousand dollars.
Some trucks right now going for eight hundred thousand dollars.
There are some trucks they're saying that are valued at
(17:55):
a million dollars themselves. So getting the equipment's one thing,
But then think about those six ten support trucks that
we have. So one support truck UM is at F
three fifty. We have all Ford support UM and buying
that trucks, the eighty thou dollar truck. Then you have
to outfit it with radio's racks, chase gear tools, utility beds.
(18:17):
I mean, the cost to to crew up for it
is incredible. But then you start talking about um rooming
eight people on the peninsula for four or five nights. UM.
The fuel costs the race fuel alone, UM in Baja,
you're looking at probably around fourteen dollars a gallon to
buy your VP race fuel down there, and we get
(18:39):
about two miles per gallon in our truck. Granted we're
sponsored and some of the costs are are helped and stuff,
and I'm just talking about overall overall costs you have
to face. And so you know, basically to to run
the race, you're you're looking at if you want to
run in the front and have this big group, you're
you're looking at a few hundred thousand dollars to do
it properly, UM in just the the time on the peninsula.
(19:01):
But that doesn't include your equipment or preparation or time spent.
Like I said, I didn't say on this show yet,
but in two thousand seventeen we finished second and the
second that I decided not to retire. I've been planning
this Peninsula run again. And granted we won an eighteen,
we were fourth in twenty and so we've had some
(19:21):
great runs um since that time, but the Peninsula run
is the one you want, and we've finished third and
fourteen and second and seventeen. Like I said, so we've
been planning ever since that. Micraft, our race engineer, myself
and my racing partner Bobby Pequo I have been working
on this NonStop along with Corey Fowler and Cody Stewart
and our entire team. So these guys are all bojab
(19:44):
wizards that any team that had one of these guys
would just be super stoked. But we have all of
these assets and we've been working on our plan all
that time. So you can go back and think about
the cost. You can also think about the time away
from family, all the time spent in Mexico trying to
get ready for this and and live those dreams and um.
(20:05):
You know, it's like any racer um, they make sacrifices,
they come up with the financial wherewithal to do it,
but it's a massive undertaking and unlike many forms of
racing where you're happening at one track in one couple
of miles square area. We're on the entire Boha Peninsula
trying to run logistics where like I said, there's no
(20:26):
cell phone service for about I would say at least
seven hundred of the miles on course have no has
no cell service, and so that makes it tricky for
the chase. Trucks and communications and satellite radios come into
play and all the different stuff to go along with it.
But it's just more and more costs to try to
get to the very front of the group. But um,
(20:48):
for us, it's our lifestyle. It's something that I've committed
my my life to. My dad handed this off to me,
and I'm not gonna let down our family name or
the Desert assassins because of so much effort that that
he puts in. He is a multifaceted character and he
comes off as cool, calm and collect You wouldn't think
(21:08):
he'd get too wound up. But I'll tell you, when
he puts the helmet on, the horns come out. He's very,
very aggressive. When we're going to talk to him about
some of the other things that he's extremely good at.
When we come back stay with us. This segment of
the Skinny has been brought to you by General Tire.
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(21:52):
Skinny is brought to you by Rhino Classified. Tired of
all those ads and random stuff that shows up when
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Welcome back to the Skinny. Kent Stout, Michael Young sitting alongside,
and we have Cameron Steele who has joined US Hall
of Famer. Of course, he's also an extremely talented broadcaster
covered a lot of stuff along the way in his career.
(22:36):
As I mentioned the top of the show, he and
I did TV for many years for short course off
road with the Lucas Oil series, but he was also
a pit reporter for Indy Car and a number of
other disciplines out there as well. He's also a very
talented surfer. Believe it or not, he's a skateboard dorc
and a buggy dork. So if he's he's a dork
(22:56):
on a couple of different levels. But before we get
off on some of the other things that you've covered
in your career, I'm gonna ask you one last question
about desert racing. And it's a question that if you
stand there and think about it for very long, if
you talk to anybody for very long and the pits,
it eventually comes up. And of course they all say,
how do you go to the bathroom when you drive
the truck for miles? So go ahead, man, let it out.
(23:20):
I'll be I'll be driving the truck for about ten hours. UM.
I have always been like a little bit of a
nervous peer, so sometimes it's hard to go to the
bathroom of the truck. But we wear a condom catheter,
so we can just pee in the truck. But if
you have to go the other one, you gotta stop
and make it work. Or I've heard of people just
going in their pants, but I don't think I could.
(23:41):
I don't think I could drive through that. But the
intensity of it so high that, um, I don't think
your body wants to process the back end, so um,
just trying to get the fluids through you is tough enough.
But yeah, you just pee in the truck. It comes
out of a hose down by your shoe. And for
the ladies, My wife, she um, she tried a couple
(24:02):
of different things and she ended up just going with
a diaper type set up underneath her race you when
she was going to be in the car for more
than five hours. Um, if you're in the car for
you know, three or four or five hours, you can
probably manage it without going. But if you're gonna be
in the car for ten hours, it's a pretty big stent.
I've never I've never had to use it, but I
will admit here for the first time in public that
(24:24):
whenever I go up to spot for the five. I
put a diaper on because the last thing I want
to do is have to frea compete in the middle
of the five. I don't want to know that. But listen,
it's got the Gamins on it, so it's hey, cam,
Hey Cam, I heard the rite of passage down there
(24:47):
is whenever if you're in the restroom and everybody's everybody's
in the restroom wherever it is, all the drivers are there,
you really gotta watch your feet because there's a good
good chance you walk out of the restroom with wet shoes. Uh.
There's a there's a couple of rites of passage and
go along with the external catheter um. There's a there's
a number of times, a number of stories out there
where drivers are pete at the start line and it
(25:09):
comes out through the pan or the bottom of the
race truck, and like someone will be like, hey, it's leaking,
And someone will say, hey, well, why don't you smell
it and see what's leaking, you know, and they'll like,
smell it, smell on the thing. I've heard stories of people,
you know, licking it, like trying to figure out or
whatever that's that's happened more than once out there, for sure.
(25:32):
But yeah, if you're if you're not careful where you're walking,
your friends with their p tubes on, can can water
your shoes for you? For sure. It's just not right.
That's what I love about this sport right there. Man, Yeah,
not right in so many ways. So if you have
a yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure. I'm sure there's a
(25:53):
lot of camaraderie. Hey, thanks for dosing my shoes with
your p Thanks. But oh five, we brought Buddy Rice
down and he drove with us after he won the
and the biggest takeaway he had right away was that
we're camping and pre running with our competitors. He's like, man,
you guys hang out together and and help each other
and then you race against each other. That's pretty cool.
(26:14):
But yeah, Buddy had a great time. We we love
sharing it with him. Is there are a lot of
indy car drivers? I know there have been a couple
that have attempted this. Now. Do you find the popularity
has grown over the years. No, I think the popularity
has waned because a couple of things. I think, um
a decade or more ago, I think it was a
little bit easier to be competitive, and I think a
(26:35):
pretty good race car driver could come in and probably
find the funding and a ride pretty easily and be
competitive top five driver. And now I think that the
racing off road has gotten quite a bit quicker, the product,
the equipment has gotten better, and I just don't see
as many um other category racers coming in. We've been
really blessed to have great racers. One racer that I
(26:57):
think really had a great talent a lot of fun
was Jimmy Vasster. He spent quite a bit of time
racing in Baja. I know Sebastian Sebastian board Day came
and raced the Baja Challenge class, which is a smaller
lower level class. UM. And you know, so there's been
a number of heroes and stars along the way. Um.
Like I said, Buddy Rice came with us, Travis Craig
came with us once. UM, but you don't see much
(27:20):
in the unlimited classes now. UM, we do have a
factory Honda driver that drives UM in the unlimited midsized
pickup track class. And for some reason, my I'm totally
drawing a blank of his name, but he uh ROSSI right,
did you just say that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Alex. Uh,
I think Alex. I think ale Gender Rossi did did
(27:43):
get down there. He's he's done it before. He actually uh,
there's actually a pretty cool shot of him jumping over
a car. A car was going backwards on the side
of the race course and he jumped over the car
and broke its mirror off. But I think it was
him anyway. But if no one got hurt and he
didn't even know it was there because he had gone
off the jump on on a main road where there's
(28:05):
tons of fans and no one told him there was
a car there. Well, that's the same guy that uses
a third lane at the first restart of the five hundred,
so and somehow makes it work. Actually, so he's not
a lot of talent the drivers out there, two wheel
drive or four wheel drive. For me, I think two
will drive this year. We are too, will drive both
(28:25):
of our trucks. We discussed purchasing a four wheel drive.
The all wheel drive is very popular right now, um
a two wheel drive one the Baja five hundred and
all wheel drive won the two fifty and the four hundred,
So there's kind of the middle of the road there.
One thing that I think the week link for the
all will drive is that's never been race twelve miles
(28:46):
and the two wheel drive I think has a little
bit more stability when it comes to being more sure
footed for the long haul. But the all will drives
are amazing. And in the first five vehicles off the line, Um,
there's for all will drives and us in the tool drive.
If I'm not mistaken, Is that right? I'm trying to
(29:07):
think about that. There there might be one other too
will drive anyway, I think I think for this one
too will drive. It's a long way. Um. There have
been some changes in the course where I thought there
was gonna be bigger whip sections in the bottom, but
they didn't mark it that way, so I thought that
would really be an advantage, you know, after a mile
one thousand, having some big bumps for the too will drive.
But there's still a lot to ask of these cars.
(29:29):
And like I said, it doesn't matter two or four
will drive. I don't think there will be more than
five cars in the mix when we get to the retto.
And I'm talking about five cars within thirty minutes of
each other. I'm not talking about on the same minute
or anything like that. So a lot can happen from
from that race mile on. Quick question for you, Eumber
shift gears here a little bit, because in this world
(29:50):
we all know how important sponsors are. You talked about
it before. You're completely sponsor funded and certainly no easy task.
But you have been that way for many many years,
and I know you've been with Monster for many years.
I actually heard, and I'd love to confirm with you,
I actually heard a story and this is a number
of years ago, that you quite possibly was Monster Energies
(30:12):
first athlete. Is is that true? It depends on who
you talk to and how you how you frame it up.
They've they've talked about that accolade before, UM, but I
didn't race under the Monster banner for quite some time.
I was involved with them back in the late nineties. UM.
I was there pre Monster Energy with the parent company,
(30:34):
Handsome Beverage, helped them to get some athletes at the
X Games, and UH have worked with them hand in
hand for all those years. I you know, before Monster,
we raced under another brand that was partner brand of THEIRS.
But it's been a thrilling ride and to have the
UH then have them tip their hat to us as
(30:56):
one of their originals has been really cool, and you
touched it that we're totally sponsor funded UM in my
seventeenth year of racing unlimited trucks, which if you go
back to the starting lineup from that first race that
we were at, only I believe two three other teams
are still racing or three other drivers are still racing
(31:17):
in the sport. And I still feel very competitive. We've
we won the qualifying for Vegas Arena last year finished um,
you know, well at the last race UM at the
Baha four hundred, so I feel like we have a
great ability. We were fourth and last year's Baham one thousand,
so it hasn't left us yet. But um, I'm hoping
to make it to twenty years as a professional trophy
(31:39):
check racer and see where it goes from there. Michael,
any last questions, I wanted to ask something kind of bizarre.
It's completely off off the race theme, but Carl, our engineer,
said that your favorite movie was what tell us what
it is? My favorite movie up were between The Wizard
(32:01):
of Oz and shawsh Hank Redemption. So okay, so shaw
Shank is one of the things. Yeah, boy, boy, that
does take it a long way. Shaw Shank's one, you
can never shut off what you see it on television.
But Wizard of Oz strikes me because it's it's such
an old movie and you're not that old. What what
(32:21):
is it about Wizard of Oz that that has ranked
it number one in your life? The thing that I
think is the most important thing to lean back on
is I was talking about Baja and how you build
that camaraderie and there's that special direct connection. Well, the
Wizard of Oz was something that I spent time watching
with my mom. Like you said, Shawshank, Redeption, you can
(32:42):
never not watch it. And it was kind of the
same way for us whenever The Wizard of Oz came on.
So it was a special movie from my mom and
I and I've taken up that tradition and share it
with my nine year old daughter um starting about when
she was five, where we'll watch it every year and
whenever we see it on t V. And how we
were just somewhere the other day, I can't remember where
(33:03):
we were, and over the Rainbow was playing and I'm like, hey, kay,
do you hear that song? And it's like just that
special connection so on top of that, I love the
adventure story and I love how it flashes into the dreamscape,
and um, the dancing is super fun for me. If
I could, if I could nail down anyone dance in
this world, it would be the Strawman's uh Scarecrows dance
(33:27):
on the Yellow Brick Road when she first when Dorothy
first meets him, because I think that's one of the
most amazing pioneering moments and in all the moving making,
I would agree with that. But I have also seen
Kenn after a couple of beverages, and he could pull
that dance off pretty darn well. I was just trying
to walk. I don't think I would have ever envisioned
(33:51):
having a discussion about the Wizard of Oz ever. I mean,
if this show went on for another twenty years, I
would not envision having a discussion about the Wizard of Oz.
But there's no better way to end this show with
Cameron Steel in that because it shows the diversity, it
shows the complexity, uh that is your personality. Man. You
are such a unique soul and always in your own lane,
(34:13):
and the way you describe stuff is is always a
little bit different than everybody else. That's what I've always
enjoyed about you. I love the fact that you're you are.
I do truly believe you're the most emotional person I've
ever worked with in motorsports, where you really wear those
emotions on your sleeves, um man. I mean, you can
(34:33):
tear up in a second. But I've seen you. You're You're.
You've also gotten away with more warnings than anybody I've
ever heard of when you're out there on the racetrack.
I don't know, I don't know how you how you
know anybody? He would always he would always get a warning,
but he never got the damn black flag. I got it.
I just spent a week in Cancoon with Great Fouts,
who used to be the competition director at Lucas Oil Series,
(34:56):
and so he did. Eventually. He warned me a number
of times about jump in the start, which I was
really I thought I was really good out. He did
give me the black flag eventually, and he told me
he was gonna do it, and and I said, well, go
ahead and do it right. So I got it. I
serve my penalty, whatever, go to the back restart. It's
all good. We had so much fun racing the short
course series. I miss it, but um, yeah, you know,
(35:19):
I think maybe part of those warnings is because we
do try to carry ourselves as good people in the sport,
give back, raise money, um, do things that maybe other
people don't find the time to do. But it's it's
a really special thing for me to be able to race.
So I appreciate any kind of second chance I get
from any official. It's great stuff. Man, Hey, thank you
(35:40):
for what you do for the fans that are out there.
We've only scratched the surface with this guy googling. Take
a look at some of the trips, very very educational stuff.
He's in production. He's produced some wonderful shows of those
guys taking their trips down there as well. And if
you want to learn a little bit of the magic
of of Cobbo and down there on that peninsula. Uh,
there is no better guy than this guy. Hey, brother,
(36:02):
love you to death. Man, Thank you very much for
taking the time. Thank you guys for having me check
out our YouTube. We have tons of our content over
the last decade or so and I'd love to share
with you. Ken. I'm looking forward to you coming on
trailermissions next year in June, so make sure you marked
that spot on your calendar and come hang out with us.
It's gonna happen. Man, We've been talking about her for
(36:22):
ten plus years. It's gonna happen. I'm bring my son
down there, maybe my wife. We can get away, magic
magical trip. For sure. It's it's a bucket list item.
So thanks again, brother, Thanks ladies and gentlemen for watching
this one. Now you know a little bit of the
skinny behind Cameron Steele. Check him out. He's a unique individual.
Thanks for being with us here on the Skinny. This
(36:42):
episode has been brought to you by Toyota, Rhino classifies,
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(37:02):
All rights reserved. The Skinny with Rico and Kenna is
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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