Slow Baja - Cameron Steele Off Road Racer And Baja's Biggest Ambassador

Episode Date: November 19, 2020

"Long before social media, Cameron Steele was doing social media. He is one of off-road's early cross over pioneers, sharing his love for desert racing, adventure travel, and all things Baja with the world outside of the off-road community." -From his 2018 Off-Road Racing Motorsports Hall Of Fame Induction. A lifelong Southern Californian, Steele began traveling to Baja with his father, Baja racer Mark "Big Daddy" Steele. Big Daddy was a private pilot and the sales manager for Parnelli Jones. Jones asked Big Daddy to fly him down for his 1970 NORRA 1000 run. The following year, Big Daddy was on the grid himself in a Class One car, and by 1972, his family was riding along in their RV. After a stint as a competitive bodyboarder, Cameron began navigating races for Big Daddy. By the late 80s, Big Daddy retired, and Cameron moved into the driver's seat. He worked his way up from Baja Bugs to Trophy Trucks riding a few motorcycles along the way. In 2017, Steele set his sights on winning the 50th anniversary Baja 1000. Big Daddy, his wife, and daughter were with him as he planned to announce his retirement after the finish. He finished second. His retirement would have to wait. Sadly, Big Daddy passed a few months later. In 2018, with Big Daddy's ashes along for the ride, they won their first overall Baja 1000 victory. Racing legend Johnny Campbell calls Steele "Baja's biggest ambassador," and I must agree. When he's not leading his many off-road tours, you can find him hosting his Baja Beach Bash to raise money for the Rancho Santa Marta School and Orphanage. We met at Baja HQ, his San Clemente business that functions in equal parts as a tire and wheel shop, race prep space, travel and tour headquarters, shrine, and clubhouse for all his off-road amigos. Enjoy the conversation with Cameron Steele, Baja's biggest ambassador. Visit the Baja HQ Website Visit the Baja HQ  Instagram Visit Cameron Steele's Instagram Visit Cameron Steele's Facebook

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Slow Baja is brought to you by the Baja XL rally. The Baja XL is the largest and longest amateur off-road rally on the Baja Peninsula. It's 10 Epic Days, L.A. to Cabo to L.A. Check it out at BajaXL.org.

I am delighted to be here at Baja H.Q with the legendary Cameron Steele. And we are upstairs in the conference room sitting well apart from each other at the conference table wearing a couple of masks as Cameron's got a new baby at home. So we're taking some precautions. If we sound a little muffled, that's what's up. Cameron Steele, thank you so much for making some time for Slow Baja. I'm stoked to be here. I mean, I love the name all alone. That's the first thing that hooked me. And then, you know, anybody that's friends with Jeff Hill at Baja Baja Bound Insurance is a friend of mine for sure.

So I'm stoked to be here with you. Well, before I get into your accolades, I'm going to humble brag right here that Jeff told me when I interviewed him that in 2006, I was the first sponsored racer for Baja Baja Baja Baja Insurance. He told me the very same story. When he called me about setting up this podcast interview, he told me that. And I was like, oh, that's really cool. Well, enough about me. So I'm going to just read something here that really, really stopped me in my tracks. Because I know about you more from your at-large reputation than I do as the human behind the reputation.

So this just stopped me my tracks. in the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame 2018 induction. So you are in the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, which is amazing because you're young and you're still alive. They said in the induction, long before social media, Cameron Steele was doing social media. He is one of off-roads early crossover pioneers sharing his love for desert racing, adventure travel,

and all things Baja with the world outside of off-road community. The legendary Johnny Campbell calls you Baja's biggest ambassador. It's a pretty serious compliment from a pretty serious racer. That is very serious. And, you know, that night I didn't get to hear that. So it's interesting to hear it transcribed. I mean, I heard it, but my head was rolling around a little bit, trying to figure out how I was being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

But, you know, for me, my love of Baja is deep. My love for the people is equal. And I think that the respect level that they show to us. we show to them is key about making that magic happen. It's a majestic place because of how everybody interacts there. Well, take me back to Mark Big Daddy Steele. That's a hell of a nickname for your dad. Mark Big Daddy Steele.

Tell me about your dad and your earliest Baja trips. He was an imposing figure. You know, he passed away unfortunately two years ago at 82. He is a big man, 6'5. When I was in high school, he was probably around 350 pounds. So there was a gangster movie out at the time, and there was an imposing figure called The Fixer. So one of my buddies started calling him The Fixer. But then later on, Big Daddy just kind of seemed to fit.

And, you know, my dad loved Baja. I believe he first went in the 50s. I can't be sure. But I know the very first race he went to, he was the general sales manager, I believe, for Parnelly Jones. and Perneli knew that my dad flew an airplane or had an airplane and he invited my dad to be his pilot for the race in 1970 so I believe that's the third year that the race ran maybe the fourth and my dad my dad was there and flew for Pernelli and I just recently found those photos in some of our family's historic photos we were trying to save stuff from the water damage and found those but my dad went with

Parnelli in 70 and in 71 my dad was on the start line in a class one car and he never left and I was born I don't want to date myself too much I guess but I was born 68 and by the time it was 72 my dad was bringing my brother and I to Baja my brother born in 71 so um you know the our Baja experience started before we can even remember you know and funny story people always ask me what's your first memory of Baja and And everybody wants to say, you know, it's like that glorious beach day or the wave you caught or the beautiful cardones or something. But I totally remember the trash burning because that was really prevalent driving through Mexicali to a race. And I remember thrilling up out of the family motorhome.

That was my first experience. But my love affair has grown deep and wide since that day. And my dad introduced us to that magic and never left. My dad was fully committed all the way until his death. going to Baja. It was him racing from 70 until about 92, I think maybe, no, I'm sorry, 89. My dad probably raced his last race. And I started racing in 82 as a navigator in 85 as a driver. And my dad kind of stepped aside in the late 80s to let me take that helm, so to speak, for the family part of the racing. And, you know, we race until my mom was diagnosed with cancer. And she ended

battling for five years but our family didn't race in that time and then I went back and I have never left I mean it's really it's almost like a two part relationship with Baja it kind of had like a stopping point when my mom died but then it re-ignited in 2000 and it's been really spectacular ever since well I'm I'm amazed that you were there so early and I too share some of your members I'm a couple years older than you and started going to San Felipe, mainly when I was in college at San Diego State. And that first trip over in 84, driving through Mexicali and just smelling that, for me, that was the smell of Baja, unfortunately. And luckily, you don't smell that anymore. But that smell of burning trash.

Depending on where you're at. Yeah. Well, I just got back and I didn't have to smell it much. Outskirts of Tijuana, you smell that burning trash a little, but it just didn't, it was just the sensory smell. days of course we were driving with our windows down yeah you know didn't have air conditioning right so you're just smelling it a lot more is a lot more visceral I interesting side note to that and I and I'd say yes you do vibrantly but that's only because you know if you race the peninsula run on the Baja 1,000

somehow score finds a way to take you through every trash dump at every city like you come in or out of the town through the trash dump it's so every once in a while you get that burning trash smell well we'll we'll get back to the burning trash smell here, but let me tell me about your early days. You grew up here, San Clemente, right? I did. San Clemente High School. You worked at the Pico 7-Eleven. True. True, true, all right. competed in six pipeline bodyboarding world championships. Is that true? True. Come on. No, it's real. When I was a youngster, my dad, my dad was kind of a little bit of a wanderer. He wasn't really a guy

that was set in this in school type of thing. He never went to school. You know, he, was driving a truck by the time he was 14, a logging truck, nearly died from rheumatic fever when he was 12. And so he never went to school. So my dad had a passion for getting out and doing things and doing it himself. And he became a car salesman and, you know, everybody jokes about car salesman, but it gives you a great aptitude to do whatever you want. And my dad was like, you know, you got to go to school, but do what you're passionate about, basically. And so my dad, you know, while a lot of families weren't dropping their kids off at the beach or the pier where I grew up when they were 10 or 11, my dad was doing just that, mom. And I got to start

riding waves. And I had a group of friends and the bodyboard had come out. And for some reason, you know, I was surfing and bodyboarding, but a friend of mine named Kisasaki from Hawaii encouraged me to stay with bodyboarding. And next thing I know, it was my first real career outside of 7-11 was riding bodyboards being paid to surf the competitions and travel around you know kind of the world but more really specifically the United States Hawaii Puerto Rico and yeah what a great experience you know being able to represent the mainland at the time they did it in segments for the world championship it wasn't just straight qualifying so you had to qualify for your area and for me I was the

California qualifier amongst a couple other guys. But it was a great experience, and I still have friends from those days that I still ride waves with. And although bodyboarding has been at times looked down to from surfing, I've always maintained my status as a bodyboarder, and I love it to this day. I mean, I had to take my bodyboard out of the car this morning. I went to Lisa to take my dog for a walk and always bring my board in case the surf is cracking. There you go. There you go.

Well, that's, I think that authenticity. authenticity is authenticity in your approach is what is the reason that no one has anything bad to say about Cameron Steel. There are two people I found in Baja

that everybody widely loves and has good things to say. And that's you and seemingly Kurt LaDuke seems to be the other one. He knows a guy. He knows a guy. That's his quote. I don't think Kurt LaDuke is much of a bodyboarder

but but you want to hear a true Kurt Leuke story? I do really quick. I do. Kurt Leuke had never surfed before and we're on trail of missions. Not surprising. We're on trail of missions and I told Kurt when we got San Juanico Scorpion Bam like Kurt, you're going to surf. He's like, I don't surf.

I don't go in the water. I'm like, Kurt, put your swim trunks on and let's go. Well, he didn't have swim trunks. So I was pushing him into waves in his underwear. But so I'm behind him pushing him in. You get the visual, right? but Kurt got a wave and his wife Kimmy got her first waves in San Juanico and it's a huge treat for me. One of the, I think that I totally understand people not have anything bad to say about Kurt.

He's just very genuine. Yeah. And he and I get along great. We're a little bit different. You know, he's an East Coast guy. I'm a West Coast guy. You know, he's a little bit more, I would say tempered in his demeanor. I'm a little bit more outgoing.

But Kurt's pretty wild and outgoing also. But we're a great team. and we spent a lot of time on our trail admissions trip together. We always invite Kurt to be a part of that. And really, any media we do, we try to link him in with. But he's an exceptional human being. Yeah, I managed to get into the inaugural run of the Nora 500 safari class that Kurt was leading. And I was in my 71 land cruiser.

So it's, you know, four modern vehicles and my old land cruiser. And I think they were just wondering, like, what's with this dude? soft door, soft top, no windows, Pith helmet, bench seat, three speed, you know, 30 inch tires, no suspension. And Kurt could not have been nicer to me. I mean, he could have big leagueed me all day long and he couldn't have been nicer. And really, he said, here's a radio. We're going to wait for you guys at every turn that you could miss.

And I didn't think anybody was going to be babysitting us. And I felt like I had to check in with my mom, you know, my mom and dad, like Kimmy and Kurt, I think we're genuinely like, let's make sure we don't lose that guy. I don't know what's up with that guy, but let's make sure I'm responsible for him and I'm not going to lose him. I think, yeah, he's just a great person. I mean, that Baja has those people. You know, there's some amazing people all over the peninsula, but Kurt is definitely one of those transplants that comes there, fits right in, and knows how to share the stoke. That's kind of what I say, you know, share the stoke is our tagline from Baja HQ.

But it means more than that. It's not just a tagline. And it's how we feel and how we live. And Kurt definitely is super good about that. Yeah, he was terrific. Hey, tell me about the trips. You already touched on the Trail of the Missions. Tell me about those trips and your Baja family.

Well, you know, first of all, we're not a tour company, so we're not cultivating people. Not to say that we don't ever bring any new people, but we do. But I never wanted to be in the tour business. Lots of people think that's something that we should do. But I have a couple very specific trips that we do. We work with the Mexican government on it, build some media around it. And we have just an amazing time. And I think because it's not a job, you don't ever have to look at the bottom line.

And it's been great to be able to share that majestic Baja with people that, you know, maybe would have never gone if they didn't feel like they had a little bit of a security blanket with us or with Kurt or with our medic. Or, you know, we have a pretty big ensemble of people. but you know we've traditionally hosted um three motorcycle trips a year and a couple truck trips a year which we are still doing um trail emissions is our flagship the monster energy trail emissions presented by bf goodrich sorry um got to get sponsors in there but they they deserve that honor because they believed when no one else was like making media in baha and no one else was doing anything they're like you you you think you can do that then go ahead let's see it but um

That's just an amazing trip. You know, it's so fun with the kids and taking people that have never been. I mean, people that are, and even people like Johnny Campbell, who's an Offred Racer, who's seen the race course a million times, taking them on the trips and taking them in other places, they haven't been before because there's no reason to be there. So our flagship motorcycle trip is called Rift Acabo. It's kind of a weird name, but that was what we came up with when we started doing it. We're in our 16th year, I believe.

So not too long, but we've been doing that for a while. And then we have a trip called Baja Beach Bash, which is a motorcycle trip where along with Baja Bound Insurance and all of our other partners, we worked to raise money for the orphanage at Rancho-Senta Marta. This year, we didn't get to have the trip out of respect. We decided not to go. And we still were able to raise nearly $150,000 for the orphanage. Yeah, online, virtual, which was a pretty amazing achievement.

There's some phone calls in there. I might have to lean on a few people in there. People know the calls coming sometime in June or July. but the off-road community really opened up their arms and a couple really significant efforts Blaine done from Colorado who'd never been to Baja was touched by going on Baja Beach Bash he now raised he has his own fundraiser to put into ours for the trips and he raised $25,000 all by himself and Brian Beatty's Foundation also did the same and so it's really cool to see people just fall in love

and be able to share it and then we have a couple other smaller trips, trucking good times, surf and turf. And we have a dirt bike ride that's a really tough ride called Hell Ride. I think the name pretty much sums it up, but just riding the hardest of the hard stuff, lots of rocks in Baja. But that's pretty much our adventure traveling down there. And then we also try to offer to our group an international trip each year. I know Mexico's international, but it's North America, so not really. I consider Mexico and the United States and Canada kind of all one. But we've been to Iceland and Costa Rica, Portugal.

And we actually were going back to, we were going to Costa Rica again for the second time last year and Australia, but both trips got canceled because of the travel bans, obviously. And we don't want to travel with respect to other people if, you know, there's people that are sick. Yeah. So sharing the stoke is utterly legitimate. I'm going to stop anybody who now is going to say, I'm going to email camera. at Baja HQ and see if I can get on his next trip.

You're not running a tour company. We're not looking for business. You've got the folks that are going with you. Let's be clear about that because I don't want to create grief for you. It's okay. I don't mind people emailing us. We're not, we don't have space.

We never do. We have brought some new people now and then on some of the different trips, but they usually find their way to us as friends of friends or someone that's vouched in or something like that. We don't advertise and we don't cultivate online. But if you, anybody has questions, you know, they can always ask, but yeah, we're not, we're not looking for more people, but we're excited to share the visuals that we put out there with people so

they can see how epic it is. It is pretty epic. There's so, I mean, we did a, we did a series called BFG30 Best of Baja, and I gathered a group of Baja Note all together, and we all picked our top 30, then we combine them to find out what was the top spot, our favorite spot. It's pretty crazy that, you know, there was a lot of, in that group of 10 people, there was probably over 100 places that were chosen, although we compressed it down to 50. But there's so many different places to love and see and touch and people to get involved with. And I mean, that that vibe is alive south of the border. And Baja is just a spectacular place. Well, I just talked to some folks who had driven an old land cruiser from Tecate all the way down to Tierra

Do Fue going back. Wow. Massive. And they're still living in the truck and driving around the United States. And I said, you know, tell me about some of your favorites. And they said, you know, Baja. And it's so funny, we tried to kind of rush through Baja because we had a lot more travel and we'd been to Baja before.

But that central coast, you air down. There's nobody at those beaches or if they are, they're going to bring you a lobster or a little something, you know, some fish. And you've got just so much of the country to yourself. And it's right here on our, it's desolation on our doorstep. It's really amazing. I think that, you know, you can travel all over the world, which I have done pretty extensive amount of traveling. And it's really hard to find any place.

You know, California is spectacular, but you head down to Mexico, into Baja, and again, the people are what make it. But you get out into that desolate part of the land. I mean, the landscape, the ocean, the sea, the mountains, the cactus, the floor of the fauna. I mean, if you take time to look at it, it is just absolutely shocking. and people are like, oh, it's a desert. It is not a, it's not just a desert. It is amazing is what it is. I mean, and people have a hard time,

but then you get people that come from other countries that, you know, never been to Baja, and they see it, and they're just like, oh, my God, this place is amazing. And, you know, I traveled around the world as a commentator also in one of my other professions. And, you know, people could ask you about anything, right? I worked at Supercross.

I worked at X games. I, you know, traveled all around. Everybody wants to ask you about the Baja 1,000. Everybody wants to ask you about Baja no matter where you go, no matter who it is. So we're going to get to the Baja 1,000 in just a second. I want to ask you since we're of similar age. I recently was out in Riverside and got to talk to Malcolm Smith. Where does Malcolm Smith live to a serious racer like yourself?

I mean, where is he in the, you know, if you're looking at baseball players, is he Willie Mays? He's definitely. I mean, whether he's Willie Mays or Babe Ruth or, you know, just one of those super iconic people that, you know, went and did and did it with a smile on his face and shared it. I think that Malcolm is the epitome of what that American that is touched by Baja and then returns to share that stoke, whether it's fundraising for those less fortunate in Baja, whether it's taking people there and sharing with them or success. racing, whatever it is. I really regard Malcolm highly. I've gone on Malcolm's trip here in Suboba. Motorcycle ride, I haven't spent a ton of time with Malcolm. I met his son Alexander when I think Alexander was still in high school. We were down pre-running. And Malcolm's like, hey, you know, meet my son. And it was, it's an honor to know that, be able to see how Malcolm has done what he's done.

and see his love for the peninsula. So we hold Malcolm in the highest regard. Yeah, I think that Malcolm's apple may have fallen pretty close to San Clemente as I sit here and talk to you and hear about what you're doing. But let's get right into it, Baja 1000. Can you describe it?

She's tough. Can you describe it? I mean, is it the Lamont 24-hour? Is it Indy? Is it, you know, the greatest of NASCAR races all rolled into one? What is it like? and what is it like to have the terrain,

the challenges of the machine and the terrain and the man and the violence? What is, what, tell, break it down for me. I don't know if I can break it down any better than you did, but I would use a different analogy. It's like seeing that woman that's so amazing that just is so spectacular to you and getting to know her and spending that time to build that relationship and eventually you get married and,

you have this kinship and it just becomes glorious, right? And that's kind of Baja. I mean, it's tough. It's, you know, being married is one of the toughest things anybody can do. And anybody that's married knows, you know, it's like, you know, I've been married for 22 years. And it's not always easy, but it is glorious. And I think that that's kind of how the Baja 1000 is, right? It's so beautiful, right?

From the outside looking at, people are like, that's the race I want to go to. Well, let me tell you, that's the hardest race you're ever going to take on. because it's so remote. It's always changing. There's no pit stops that are easy to get to. There's one paved road down the peninsula, and you're going to be bouncing around out there. It's just for people that have never been,

you know, people, you talk to you in passing, like, you know, down the street or whatever. Oh, yeah, you know, I'm going to race the bottom 1,000. You're like, oh, yeah, but what other races have you done? Oh, no, I've never done anything. I'm just going to race the bottom 1,000. You're like, holy crap. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into.

that's the beauty of it you know score has opened it up so anybody can compete basically there's no real requirements other than safety requirements and there's so many different classes um but for me baha is a a historic legendary beautiful just pain in my ass you know it's like i grew up going there grew up racing there um i was fortunate to win in a limited car at the bottom 1,000 in 2003. We've had some other success but had never won the big dance overall with the trophy truck. And, you know, that was one of my dad's most interested in things for my dad. One of the things my dad would be the most stoked about. He passed just before, but having our family's name in that overall four-wheel category because when my dad was younger in racing,

he was racing for that overall category. Later in life, he couldn't really afford to get the team together to do that. He raced in limited classes, but I think my dad would be so stoked to see our name there. And I'm so right there with him. That is such a stellar thing. Honestly, I... Can you dive into that a little bit? You brought your dad with you.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I don't know if you talk about that. No, I can talk about it for sure. I don't know. If you're comfortable, just to tell us a little bit about it. about that specific year, that specific run, your dad riding with you, and the challenges that you met and overcame and your mindset that carried you the whole way. Well, actually goes back a little bit. In 2017, I was kind of, I was kind of maybe had enough. And my family was growing with my daughter Kay. And I told my wife and daughter and my dad, you guys, you guys travel to the pause.

It's a peninsula run. It's a legendary run. It's a 50th anniversary. 50th anniversary. We're going to win this race, basically. I have no doubt in my mind we were going to win that race. We had won the Nora Mexican 1000 earlier that year. Our engineering by Mike Craft had been spectacular.

My teammate had been killing it. In two years before, we had finished third overall on the peninsula run. And we went into that race knowing we felt like we were going to win. And, you know, I was going to get there and I was going to go up on the stage with my daughter in my arms and I was going to say I thought I was going to say I'm all done you know we win the race we're going to leave and um shit we got second and I knew we could do it and you know there's this you get the checkered flag and 40 seconds later you're at the talking on the microphone you know and my wife's there she's crying I'm crying she hands me my daughter my dad's there

I pull up on the podium. My wife's there with me. And in those 45 seconds, I had to decide if I was going to, you know, if I was leaving with second place or if I was going to stay. And we decided to stay. And unfortunately, my dad would pass in July of 2018. So six months, seven months later, my dad would die eight months later. My dad would die.

And I just knew that we had to finish this. quest and right after my dad died we had not won a score trophy truck race but in September we won the Tijuana Desert Challenge I was like damn we just want a score race in trophy truck that's really great accomplishment but this was really hollow because all I was feeling was that that missing spot at the Baja 1000 and my race engineer my craft and my racing partner Bobby Pequay they're like we're gonna we're gonna do this You know, we're going to do this this year in 18. And we did.

We won. And there was some extenuating circumstances. You know, there were some penalties. There was this. But we, all day long, I never had one doubt in my mind that we were going to win. At Mile 100, we lost first year, which also lost reverse. So we're at Mile 110, and I'm radioing through the satellite radio telling my race partner at mile 350 who's going to get in the truck pat dean i'm like hey it's up to you i don't know what

your course looks like but the truck is perfect we're running in the top five you decide if you want to change transmission or not if you change the transmission then we're racing for 10th and i got to the pit i never asked again he jumped in the car and took off brought it back to us in the top three and um we had heard about all these penalties and things that have been going on there have been a lot of changes at score with trying to get us everybody to settle down in some segments and I just raced to exactly what I thought I needed to do and we were fortunate at the end of the day to be the winner of the ball 1,000 and accomplish that goal and the question you asked me was about my dad and we had my dad's ashes ride with us in the race car and we never told anybody we

never said anything that he was in there until the finish line you know and obviously the emotion was there um there's a there's actually a really great photo someone took with my my head is on the steering wheel and you can see the baha my helmet has the baha 1000 map painted on it and just that that that pure emotion that exhaustion that relief that we were able to accomplish that goal was mind-boggling. And to be able to have my dad with us on that journey was an honor, but, you know, as everybody knows, having your dad actually there would have been the real topper of it all.

But at the end of the day, the Baja 1,000 overall winner trophies downstairs right next to my dad's ashes that are in our showroom. And, you know, that was our quest and we were able to achieve it. Did we retire on the podium? No. No, our goal is to win the peninsula run. So we were really keyed for this year, which was supposed to be a peninsula run. The score has since changed it. So we're going to have to wait until next year to prove our might on the peninsula run in 2021.

And can you fathom what a peninsula run solo would have been like for those guys who did it? I've done it. so I understand it. I didn't have success. We actually had a terrible day. We were having our second nighttime at Scorpion Bay. We were the very last pit at San Juanico. The sweep helicopter flew over us about 20 miles before that.

We ended up not making it past Laredo. I ended up being up over 52 hours. I actually drove the chase truck into La Paz. Everybody else was smoked. But I felt great. great. But yeah, the people that have won on a peninsula run, I have tons of respect for. The thing about a peninsula run is if you have a great, perfect day, it's not that crazy because you're not getting out of the car. You're not dealing with stress. You're not taking your helmet

or goggles off or opening your visor. You know, if you have a straight run through, it's still crazy at 20 hours or whatever, but it's not as hard as if you solo it and finish 10th. in my opinion. But those that have soloed it, Ivan Stewart, or all these different heroes and legends that have done that, my hats off to them. It's a great accomplishment. My goal always was to do it on a motorcycle to race it solo on a dirt bike. But the problem is my job is to race in a trophy truck, and I couldn't figure out how I was

going to beat the trophy truck to Cabo or La Paz and then get back and get in the trophy truck before the finish line. The truck's going to pass the bike eventually. Hey, can we talk about trophy trucks for a second? I love talking about trophy trucks. I don't like talking about what it costs to keep them going, but I love talking about trophy trucks. We're not going to discuss that. We're not going to discuss that.

You can discuss it. I don't care to say it. I'm trying to find the money as a whole other thing. Yeah, you know, the name of my show is Slow Baja, and that's my approach. And I'm, you know, on the dirt in my old lane cruiser. I'm doing 35, 40. My eyeballs are jiggling out, and I'm starting to get scared. So on trophy trucks, I'm going to quote you here.

Once I get over 120 miles per hour, once I get over 120 miles per hour, the truck feels like it's going to take off and fly. And at times you can really and truly be going that fast and be driving sideways and almost floating sideways down the dirt. True. I'm just... Trophy trucks are not. built aerodynamically so to speak so all the coolers are in your in the back window right so the cabs open so as you get up and over 120 miles an hour that air is coming inside the cab and you're getting a degree of lift i haven't felt it recently but back when i raced with pistol pete soren god rest

of soul um i felt the truck completely sideways at 126 miles an hour not completely sided but i felt it drifting sideways when we're going in a straight line and you can't lift off the throttle because then it's going to collapse that side of the suspension so you got to kind of nurse it back but true it feels sometimes like it's going to fly is it like an airboat are you like marlin perkins and those old mutual of omaha's on some airboat across the everglades well the weird thing about the difference is the airboat doesn't have anything above your head really so you're not capturing that wind when you're inside the cab of the trophy truck you're capturing all that you're in this like spinning vortex of air and really that's one of the things that makes you the most tired

is all that air up against your body all day long because you're you know whatever no matter what you're doing you're not sitting back in the seat right you're you're up so you're holding your neck up against the wind all day long and against all the bumps but um the the feeling at 120 is pretty spectacular you start going upwards of over 135 and it's and then it starts to get more scary. 120 is like exhilarating kind of fun, but over that, you're like, okay, it's getting pretty crazy. Is there a, you don't want to crash anything at that speed?

No, no. Is there a wave equivalent? Is 126 feet and it's just lovely? And over that is 12 feet and you're going to get hurt? 120 is like, you know, a feathering second reef pipe day where you like can catch the wave and you can kind of do a turn up into the barrel and it's still gnarly. like crazy gnarly, but it's not super scary. And 135 is like third reeks capping

and second reef is like going to, you don't know where it's going to come across and drill you. It's definitely far more, I mean, it's crazy. Just that 15 miles an hour makes a huge difference. Well, let's take a quick break right here. We'll be right back with Cameron Steel at Baja HQ. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruisers

out of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja bound insurance. Your website's fast and easy to use, check them out at Bajabound.com. That's Bajaubound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. Hey, Baja tourism is picking up, and our friends at the Animal Pad and TAP Act want to remind you when you're crossing the border, just say no to puppy peddlers. I know they're cute, but the sooner we can end the demand, we can end the supply. For more information, check out theanimalpad.org and TAP Act on Instagram and Facebook. I'm going to transition here and ask about the most successful racer in the Steele family.

Tell me about your wife, Heidi. Isn't she amazing? You know, the amazing stat is that she is. She had never been camping or dirt biking before we got together. And people always ask, did you meet racing? No, we didn't meet racing. In fact, really when we met, I wasn't racing because I was just coming out of the death of my mother. And our family had not been racing.

and, you know, our family was basically destitute. That's a whole different story. You know, we didn't have much going on. I needed, I was working as a car salesman like my dad had when he was younger. And somewhere in there, I got, offered a job at a surf magazine by my friend Scott Picard. And I was at a trade show in San Diego. And this girl that I had met about eight years before happened to be there. And I was like, dang, there's my Baja girl right there.

You know, my love of my life. And so in a whirlwind relationship, you know, we ended up, started dating in September, engaged in December, about a house in February, moved in April, married in August. Wow. 22 years later, plus. But she's just amazing, you know, I've always believed that anybody that puts her mind to something can do anything they want. And one thing Heidi said early on, we were racing in 2003, and she's like, you know, I don't want to just go to the races and be a cheerleader. I want a race. So we had bought a car as a pre-runner, and I had decked it out for her, and in 2004, I believe, she did her first race.

It was a sportsman class, and it wasn't really a big deal, but she did win her class. She also got disqualified because we entered her in the wrong class. She ended up going to the score Baja 500 next in 2004. With some of my neighborhood kids, Justin Smith, who's grown up to be a very famous racer, and Cody Stewart, who's still my navigator to this day. They're my neighborhood kids. They were 15 or whatever when we moved in. And they won the Baja 500.

They won the Baja 1,000. And they won the championship in sportsmen. And I'm like, well, you can't raise sportsman anymore. You won the championship. Now what? We bought a Ford Ranger, 7S truck. She went out the first race at San Felipe. We lost the transmission early, so I got to come up on what I thought was a truck upside

down. I found out what was my truck that was upside down, my wife driving. she's like we drive it out of here i'm like no you're going to drive it out of here and from that day forward she's just really always handled it she ended up winning um the class seven s x championship and the 7100 championship and best in the desert a 2008 dirt sports driver of the year went on to win i believe two or three other championships in the unlimited mid-sized truck so we once we won in the mid-size limited truck we're like well we got to move on and she ended up winning I believe four Baja 1000s in her class with her partner

Renee Brueger and other people that had helped her along the way Renee was the staple there the entire time Jamie Campbell was a part of it Timmy Lawrence but she just loved it so much and eventually we talked to the sponsors and by 2013 she was a racing trophy truck it was a little bit tough because now we had a daughter born in 2012 and uh It was fun. She raced and her and Jessica McMillan teamed up. They finished in the top 10 in a few trophy truck races. They actually finished in 2013. I believe they were sixth in the score championship points, which was a huge accomplishment. The next year they didn't have as much luck in 2014 and then my wife, I suggested she go to another race to practice to, you know, just have some fun racing

away from score so there's less pressure. She had a big crash, ended up with a concussion. We didn't talk a lot about it, but she was out of racing for a couple years and then you know kids take over and stuff like that but she'll be coming back next year we've been rebuilding that very same ranger for her but she's a you know she's opposite of me she's got multiple degrees she's got her MBA she owns her own human resource consulting firm she used to be the president of the national human resource association for a couple years And she's just five foot eight blonde hair looks very not diminutive, not small, but she's very, she doesn't look like the kind of person that you would say, well, she's chomping around in Baja. She's walking around in a business suit and heels, you know, on her call with her glasses on and you're like, this is the same woman that wins the Baja 1000. It's pretty crazy.

But she's, she's amazing. I love her. Sometimes, sometimes we got to bring her. raw a little bit for fun but she's she's a pretty good spark plug i'll tell you she's a great mom too and you've got uh two kids now we do k is uh eight and a half and we have a newborn she's 11 months and uh she was born yeah so we were talking about getting pregnant we're like okay well let's make sure we don't get pregnant where the baby's gonna come for the baha 1,000 so we kind of tried to set it up for a christmas baby and uh she was doing December 7th and she came on November 11th like two weeks before the VA 1000. So it's kind of crazy. She's always going to have me at least while I'm racing talking about Baja while her birthday is coming

up. But she ended up in the hospital for three or so weeks, you know, in the NICU because she was premature. She's only four pounds when she was born, 4.3. And she's just amazing. And her older sister loves her. And it's been a great, you know, COVID's been very tough for everybody. And I'm very sorry for people who have lost their lives. We've been very, very careful, but during being very, very careful for 100 days of lockdown at our house, our 8-year-old got to be the big sister to our newborn sister. And it's been really spectacular. That's amazing. We're not here to talk about me, but I share the NICU experience. It's a tough one to go through. But my twins were there for a month and my son who is three and a half pounds you know is a strapping six foot one

rower right healthy and smart and vibrant and uh it's uh it's it's tough while you're in it and it's amazing when you're out of it and um i just knock wood that my kids are super healthy and you know it's the most important thing in life so before we start before we start crying together here Cameron, I'm just going to say, can you describe the violence of driving a trophy truck? Horsepower, wheel travel, top speed, and now, you know, again, we touched on it a little bit. But what does that do to you? The trophy truck, it's funny. People that race other classes are like, oh, you drive a trophy truck.

It's super smooth all day long. It's like a marshmallow. It's like a mushy. Yeah, it's like racing in a couch. It's like floating on marshmallows. Right. Well, whatever you do in the limited car and you take that beating. that pounding, just multiply that by the speed because really in the San Felipe whoops,

other people are going 30, 40, maybe 50, and they're getting beat, right? Well, the trophy truck, yes, we're skimming across the top of most of it, but we're going 90 miles an hour or 85 miles an hour in the whoops. And it is brutal. It is a hell of a ride in there. And yes, we have more or less 25 inches of front wheel travel and 33 inches of rear wheel travel, 40-inch B.F. Goodrich tires and big fox shocks, but it's just multiplied from what the lower classes feel. If you drive a trophy truck at 70%, then you're driving a marshmallow floating around

all day long. But if you're driving it at 85%, you're in a violent smashing cockpit. The intensity inside the truck is incredible. And, you know, you're always watching out all day long because you're going so fast. You're always watching to make sure no one's moving in your peripheral. You know, someone's not accidentally moving a car or someone's walking or whatever. You know, because the fans are all over out there. And sometimes that maybe I don't think they realize how fast that truck's going. The other thing that the fans probably don't realize is the truck doesn't just stay right in a straight line all the time. It kind of drifts around a little bit. And so I always said that if the fans had any idea what is like being inside the

trophy truck, they wouldn't stand so close to the race course. But so you just got to be careful around all the people, which we're very careful. But it is a lot of work in there. It's not for the faint of heart. I mean, you're really going fast. There's a lot of risk. One wrong move could end up, I mean, like I said, you don't want to crash at 120 miles an hour. And just taking in everything that the truck's doing and giving the back to input and making sure you're not hurting it is a pretty incredible, incredible experience. but at the same time, incredibly violent. And the mental focus must be astonished. It's so crazy.

The mental part of it is staggering. I mean, first of all you got to prep to get ready for the race, all the pre-running, and a lot of people laughing or whatever. But if you're one of those top 10 teams, you're razor-sharp focused on what you're doing all the time. And when you get inside the race truck, I mean, you're really all day long trying to drive the truck quickly. you're not going as fast as you can go. If you go as you'll destroy it. It just can't do it all day long.

But you run a pace and now you're managing what the other drivers are doing, the data you're getting from your team, or, you know, you can see what the other teams have been doing by how their pit crews set up when you go by them, whether they're breaking down or they're setting up or if they're sitting there ready to fuel the truck, you know they're close. So you're kind of mitigating all day long. And then on top of that, you're making sure that the truck isn't getting damaged and you're holding it right down the race course line and you're, you're holding it right down the race course line. hitting all the spots you want to hit on the race course to make sure you're not hitting the spots you don't want to hit. And yeah, it's mentally intensive. I mean, usually the week after the ball off 1,000, thankfully is Thanksgiving. And you can kind of like just pause for a second. But, you know, you get out of the race truck and people are like, you know, they're all geared up ready to like excited and stuff. And you're just like, you know, mentally exhausted.

What trust do you have in your navigator? 100 you got to trust them 100%. It's got to be. Yeah. You can't drive that by sight. You got to have at a competitive level. Yeah, you have to have great information and the information has to be delivered well. I mean, I think you can still compete in a single seat situation, but I don't think you're

going to be as good because your navigator isn't just giving you navigation. They're doing all the truck diagnostic along the way. They're doing all the communications with the team. So I have an isolation switch. I should re-quote that. Cody, my navigator has the isolation switch. He pushes the button. I can't hear anything outside.

All I can hear is him talking to me. And so he's managing the entire truck and the navigation and the communications and me. Right? Because the driver, you know, you get up and down. Like, oh, I made a mistake there or whatever, which I normally don't do. I don't dwell on something that, like, I missed a turn a little bit or I hit a hole or whatever. but your navigators, your, your psychotherapist. Yeah, he's pumping you up.

Yeah, or bringing you down. Or bringing it down, yeah. Right? Because he's trying to manage the entire race. And that's one of the things, you know, people think, oh, yeah, I got a navigator that can change a tire real fast and I got a navigator that can read the GPS. But that's really, I mean, the tire changing is important. But when you race on BFG's shameless sponsor plug, you don't change them at often.

Cody, I would stack up as one of the best tire changers in the business. But really, it's the in-car. game and beforehand understanding what it's going to take. Now, when we go out and pre-run, we know exactly what we're looking for and how to do it. I mean, Cody and I have been together inside that truck for 12 years now. And, you know, unfortunately, we had a big incident where Cody was injured severely, but he's been able to get back in the truck. And, you know, those kind of things, you know, weigh on you.

but he's never missed the beat. You know, he took a year off and recovered and is back in the truck, and it's been great. So I love, you know, I always say as long as Cody's navigating and Renee's building my truck, we're all good. We can keep racing. So we'll see how that goes. Well, let's pivot there. And we're going to wrap up here because you've been super generous, making some time for me.

Tell me about your personal connection to the people of Baja. I know you're tight with the orphanage, Rancho, Santa Marta. Tell me, I mean, that's legit. it. Tell me about your connection to the people and some of the folks that are that live large in your life. Well, I think that like I said, the people are what make Baja, you know, so I have connections with different people that I've met along the way, whether it's the electrician Aaron that lives in Insonata who became a great friend of my dad's who made a connection with or the owner of the San Nicolas Hotel Nico. Niko Saad. Yeah, a great, a great ambassador, but also, you know, a

gentleman we met through there is just a spectacular person who's always helped us. You know, I mean, there's people all over the peninsula. You know, unfortunately, in the last couple of years, one of Baja's greatest ambassadors passed away. Pancho at San Rafael Fish Camp was maybe possibly the greatest ambassador of Baja's ever had. He loved where he lived. He loved what he did. He didn't have a car that ran.

He had a dog. and he relied on people bringing him food. And yes, the military comes by and yes, the fishermen or the people that pack the fish there at San Rafael would also contribute. But he was always smiling and so stoked to see you pull up. And one of my greatest things that I've ever received in Baja, you know, after the O'Dill Hurricane, we formed a group, off-roader hurricane relief. and we raised along with Talva Lodosl and his family, Mexicana logistics, and Ryan,

jeez, drawn blanks all of a sudden, I'm thinking about poncho, but we got together and sent truckloads of material down there, you know, water, supplies. I think that's Ryan Thomas. Ryan Thomas, sorry, yeah. I can't believe I couldn't believe Ryan. Sorry.

I remember Ryan's name. Tim Sanchez was involved in the late Oscar Ramos, amongst others. but we took some supplies to places that weren't going to get a semi-truck in the road to la bay was blown out we went there and we also had a few truckloads set up and ready to go to el bar real and san franciscoito the road had been you know pretty much destroyed in a couple spots and right before poncho's place at san raphael the road was all blown out full of mud the river had taken over and um you know he was probably i would say a mile and a half from there

But he had heard our trucks coming down the rocks on the hill before, about three miles from his house. And he had walked out into the, to find out who was out there. And he had not seen a human. And he's like, yes, I'll show you how to get around. So we had four trucks. We elected to take two, fill them with supplies. We hand carried him across all the mud, reloaded the trucks. We went to ponchos.

And then we asked, you know, Poncho about his experience with Odeal. And he said he had never been so scared in his life. And he actually, he told us, I believe, through Ryan Thomas, that he had stayed in a grave marker. He had got inside the brick marker and for the gnarliest part of the storm. Gives me shivers. He said we were the first people. He said there was a rancher that came by for a ranch further away,

but we were the first people to come to check on him. And we took him. with us to El Boreal, we actually arrived, believe it or not, the trucks from the Mexican government were pulling into the fork into Elber real as we pulled in from the other fork. And we were going to be ahead of them. We're like, well, we'll just, we'll go with you. And so we dispersed all supplies, Poncho was so proud to be able to be a part of that and take that to those people.

Anyway, the number one thing that I ever received in my life, other than my kids, was there's a carved cuscavera, I believe it is, a rattle. snake carved out of wood that hangs above our entchway inside of our shop here at ball hkeo and after that odiel experience we came back the next year on one of our trips and visited poncho and he saw me and his eyes lit up and instead of running to me he went running back into his house and he came out with this stick this staff and it was something that he had found this piece of wood and he carved this rattlesnake and put the two eyes in it. And he's like, I made this for you. And I told Poncho, I said, Poncho, we're going to open a new store, new business, and this is going to hang in my office with pride

forever. And I'll bring you a picture to show you. And I decided to put it over the entryway because it's such an important piece of our Baja Stoke. And so every person that walks into Baja HQ unknowingly walks underneath it, but to the side there's a picture of Poncho and I together the day he gave it to me and the story. But you walked in today and you saw it, but it doesn't resonate because you don't know the story. So that's one of my proudest gifts. And Poncho passed away two years ago now. We're going on one of our trips coming up, I believe on Rip Tava, we're going to put a marker up for Poncho at San Rafael Fish Camp because we'll never forget his hospitality, his stoke, his vibe, his openness. He tells a story that one of the biggest

land barons had wanted to buy his property. And he said no. But he ended up telling us that we could build our house right next to his if we wanted to. Of course, we didn't take him up on it. We didn't do it. But that's just that's just poncho. You know, it's just who poncho is. And you know, I just, I focused on him, but there's so many great people, whether it's Edith and Carmen at, you know, you know, Edis or the office in Cabo or it's Antonio at Baja Cactus and trying to build the fire station in El Rosario, whether it's the people that run the orphanage at Rancho Santa Marta, or some of the Americans that are doing great things. You know, we've been involved with a food drive in San Felipe. There's a lady named Connie Coates, who's just super passionate, who is helping

out delivering food to people. And, you know, it's just, there's such exceptional. people all over the peninsula. How do you pick just a couple, right? You know, they're just really, really so many great people and so many great places to go. We're going to leave it there. Tell me, just in closing here, tell me about the business that we're in, Baja HQ, what you do here so people know.

Shameless plug, here's your opportunity. Yeah, I mean, we designed a business around building off-road aftermarket. We do tire and wheel for any vehicle, but we try and we try. to make it more of a community location than just the business so we've hosted quite a bit of functions here like when Ricky braeback and Casey Curry won the Dakar rally that doesn't directly impact us but we threw a party for them along with some of their sponsors just because it was a great accomplishment and we we feel like we're that community clubhouse and um you know our goal here is of course to have a business that can sustain itself but at the same time have a place that

shares that vibe, share the stoke is our tagline. And that's because we want people when they walk in to just be like, this place is cool. It's fun. They're talking off road. And my goal is to be able to just greet people when they come in and have my guys help them out. And our race team is also half the building, Desert Assassin. So people get to come in and see their trucks being worked on side,

you know, not side by side, but across the shop from real trophy trucks. And it's really fun to be able to share. that I don't know from a business standpoint, you know, if trophy truck racing is very smart. I also don't know if off-road aftermarket is all that smart, but we're having a great time doing it. So I'm super stoked. Are you able to talk at all about the Ford Bronco that's sitting down here? Yeah, we can talk about it. Tell me about that.

You're going to, you've got Ford. We are putting a truck together, it looks like. Sponsored from factory racing or from Ford Racing, I should say. So they have engaged us to run the race team aspect of it. We did not build the truck, but we are currently preparing it for the Baja 1000. We started talking to Ford a couple of years ago. They were looking for a team and a builder, and they weren't disclosing what they were doing, but we talked, and we assumed it was going to be a trophy truck.

And then they came to us with this project, the Bronco project. And I can tell you, we're a huge Ford believers. And seeing them work on Bronco and the engineering and the engineering and the effort they put into it tells you clearly why their Raptor is so successful because they have passion and they're not going to they are going to dig into the tiniest little crevasse to make sure everything is perfect and that's how the race team has been unfortunately you know we didn't finish the ball 1,000 last year with the Bronco that was more because it was just very like the the project didn't start until really late we never had all the testing and everything

now we have thousands of miles of testing and the Bronco is incredible but I will say when the Bronco didn't finish last year, it didn't have anything to do with Ford parts. And there are stock parts all over that vehicle. It is absolutely astounding from the mounting systems to the actual systems themselves. It's so much stock stuff. And it's like, wow, this stuff is really tough. And that's because they engineer it that way. And so the Broncos here.

We're working on it. We don't have people back in the shop really, so you can't really just come see it. But it's getting prepared for the Baja 1000. It's an honor to be a part of it. And looking forward to sharing the driving duties with some great people, Johnny Campbell, who's won the Bottle 1,00011 times. Our team manager, Renee Brugher's our lead tech on it. And we have a couple other great people like Kurt Leduc, Shelby Hall,

and Jason Shear from three-time King of Hammer's, all racing with us. And it's just an incredible opportunity to be able to share that with people. So are you a modern-day Bill Strop, building the Baja Bronco? No, I don't think so. Bill was a creator of, you know, he was more into all aspects of design and build. I would say that, you know, he did what Geyser Brothers and what Desert Assassins is doing together. Guys are built the truck.

We're managing the prep and the racing end of it. So, but Bill did all of that. So we haven't ever reached out to the fabrication level or creativity that Bill did. But I did try to get on Bill's team when I was a kid. You're a smart boy. Which everybody did, I'm sure. Yeah, a lot of respect for Bill and everything that he accomplished. And the people that not only race and prepare and do the logistics,

but build their own race vehicles, I really respect that 100%. Yeah. So if people want to follow along with what you're up to, you know, keep tabs on Baja HQ. What's the best way? Really the best, Baja HQ does have a website, but really the best way is to follow on. our social Desert Assassins or Baja HQ or Cameron Steel. We're pretty open with our information and we share quite a bit. We love to interact with our fans. It's not just about the number of people that like our page. It's the number of people to interact with us. We actually shut down our Desert

Assassin's website. It was just, it wasn't as functional as just going from our social media. But Baja HQ, since it's a proper business, has that website for people to go to. They can actually shop there and everything but social is the way to do it so they can find you on all the social platforms yep yeah they well we focus on instagram and and facebook mostly uh there is some other platforms that we use occasionally but those are the two that we're focusing on mostly we like the interaction you know a lot of people say facebook's old school but one thing facebook's great for is photo sharing so if you look back at desert assassins page there's a few times like we offered up a baha bound insurance t-shirt to the top three photos that were posted and we had like 160

76 photos posted. You can't do that on Instagram. So I really, I love that that photo sharing interaction that you can have on Facebook. So Desert Assassin's Facebook is, is pretty solid place to interact for off-roading. All right. Well, Cameron Steele, I've enjoyed this interaction. Thank you so much. I've enjoyed it. Thank you so much. And we didn't even talk about our kinship with the northern part of California.

Well, it's next time. Next time. All right, buddy. Thank you very much. Hey, you guys know what to do. Please help us by subscribing, sharing, rating, all that stuff. And if you missed anything, you can find the links in the show notes at slowbaha.com. I'll be back before you know it. And if you want to receive notices on new episodes, please follow Slow Baja on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for you old folks.