Sara Price slid out of her off-road vehicle at the Dakar Rally, after a rigorous ride through the dust and dunes in Saudi Arabia, and checked for certain she had made history in the endurance event.
“I don’t think an American female’s ever won a stage, right,” she asked.
She was right, the 31-year-old Californian this week became the first woman American driver and third woman ever to win a Dakar stage. And it came in her debut at the race.
Price has forged a career out of remote adventures around the globe. She’s a former X Games medallist, drove in an electric racing series for Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 team owner Chip Ganassi, was a national dirt bike champion, and was a stunt driver in films such as Jumanji: The Next Level.
But racing in Dakar was a different challenge. The off-road race, which this year was held throughout jagged rocks and canyons in Saudi territory, had been just a dream for Price since 2015.
“This year, I finally just said, you know what, I’m going,” Price said. “If that takes spending every ounce of dollars I have in my savings account, I’m going to make it happen. I don’t want to wait any more. I was trying to get sponsors and funding to make it happen, I’d say heavily the last five years, and it just wasn’t happening. It’s a very expensive race to do.”
Price poured in her own money, held fundraisers in her hometown of Canyon Lake, California to raise roughly $500,000 and “took a leap of faith” to reach Dakar. She warmed up for Dakar with a second-place finish overall in the World Rally-Raid Championship in Morocco in October. There, Price also became the first American woman to earn a stage win in the race more commonly known as Rallye Du Maroc.
“We really did not expect to do as well as we did, but we ended up winning some stages and making some history there,” Price said. “That was huge, especially too, to be at the forefront for our country. All the little girls, looking up to me, saying, ‘Hey, I can do it, too,’ that’s pretty cool.”
Price arrived in Saudi Arabia with a group that included her mechanic, navigator, best friend, and boyfriend – fellow driver Ricky Brabec, who in 2020 became the first American to win the motorcycle division at Dakar. Price was racing in a country that only lifted a ban on woman drivers in 2018.
“The parts I’ve been in Saudi Arabia, I haven’t ever felt uncomfortable,” she said. “There’s times I’m a little bit cautious. But it’s all about kind of having your wits about you. Common sense. You’ve got to respect other cultures and how they are. Other people are raised a different way and I respect that. I come to their country knowing what I can do to make them feel comfortable as well as be comfortable myself.”
Originally a circuit from Paris to Dakar, the race has been run across Saudi Arabia since 2020. Price – with help from navigator Jeremy Gray – joined Jutta Kleinschmidt of Spain and Cristina Gutiérrez of Spain as woman winners at Dakar. Price’s win came in the T4 class, for production models.
“If you go anywhere else and race in the world, everyone knows Dakar Rally,” Price said. “They know Dakar is a pinnacle of off-road. Everyone knows the racers. But if you come to America, not everyone really is familiar with or it or they don’t know the racers. It’s not quite as intense as the rest of the world.”
Price hopes her stage win – with two stages left to go, the next two days are pivotal in clinching a victory or finishing on the podium – can open some eyes from fans and corporate sponsors in the American racing world.
“My whole life has been surrounded by racing,” she said. “I’ve raced from two wheels to four wheels, a lot of different disciplines. This is the pinnacle for me.” – Guardian/AP
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