As the 2024 holiday season approached, Sara Price — the first American female driver and third woman in history to win a stage at the Dakar Rally — was spending her days in the desert with her team. We had a chance to catch up with Price in between training sessions for her return to the Dakar Rally in January 2025, where she’ll debut the new Can-Am Maverick R side-by-side.
Thank you, Sara, for taking the time. The race is coming up, so, can you start by telling me what your daily routine is like as you prepare for a race?
I think my daily routine kind of changes all the time, you know? There’s a lot of days I’m actually in the office because there’s a lot of media and there’s a lot of time spent just the logistics and making sure you have everything dialed in on the paperwork side, which a lot of people don’t think of. I’m trying to get out to the desert as much as possible with all that, and so, we’ve been training a lot with Jimmy Lewis, we’ve been out in our local deserts doing road books and doing everything we possibly can, and, as you know, getting your body ready and your mental ready. Preparation is everything. Double, triple checking your bags, making sure you’ve got everything you might need, and that everything is t’s crossed and i’s dotted, there’s a lot of variables that have to be gone through and just keep making sure that you have it all dialed.
Would that happen to be the same Jimmy Lewis who works with Emily Miller on the Rebelle Rally?
Yes! I love Jimmy and Emily!
That’s funny, I covered the Rebelle Rally for HowStuffWorks back in 2018.
Oh, cool! Yeah, Emily is one of my really good friends and a big mentor.
And one of my questions was about mentors and heroes, so…
Yeah!
Right into that…
Emily Miller is a great mentor of mine and has been a long-time friend, someone who will give it to me straight whenever I need a little checkup in reality. And Jimmy Lewis, I’m surrounded by really good people and I think that’s the key to success is being surrounded by good people and by people who push you and who also tell you the honest truth. So yeah, I have some really great people in my life and especially to help me succeed.
Feel free to give a shout out to whoever you want right now, I would love to hear about it.
I definitely want to give a shout out to Jimmy Lewis, my trainer. He is a mastermind when it comes to definitely making you lost when you’re out there training to make the race as easy as possible. Not that any race is easy, especially Dakar is not easy. He is a big key to our success and he, there’s just no one like him, so, thank you, Jimmy! Also Emily Miller, she’s the one person who I can always call and she’ll give it to me straight, and you know, she’s been in the industry for a very long time, and she’s not afraid to make it clear what she thinks, you know, her opinion on how to reach success. I absolutely love her, so thank you, Emily. And last but not least, I would say my small little team I work with that I call my family, that is Cynthia Prefontaine, she is a huge part of everything I do in management and also she’s there when I’m on the ground when I go to Dakar, so she’s helped me strategize and do everything I possibly can to be the best. She does a lot of stuff on the back end that not a lot of people see. My agent, Mills, is a big part of making Dakar happen this year, and my navigator Sean [Berriman], of course, and my boyfriend Ricky [Brabec]. My boyfriend also is racing Dakar, as you guys know, so it’s pretty fun to bounce ideas off him all the time about training and also daily life. This is what we eat, live, breathe. This is our life.
Back to the prep for the rally, do you have specific fitness routines or nutrition routines to help make sure your mental focus and physical fitness are on point?
I’ve been a professional athlete since I was 8 years old — well, I was 8 and trying to be a professional athlete. I went professional at 16 in motocross, so, I’m always watching out for my fitness and health, but when you’re out traveling to all these crazy places like I do when I’m racing, you can’t have a strict diet because you won’t be able to follow it when you’re racing. So, you’ve got to have a world of likes, nutrition, it’s just the common sense factor of being healthy. Watch what you eat, don’t east something crazy, don’t live off of candy, and everything in moderation is what’s preferred in the sports we do with the traveling we do. As for training, I’m always active, getting into the gym whenever I can, doing spin classes. The best thing you can do is, obviously, drive time, seat time. That’s my life, too, just always being fit, being as healthy as possible within reason, nothing crazy.
This question was suggested by a friend who’s an experienced rally driver — I am not, I am just not cut out for it even though I admire the hell out of it — what is the biggest challenge in the remote areas that people wouldn’t expect, compared to less-remote rallies?
One that stands out after going to Dakar for the first time last year, I would say the Empty Quarter [a large region of sand dunes in Saudi Arabia where there is typically an endurance stage of the race] is something that’s just unreal. It’s wild. I’ve never seen something like it. They honestly put us on the airplane when we finished the 48-hour stage to look at the terrain from above, and I couldn’t even see where the dunes ended from the airplane. It’s absolutely wild. The craziest dunes, and the terrain there, you have a crazy half-a-mile downhill into a flat, hard surface dirt bed. So, it’s the attributes of where you’re remote and the things that can get you are very big and very gnarly. The Saudi desert is no joke. It’s absolutely amazing, you have so many different kinds of terrains. The remote areas in Dakar, you’re remote the whole entire time, I think that’s the difference compared to any other time you’re remote. It’s just remote. You just have to be on your A-game because you don’t have help anywhere close and it’s definitely going to kill your time to be competitive.
What’s in your garage at home?
In my garage at home, well, I just built my dream shop and we’re currently moving into it. I have a Can-Am Maverick R, of course, and I have a Can-Am Commander. I have my [Ford] F-250 that pulls my Can-Ams, and I have a BMW M2 Competition.
Okay, so you’ve got everything covered. You’re a truck girl and… do you take your BMW on the track?
I haven’t yet, but I did buy it for that reason. I’m hoping to get there soon.
What color is it? I’m a nerd.
White. Everything’s white, besides my Can-Ams. My Can-Ams are now my Rip & Dip colors, our ranch is called Rip & Dip Ranch, so it’s retro ripper vibes, like neon, so it’s neon yellow, blue, and pink.
What else is in your dream shop, in terms of tools and equipment?
This is what I’m doing right now! We just got our Boxo tool kit, our Boxo tool boxes, and they’re fully outfitted with every tool you can possibly imagine. You need a lift in the shop. One of the special things that not a lot of people know about but totally geek out on when they see it is Levracks. So we’ve got Levracks in the garage and in our work bays, and it’s so cool. They’re these storage systems that slide across. That’s our work bays, they’re super dialed right now, they’re almost there. We’re almost 100% moved in. And then we have a little build out, a little kitchen and bathroom in the shop, and containers we put our stuff in to make it not look so messy all the time.
Any other pro tips you can share for our readers who might be building out their own garage?
Must-haves are definitely a lift, Levracks, Boxo tools. I would have to say, we got some really cool tables fabricated that are on wheels, so they can wheel around with us wherever we go. I really want a robot vacuum because it is so hard to sweep our shop all the time! I need a good vacuum that maybe can just do it by itself. That’s not so far in our future.
Maybe a sponsor will send you one after they see this.
Yeah, hopefully! Anyone who knows of a vacuum —
Industrial robot vacuum!
And then, I don’t have a partnership or anything, but I am a Milwaukee Tools girl. I love all the power tools from Milwaukee, so you’ll see Milwaukee everywhere in our work bay.
So when you’re not working, or you’re relaxing, where do you go to drive and chill and get some time to yourself or with your friends?
Rip & Dip Ranch! Our shop is actually located on the Colorado River, so when we’re not in the desert riding or driving right from our shop, we’re on our beach and we’re wake surfing or wake foiling or jet skiing or whatever it could be. We’re having a good time out in the water.
What else do you want to share about your life or your experiences?
It depends on what you want to know! I do a lot. I race boats full time as well, I’m a stunt woman in Hollywood…
You race boats full time?
Yeah, I also race boats.
You have more hours in the day than anyone else.
No, I really don’t have any free time. I’m hoping to get a free day before Dakar! Dakar’s my everything. It’s my dream that I set out to do. Since 2015 I’ve been trying to make Dakar happen and this last year, I finally did. It took every ounce of money I had to make it happen, and to go back this year and not have to pay so much, definitely I’m grateful, and I can’t wait. Aside from the Dakar effort, which I feel just takes years off your life to make it happen, I just started racing boats this last year because it was a good opportunity to do something fun and I got paid as a salaried driver so I was able to kind of help replenish my funds for Dakar.
Tell me a little bit about the Hollywood stunt work.
I’ve been doing stunts in Hollywood and in the union since 2013. A lot of the car commercials or big movies you see, usually it’s me driving behind the lens. That’s a big part of my career that helps me afford to go racing.
What’s your favorite Hollywood production that you’ve been involved in?
One that everyone would be more aware of is “Jumanji,” that’s a big one. I was Ruby Roundhouse’s stunt double. That one was pretty cool and a lot of people resonate with that one.
Nice. What other goals do you have?
Win Dakar!
And after that?
Honestly, I don’t know. Dakar is the top of my list, that’s my everything, that’s all I ever wanted. I don’t know what to set my sights on after that. After that, I think it’s more of giving back to the community and more kind of evolving and adapting to what my new life might look like, like running the shop and running race teams and just racing for fun with family and friends. Just kind of living out the legacy I hope to leave.
What does giving back to the community look like for you?
With Rip & Dip Ranch, our plan is to actually have events and do maybe experience weekends, where let’s say, I want to have a big group of girls come out, we all have Can-Ams, I can set them up with a car and teach them how to properly drive it and work on it, and also have a good time with the facilities, the beach, the shop, going out to the desert, and also, you know, teach them how to drive it fast and properly. So when you go out on a trail ride the next time and you’re with a bunch of, whoever, you can be like, “Oh, wait, hold on, I got this. I’ll fix it for you.”
Look me up when that happens, all right?
All right. I will.
Thank you. I’m going to let you go and let you make the most of your last day off before the holidays and the race! Thank you, and good luck, we’ll be pulling for you.
