Pedal to the Metal

Americans Emily Miller and Wendy Fisher find their element in the Moroccan desert.

Together and buckled in for nine days of off-road driving. Courtesy: MAЇENGA

Sweaty, sandy, windblown, and exhausted. By the time driver Emily Miller and navigator Wendy Fisher emerge from the Moroccan desert after nine days of off-roading in their Hummer H3, they’ll be hard to pick out from the crowd of 218 all-female driver-navigator teams. These women from all over the world will be dust covered, exhausted, and elated after nine days of dodging scrub brush, passing camels, summiting mountains of sand, and hitting checkpoints one by one en route to the finish line. Despite the fact that Emily and Wendy’s standout talent actually helps them blend into the crowd, this dynamic duo will be a bit out of its element “I’ve done everything from triathlons to 24-hour races,” Emily says. “But it’s funny—I live in a small neighborhood, so I almost never drive my car.”

Team Miller-Fisher—made up of a rugged Southern California sports-marketing entrepreneur and an Olympic big-mountain skier—will be the only American team, again, to participate in the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles, an all-woman off-road rally in its 20th year. The race is dominated by French driver-navigator teams, the best in the world, so if it weren’t for Emily’s training under off-road driving legend Rod Hall, the odds might be stacked against them.

After only six years behind the wheel, Emily has already gained notoriety as the first female driver to solo the three-day TSCO Vegas To Reno race and for a top finish in the Baja 1000, one of the most famous off-road rallies. Yet despite Emily’s world-class driving, the pair isn’t gunning for first place. Emily and Wendy hope to land in the top 10 out of 109 teams this go-around and then break into the top three next year. “Our goal is to draw other American teams to this event to build its exposure in the United States and to get women driving,” Emily says.

The race itself is tough, but before heading to the start line they recall last year’s nitty-gritty with an enthusiasm that belies the struggle. Military rations, 4 a.m. starts, outdated topographical maps, compass navigation, soft dunes, flat tires, siphoning gas, and getting lost are the makings for many emotional (and automobile) breakdowns, which Emily and Wendy take in good stride and even laugh about. “There were five times when I was fighting back tears,” Wendy says of last year’s race, her first. “But those painful moments were short lived, and hopefully next time I’ll only feel like crying two times.”

Only twice would be impressive. Especially since, apart from the stress brought on by short sleeps and all-day concentration, this year’s Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles will be Wendy’s second-ever off-road rally. While the Colorado-based mother of two honed her intuitive sense of direction and keen ability to analyze her environment through her experience a big-mountain skier—she even earned a 1992 U.S. Olympic team spot and is a recurring fixture in Warren Miller’s annual ski films—Wendy admits that the blind navigation she’s charged with in Morocco is new to her. “I felt really vulnerable and was disappointed when we got lost,” she says about last year.

Emily chimes in immediately to explain what a tough job Wendy has and why her contribution is so important to the team dynamic: “She’s a really, really hard worker,” Emily says of her partner. “It’s intense but it makes us better friends.”

This friendship and camaraderie, both between each other and with the other teams, is a huge part of why Emily and Wendy are so excited to race again. It’s also why they’re challenging other American women to throw down the roughly $30,000 required to outfit a team. “We’re out of our element in a lot of ways,” says Wendy, “It’s no vacation, but the views and the scenery and all the rest … it’s the best way to see Morocco.”

Follow Team Miller-Fisher on their website at teammillerfisher.com and visit the team videographer, Dan Campbell-Lloyd’s website to see daily footage of the race at http://dancampbelllloyd.blogspot.com/2010/03/team-miller-fisher.html