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THE OFFROAD LESS TRAVELED
Hatteras Island’s Valerie Stump prepares to tackle Baja Mexico’s most prestigious race.
Some of life’s most important moments happen on impulse. In 1994, Valerie Stump spent Spring Break in Rodanthe and was totally smitten. Three weeks later, the then-23year-old came back to wait tables for the summer — and never left. That single move changed the Ohio native’s whole life. It ignited her love for the beach, introduced her to her husband of 23 years, and led her toward one of her greatest passions: offroading.
“It was something that I just thought was amazing, especially coming from the north,” Stump says. “Just a neat way to get out there and get away from everything.”
Now, nearly three decades later, she’s about to jump on a whole new adventure. This April, Stump and a team of three other women will embark on a five-day, roughly 1,000mile journey down the Baja Peninsula for the National Off Road Racing Association’s Mexican 1000 — one of the most prestigious races in the world.
Founded in 1967 by Ed Pearlman and Don Francisco, the NORRA Mexican 1000 begins in the town of Ensenada, sending drivers south through the cities of San Felipe, Guerrero Negro, Loreto, and La Paz, before crossing the finish line in San Jose Del Cabo.
“It’s interesting because it’s offroad, but it’s also on-road,” says Stump. “You’ll be driving down what you think is the race trail, and all of a sudden there’ll be a minivan with a family next to you. Sometimes you’re driving through people’s farms and there’s cattle everywhere. Other times you’re along these cliffs, looking down at the sea.”
Although it’s her first time racing through the desert, the life Valerie’s built for herself on the Outer Banks has prepared her well. In fact, Stump’s team will be racing a Meyers
ORV XTC. Photo: Daniel Pullen
Manx II in the Legends League division, meaning they’re driving a buggy made between 1976 and 1982 — very similar to the kind Valerie and her husband, Eric, used to drive when they first began dating.
“When I met Eric, he had a couple VW Bugs, and one had a simple ‘Baja kit’ on it,” Stump recalls. “That basically means the fenders are cut so bigger tires can fit, the headlights are inset on the front apron (as opposed to sticking up off the top of the fenders), it has Nerf bars on the side for body protection, and the rear engine compartment is cut/modified.”
In 2006, the couple opened Island Cruisers, a 4x4 rental business in Salvo. Today, they’ve expanded their business to include golf carts and beach buggies.
But while Stump’s spent years driving offroad, her racing partners are all comparatively new. She met all three women through the Manx Club — an international dune buggy enthusiasts club that she and Eric joined in 2010. In June 2020, Stump received a call from fellow Manx Club member Robin Murray, who told her it was her dream to have an allwoman team race the NORRA 1000 — and she wanted Stump to join.
“At first, I thought, ‘Who’s voice is this and why are they punking me?’” Stump says. “And then I heard the other two girls who I was familiar with in the background. I was like, ‘Wow, I just can’t believe this’ — I was quite honored.”
They decided to call themselves “The Best Day Ever” team. The four women will race in shifts. Inside the Meyers Manx will be a driver and a navigator, while the two other team members will ride behind them in the crew car to rest. They’ll switch roles about every four hours. Stump’s husband and son, both skilled mechanics, will be in the crew car as well.
Because the majority of the course takes place on clay soil or sand, Stump and her team will wear helmets equipped with an air filtration system. Another requirement is fire-proof shoes and fire-resistant suits.
Best Day Ever was originally set to race in April 2021, but those plans got derailed by the pandemic. Just as race dates have shifted, so has the makeup of the team. Murray and one other member of the OG crew are no longer racing.
Although there have been bumps along the way, the mission driving Best Day Ever forward has remained consistent: breast cancer awareness. Stump and her team have been raising funds for their race, a portion of which will go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. In addition, there will be stickers of the names of people who have battled breast cancer plastered on Best Day Ever’s vehicle.
The team estimates the total cost of the race to be $21,885.67. They’re aiming to raise that money through sponsorships and donations before the start of the race on April 29.
Besides funding, Stump says one of the biggest challenges leading up to the race has been preparing as a team while being spread out across four different states. They met last in October 2021 for a training day in Salvo, where they practiced taking their gear on and off and getting the vehicle unstuck from the sand. In March, the team plans to gather in Arizona to drive on a terrain more similar to the Baja Peninsula.
At press time, Stump still had never driven a buggy offroad anywhere but the Outer Banks. Still, she says she’s looking forward to getting in the driver’s seat.
“One thing that’s reassuring to me — because I am pretty nervous about it — is it’s really a race that you could go slow and steady in and still win it because you’re not going to blow your car up by pushing it to the limits,” she says. “You’re not gonna hit something out of the blue that you don’t see because you’re going so fast.”
Still, while the first-time racers likely won’t drive more than 90 miles per hour (the more experienced racers hit speeds up to 140), that won’t put her team out of the mix, as even the fastest car can be foiled by mechanical or other troubles.
“If we can finish, we will be super stoked,” Stump says. “If we place, that’s awesome.”
So, what would that 23-year-old, seize-the-day version of Stump say if she could see herself now?
“I think she would say, ‘Go for it. You can do this. You’ve got nothing to lose.’”
— Arabella Saunders
