The name Steve Olliges has been associated with off-road racing championships and Ford for more than three decades now. The guy has racked up a hall of fame list of accomplishments. As a member of the original Rough Riders team (yes we had the poster, too) he made his name as a young man and as his career has progressed he has continued to maintain a level of excellence that few in the sport have achieved. As many great drivers, especially in the off road realm are concerned, he still maintains a busy schedule and in this video we hear him talking about the upcoming Mint 400 and the relationship he has with the race. It was literally the place where he got his start as a kid and a place where he as dominated before.
BFGoodrich tires has made a series of these videos, featuring racers who will be competing at the Mint 400 and what we dig most about this one is the fact that there’s all kinds of great footage of Olliges out in the desert messing around with his retro bodied Class 8 Ford throwing dirt and jumping for the camera. We don’t believe that this is the truck he’ll be driving in the Unlimited Trick Truck class at the Mint 400 but we don’t care, this one is absolutely freaking awesome.
Olliges talks about his career and through his talking and stories, there’s all kinds of vintage Mint 400 footage spliced in. Even if you aren’t a big off road racing fan this video should still grab you on its sheer gearhead centric nature. To us, it is always interesting to hear guys like Olliges talk about how they got going in their particular sport and in his case, it was something he saw on the pages of a magazine and ended up becoming one of the best to ever do it. Amazing. Almost as amazing as his Stroppe Bronco that you’ll see him cruising to start the video.
