Ronn Bailey enjoys releasing his inner Indiana Jones, be it motorcycling across the Arctic or through Mexico or, as he'll do in January, competing in the 2005 Dakar Rally, a 7,000-mile off-road car race from Barcelona, Spain, to Dakar, Senegal, all the while hoping to avoid land mines, jihadists and crippling fatigue (since 1999, three competitors have died from dehydration).
It's a leisure life every bit as adventurous as his day job is serious. As founder, chief executive officer and chief technology officer of Vanguard Integrity Professionals, a local company specializing in software security, Bailey has consulted for the likes of IBM and NASA, to the United Nations and the Department of Homeland Security. As an off-road racer, he's never competed—to ready for Dakar, he's driving a 3,000-mile course in Baja, California.
Former Enron boss Jeff Skilling leading expeditions in the Australian outback; Richard Branson climbing buildings and skydiving; you lead-footing it in Dakar. What's up with the CEO- as-daredevil these days?
I'm an adventurer, not a racer. The adventurer and the racer share the same passion. Both accept tremendous risks. The adventurer wants the experience. The racer wants the win. I want both for Team Vanguard. While some people might think it's odd that an amateur is heading a professional team in the world's hardest off-road adventure, people that know me aren't really surprised—self-discovery and self-extension, as well as a continuous raising of the bar of self-performance is a part of my soul.
You're confident you can contend?
Dakar is the biggest, toughest, most grueling off-road experience in the world. It is the race of races. I want the satisfaction of knowing that I was part of the biggest, toughest, most grueling off-road experience in the world—and that my presence there made a difference to Team Vanguard and to myself. And our team will make a difference because of my support staff and co-pilot Steve Meyers. Steve is a second-generation off-road racer. He's told me there is no doubt in his mind that with the right equipment and the right crew, we will finish first at Dakar. Steve has the credentials and experience to back up what he is talking about.
The Dakar race is nearly 7,000 miles. What's your longest road trip?
I've motorcycled to the Artic Circle and throughout Mexico to the Sea of Cortez, covering hundreds if not thousands of miles.
Longest you've ever gone without heeding nature's call? (There are no bathroom breaks.)
Both pilot and co-pilot drive attached to a catheter. There's nowhere to pull over and there aren't any rest stops in the desert.
How true is it that some 20,000 land mines dot the path? Wouldn't racing along that route violate some kind of Geneva Convention?
We understand that after years of local warlords feuding that there's a residual amount of legacy land mines dotting the race course. It doesn't violate the Geneva Convention, but it may call into question one's sense of adventure. All off-road races from the two leading off-road race associations, SCORE and Best of the West, added together, total less distance than Dakar. No other race compares to this 7,000-mile challenge, starting in Spain on January 1, 2005, and ending in Senegal some 17 days later. Dakar is so large and significant, in fact, that it has its own racing association, TSO.
Historically, most of the people who have started the Dakar have not finished. In many cases, this is due to physical exhaustion. Drivers can encounter "bandidos" or local wars, be kidnapped or shot at. Dakar has no roads for thousands of miles, hundreds of thousands of sand dunes and savannahs, broiling sun and a dryness unlike anything you've ever experienced. Since a different route is planned each year, specific course preparation is impossible, and since participants are not towed to the starting point for each day's segment until the night before, there is no such thing as a route-check or dry run. Dakar is, quite simply, the toughest race there is. The race of races. The test of tests.
What about the possibility of terrorist strikes? Islamic dissidents frequent the area.
Obviously, it's a concern or we wouldn't be cautioned about flying our U.S. flag on any of our vehicles.
Why not hit a drag strip or drive a funny car? They're safer.
Just to enter Dakar is the experience of a lifetime. To finish Dakar is to be a champion. To win Dakar is to become an instant legend. I've never found the safest route to be the best route, and I've been successful because I always try to look at things differently, to take a different path and to enjoy the experience immensely. You only get one ride on life's merry-go-round.
Presuming you finish Dakar, what's next?
There's no shortage of adventures I'd like to experience. I've thought about cycling across the African continent.
You have daredevil insurance?
What do you think?
How do think you'll feel before start time?
Not as great as I'll feel myself, for my teammates and for my country when we cross the finish line.