On 12 August, The Checkered Flag spoke with Brock Heger about his impending Dakar Rally début in 2025.
The full transcript of the interview is available below. Some text has been altered from the actual dialogue to improve readability.
An article on the interview can be read here.
Transcript
TCF: How did the plan to race Dakar come together?
BH: I think it’s multiple things. My long career, some of it came from my success last year with Polaris and the whole new team with SCi (Scanlon Clarke Incorporated) and the success on the desert side. I think a lot had to come with that and I think a lot came with it, my team principals, everyone around me just trying to push me to be a professional athlete. I think it’s just kind of numerous things and just being at the right place at the right time.
TCF: Back in January during Polaris’ 2024 season press conference, you were asked if you would ever race Dakar and you basically said, “I wouldn’t say no.” Did you think seven months later that you would already be on your way there?
BH: No, I didn’t. I didn’t know it would happen this soon. It was just one of those things when I started with Polaris and the whole new team. I saw that they were going there with Xavier (de Soultrait) last year and everything, so I just kind of figured that there was an opportunity there at some point. I just wanted to put my best foot forward and do everything right, everything I could on my end to be doing good and winning races, and just try to put myself in a good situation where if the time does come that I’m on the list of going. With it coming out and happening so soon, I didn’t think it would happen this soon, but I’m looking forward to it.
TCF: Have you had a chance to test the rally model of the RZR Pro R Factory yet or at least compare it to what you’re used to?
BH: Yep, I have. I have driven it numerous times and it’s really fun to drive. It’s very, very similar to our race cars now, our Gen-2 race cars. There’s just a few minor things that have their differences and it’s nice knowing that they’re very similar to our cars now. When it comes time to go in there, it’s not going to be something completely different.
TCF: What would you say is your main goal for your first Dakar? Is it just to finish or do you think you can go out there and win right away?
BH: Obviously, I want to go there and finish and do all of that, but at the same time, I want to go there and do good. There’s a lot of support on my end and a lot of people putting in a lot of time and effort for it. For me, I want to go there and put my best foot forward and do the best I can do and hopefully make a lot of people proud.
RT (Ryan Thomas, Polaris Factory Racing general manager): I think that any race car driver you talk to, and I can say this for Brock specifically, he doesn’t enter a race if he doesn’t think he’s got an opportunity to win. Winning is definitely the primary objective, but there’s also, you know, it’s a new format for him and a lot to learn. But I can say from the Polaris and the SCi side of things, we’re not thinking that Brock’s going to go for a finish. We’re certainly not going to be disappointed if he does finish, but we’re going there to win.
BH: Yeah. On my side, Ryan said it well. We don’t show up places just to do mediocre. I want to put my best foot forward and try to make a lot of people proud and maybe shock them.
TCF: How much confidence does having someone like Max Eddy, who’s done Dakar before, as a co-driver give you?
BH: It’s huge to have Max going and riding with me. He’s done it before so his expertise on that side is going to be huge. He’s a friend of mine, he’s a team-mate of mine, he’s an American as well, so to have Max going, having him in the right seat just gives me that extra edge of confidence. I’m really looking forward to having him there.
TCF: To expand on that last one, how has Polaris Factory Racing, so Cayden (MacCachren) and everyone else, helped you improve as a driver?
BH: With this whole team, we just push each other to be better. We race against each other and whatnot, but we try to push each other to be the best that we can. We try to push our equipment to make the equipment the best that we can, so it’s nice having a bunch of competitive team-mates that just want the best out of everyone.
RT: I think something to add to that too, you may not be aware of this Justin, but in the vein of helping each other grow, Brock has experience racing in the rock at King of the Hammers and he did race for Polaris and SCi at this recent King of the Hammers in the Stock Pro R class and he won. Brock, to be honest and hopefully I’m not throwing you under the bus here, up to this point, a navigator has really kind of been dead weight for Brock. He doesn’t typically rely on a navigator. Max raised his hand and wanted to get some rock experience for King of the Hammers, and Brock was more than happy to let him ride with him at King of the Hammers. They spent some time together in a racing environment with Max sitting right seat, so there’s an established relationship, driver to co-driver in that regard, and then it came back to your question around that. It was a perfect opportunity for Max to get real time experience in the rocks without having the pressure of having to perform and having never done it before.
And then they came out on top. They came really close to actually… so they won their class and I can’t remember, Brock, you were like fourth overall?
BH: Yeah. We were fourth overall in a stock class against everyone. That was my first experience with Max riding, and we did well there. Like Ryan said, I’ve lacked maybe a little bit of having a really good co-driver and everything that Max kind of showed there. With Dakar coming up and needing a really important co-driver, I felt like it was very important to get him there.
RT: And it was interesting, Justin, that wasn’t a flippant decision that was made. We actually had quite a few conversations with a variety of different people in the space and clearly somebody that has experience over there is important, but what was really stressed to us from a couple different channels was the importance of having somebody in the car that you have a relationship with or no barriers there.
Xavier was one of the people that really drove that home. It was not with any leading questions. He came out of the gate, kind of just saying, “Hey, you know, when some teams come to do this, they think they got to go hire some top-notch great navigator that’s got a ton of experience.” That’s not out of the question, but then he really drove home the point of how important a prior relationship should and can be. You’re going to spend a solid ten weeks in the same car and pretty much every waking hour together, so that importance of having somebody you get along with and communicate well with front and back and all of those things. Max just really fit the bill once we really peel the layers back.
TCF: You’ve done a lot of off-road racing over the years; you’ve done short course, SCORE, King of the Hammers, rally raid. How has having such a diverse résumé shaped you as a driver?
BH: I think I’m pretty diverse. I’ve done a lot of forms of racing and different types of terrain. I think it has helped me throughout the years with short course and being able to have that intensity to doing every type of desert racing, different states and different terrain, that side of stuff. I live in the desert; growing up around the desert scene and trying to read terrain and everything, I feel like I do pretty good at it. Just having the diverse kind of background on a lot of racing in the dirt, I think that’s kind of helped me looking forward to putting it to the test.
TCF: I talked with Cayden a couple of months ago after San Felipe and he basically described you as, to quote, “He has something that not a lot of people have. It’s the link from his brain to his hands to his butt in the seat. He just feels what the car is doing and he responds to that so well.” How would you personally describe your own driving style and ability?
BH: I feel I have a good feel to my equipment and being able to put it to the test with trying to keep the car together. I don’t know. I’ve done it for so long, it’s hard to narrow it back. It’s very kind of Cayden to say such because his dad is the true definition of a GOAT. His dad is honestly someone I’ve looked up to my entire career starting in short course, that’s what his dad did, and then his career in desert. Just trying to be like Rob, he’s one of the best to ever do it, and it’s obviously really cool to look up to him and now obviously to be racing with his son.
TCF: Looking ahead, what would you say you are most looking forward to at Dakar next year?
BH: I’m looking forward to the adventure. I’m not positive on what that adventure looks like, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’m looking forward to racing with a really good team, racing with Xavier which won last year. He’s been very, very helpful in the journey going there.
Just looking forward to the whole adventure, you know, as a whole. Working with all the guys, working with Polaris, just trying to be the best we can every day at the stage, whether that’s making the car better or just focusing on different driving techniques to try to be better. Just looking forward to the adventure as a whole.
Representing USA is crazy to look at it and picture how that looks. It’d be cool to go and represent USA. I’m from a small town in Imperial Valley, a small farm town, so there’s going to be a lot of small town in the spotlight. I’m kind of pushing, trying to push luck.
So just looking forward to the whole adventure and being one of the few Americans to go and race it. Seth (Quintero) and A.J. (Jones) and the few that go, they have done really well, so just to try to keep that going.
TCF: How do you plan to prepare for Dakar outside of your usual races with Polaris? Are there any rallies you plan on running?
BH: No, we talked about doing some, but there’s a lot more preparation that’s going to go into it. It’s going to be a lot of training on the roadbook side of things. I haven’t quite started, but we’re getting really close to starting that venture. I’m looking forward to it. I want to put in all the work that I possibly can to show up and be prepared and and just to take it day by day.
RT: We do have some navigational training scheduled, Justin, with a guy Jimmy Lewis. Jimmy has trained Casey Currie, he’s trained Sara Price and Ricky Brabec from a navigational standpoint. He was our first call to get something scheduled and we do have something in the books here later in September to get both the guys out and do some navigational training.
And then I do believe we are not at this point slated to run the Rallye du Maroc. I think the reason for that is because they’re planning a test session in Morocco that is going to serve as testing but also some training in Morocco.
BH: Yeah, I think Morocco’s going to be something like stage or mock rallies is our plan and obviously having Xavier there. With the testing I’ve been doing recently in the car, the car has changed, so to get Xavier in it and get that side of things rolling.
TCF: After Dakar, what’s next on your bucket list, you would say?
BH: You know, I haven’t put the ‘what’s next’ on the bucket list after Dakar. I’m just kind of focusing on what I’m doing now and focusing on Dakar and just going to try to do the best I can and get through Dakar and set another target after that. But for now, it’s just clicking them off.
RT: Yeah, and I think that speaks to the life of a professional race car driver to a degree. You’re only as good as your last victory. The guys that do end up making a career out of this, they know that it can end real quickly. A lot of times, that focus is just really what’s at hand, knowing that your future is dependent on what you do right now.
TCF: Before we wrap this up, is there anything else you’d like to add?
BH: I don’t have much. Obviously, thank you and thank you guys for having me on here. If you guys ever need anything, feel free to reach out.
RT: I’ll chime in with one more thing. I think on behalf of everybody, Brock included, that the opportunity to be chosen by Polaris to do something like this is a huge honour. It’s not without significant resources and costs associated with it. Brock’s performance and the team performance up to this point has shown the people at Polaris that they can count on us to win races. Just to kind of circle back to what I said at the beginning, the honour that goes along with being a part of this: there’s a lot of people that have a dream like this, whether as a race team or a driver, that honestly feels so far out of reach for the average person that to be selected for something like this is an incredible honour, with a lot of responsibility as well.
BH: You’re right, it’s obviously an honour. There’s a lot of people pushing for this, whether it’s my team principals from SCi and on the desert side and everyone within Polaris that believe that I can go there and do them proud.
