Hawaii stunt car driver competes in thousand-mile, all-female race through desert

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - This is not your typical automobile race.

Right now, the Rebelle Rally, an off-road endurance run over sand dunes and tough terrain, is taking place in the California-Nevada desert.

And all the racers are women.

Hawaii-born Verena Mei is a Rebelle Rally veteran, and a race and stunt car driver.

She’s behind the wheel for the Kia team.

“So we’re driving through a lot of washes. It could be a road or something that looks like a road. There’s no set course so we have to set our own course,” Mei said.

Tana White is the navigator.

Together they call themselves team “Plot Twist.”

White’s job is to keep them on course by using old-school tools: a map and a compass.

“As we’re going along and moving forward, I am constantly looking at features and checking them off on the map as we go,” White said.

Along the way, they search for markers to up their score while maintaining speeds that get them to check points in allotted amounts of time.

“I’ve been within a meter and it feels pretty darn good,” White said.

Forty teams entered this year.

Last year, White and Mei finished second in their car class.

This year, they’re driving a 2023 Kia Sportage over the course’s 1,500 miles.

“Last year we were just learning to communicate,” Mai said. “We didn’t know each other prior to that.”

Now they do, and they also know how the Rebelle Rally boosts the confidence of its female competitors.

“We just have to trust ourselves,” White said. “We have to have the confidence in ourselves. We can do amazing things.”

Racers will reach the finish line on Saturday.

You can track team Plot Twist’s by clicking here.

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