We recently connected with Michael Steel and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michael, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
I need to start by saying – the Class 11 race community is full of generous people. We are just a bunch of folks wanting to do the same thing – be competitive but also have a great time. And, most of us are very grassroots people, just tooling around in our garages. None of us has the big money it takes to run a huge, sophisticated racing organization. So, we are the most supportive group of people you will ever find! Sure, we’re competitive and still keep a few secrets, but all of us has had a bad day, all of us know the struggle of keeping an old beaten-down car going in the middle of nowhere, so we all help each other when we can.
And I think that applies to all of the old-school VW people. I have never found a more supportive or helpful community than the VW people. If you have a problem in a race, people (even spectators) will literally grab parts off their own car. That’s happened to me in Baja – race fans have just handed me parts or zip ties or wrenches if they see me stopped on the course. It’s what we do!
And, if you want to participate in this world, you have to be the same type of person. Those who are in it for themselves and are selfish get ostracized – I’ve seen it happen! But if you give advice, or parts, or elbow grease when someone else needs it, you better believe they’ll do it for you too. Someone once said to me “If I can be just a little part of you getting on top of the podium, then I’m happy.” That’s the attitude in this community.
So, why wouldn’t I be generous? Again, I take confidence from my ability to learn, but I can only learn with the help of others. And I built this business through social media because I knew I needed help, and I am so grateful for it! Anyone working in a vacuum can’t do much, but together we can go far. I’m incredibly grateful to those who taught me and so of course I’m going to be generous and give back to them and pay it forward to others.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Well, I’m Mike Steel, and I build off-road desert racing VW Beetles in my garage in Florida. This whole thing started as a result of the COVID crazies, My whole life, I’ve wanted to race in Baja, but there was a problem – I had never even built a car, much less raced one! So, when COVID hit and I was stuck at home, I bought a 1969 VW Beetle with the intent of building a Class 11 race car and taking on the Baja 500, and we’ve just grown since then!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The first quality is definitely my ability to learn. The hardest part about any (or all) of this is the learning curve. No matter what world you are in, you always have more to learn, and you usually don’t know what you don’t know. I’m not going to lie, this is where my arrogance really helps. I just always have that idea of “how hard can it be? or “why couldn’t I do this?” And then I just, jump in, man! I have confidence in my own intelligence and ability to learn, and that has carried me far in this world. I think a lot of people are hindered from trying something new because they are afraid of the learning curve and how much time, money, resources, etc. it will take. I say, if you can, just start! Start learning, start executing, and eventually you’ll get to the point that it becomes part of who you are. But… just start.
Going along with that, the second quality is my ability to ask for help. Yes, I take confidence from my ability to learn, but I can only learn with the help of others. And I built this business through social media because I knew I needed help, and I am so grateful for it! That’s why I called this team Idiot Racing – I’m the idiot here, and I never pretended to be anything less than that. But, I think that acknowledging my deficiencies from day one showed everyone my willingness to learn and overcome them. That is how I was really welcomed into this Class 11 racing world. Anyone working in a vacuum can’t do much, but together we can go far. If you acknowledge your limitations up front and show your willingness to try and to learn, then people are willing to teach you. Then eventually, you’ll become the expert!
I think the final quality is perseverance. I’ve wanted to do this for as long as I can remember, so the drive to achieve here runs deep. To me, if there is something that you truly want in this world, there is absolutely nothing that is going to stop you from achieving it.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
Your strengths are already your strengths, so that already puts you ahead of your competition. But, your weaknesses and your inability to acknowledge them are what puts you on the back foot and will keep you there until you do something about it. So it’s definitely better to try to become as well-rounded as possible.
My whole business is built around weakness! My strengths were my intelligence and a lifelong interest in cars, but everything else has been a weakness that I’ve had to overcome. And, again, I’ve had to rely on a lot of people, but coming in humble and acknowledging what my weaknesses are has really resulted in my success so far. People tune in to my Instagram page (@idiot.racing) to watch me find a problem, fix it, do it wrong. fix it again, and repeat. It makes me approachable, and as I’ve learned from others, I’ve started advising a lot of other amateur builders too!
Contact Info:
- Website: idiotracing.com
- Instagram: @idiot.racing
- Youtube: youtube.com/idiot.racing
- Other: TikTok: idiot.racing
Image Credits
Cynthia Steel, Kaylee Sletten, Viktor Beal
