Meet Michele

Michele Martineau started her first Hot Wheels collection shortly after birth and learned to walk at her father’s old style service station.

At 21 Michele went to work for Land Rover, a 7 year career changed her life, allowing her to become an off road driving instructor and a ropes course guide. Land Rovers again became a life changing talisman when she joined the cast and crew of the Documentary Channel’s Beyond the Lane series, crawling Rovers across obscure trails in British Columbia as well as following a Baja legend at speed down the Baja peninsula in a Baja 1000 inspired trip, usually sleeping on top of a Defender 130.

Finally able to experience Baja, she found the calling too strong to ignore and volunteered with NORRA for the 2010 Mexican 1000 as part of the rally’s time control team. She returned for the 2011 event as Administrative Director of NORRA.

This summer she gave up her NORRA post to focus on developing her own off road racing 7S team, Team Courage. Her team races to raise money to fund mammograms. A breast cancer previvor, she’s developed education and support for other women facing breast reconstruction through her website Courage Is My Strength. Michele will be launching the Save the Girls Project in 2012, focusing on educating teens about the importance of early detection of breast cancer and other intimate issues that face young women.

You may have seen Michele at the start and finish lines of the NORRA Mexican 1000, in DirtSports Magazine, S & S Offroad Magizine, or read her article in the Dusty Times. Her Team Courage truck, Saving Grace, was on display with her team at the Lucas Oil Off Road Expo in 2010 with NORRA, and she and her team have been featured on SoCal Off Road Radio with Dave Stall.

Her wonderful husband and amazing son make her days off paradise, and with their support her gypsy spirit will continue searching for the next big adventure and the next big race! Tally ho, yall! With her strong spirit, tenacious personality, and calm in the face of the biggest storms, Michele is Team courage.

See Michele’s video for Team Courage Racing: