One of the most annoying things for Steinberger is the open or “stuck” mic. Steinberger has some tips for properly using the radio channel. During race day the channel can get overloaded with status checks, code reds, and other race traffic. Hundreds of racers, chase crews, and locals have the “Weatherman” channel programmed into their radios. Steinberger had the ability to directly dial in the race teams frequency and get status updates in seconds. When Jim Conner became the race director for SCORE, Steinberger was asked to help with the communications for their races. From there, “Weatherman” stuck with everybody. Steinberger says MacPherson couldn’t remember his name. As Joe MacPherson came around the infield, he got on the radio and called out, “Hey, Weatherman” on the radio. Steinberger would write the numbers in the dust on the hood of his car. During the race, teams began coming up asking for status checks on their vehicles. “People understood I could all over the course,” Steinberger says. I got a 20-foot weather balloon with coaxial cable and tied an antennae off the bottom of it.” Steinberger sent it up into the air. It was during the 1976 Mint 400, Steinberger would be named “The Weatherman.” Steinberger says, “Bill Stroppe had a friend at Bower Ambulance in Long Beach who could get us helium bottles. Stroppe had 18 different vehicles racing at the time and naturally Steinberger began doing communications for the team. They are known as “Weatherman Diablo.” “During the Baja 2000 in 2000 I was in the airplane for 80 hours.” Steinberger says that’s the longest off-road race he’s ever done.īob Steinberger got involved in off-road racing through a friend who introduced him to Bill Stroppe. His call sign becomes “Weatherman Air.” He still sends a crew to the top of Diablo to help split the duties. During long peninsula runs where the race runs into Baja Sur, Steinberger is up in an airplane orbiting Baja. When the famous Dust to Glory movie came out showing 70 mph winds nearly destroying his tent, Steinberger decided it was time to switch to a camper. In the early days, Steinberger would camp in a tent and power his radios from a generator. “I would put my feet on the radio which was warm from all of the communications to thaw out,” Steinberger says. ” During the winter there can be several feet of snow on the mountain. Steinberger says, “On a clear day you can see the Sea of Cortez on one side and Pacific Ocean on the other. Naturally, it’s the best place to run a radio relay that can be heard from almost anywhere. In Baja the peak is called Picacho del Diablo and is the highest peak on the peninsula. He is famously known for spending days on the top of Mount Diablo. Now a resident of Parker, Arizona, Steinberger has been doing radio relay at off-road races for decades.
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