Off-road racer Sara Price celebrates breakthrough at Dakar Rally - ESPN

Sara Price slid out of her off-road vehicle at the Dakar Rally, after a rigorous ride through the diabolical dust and dunes in Saudi Arabia, and had to check for certain she had made history in the endurance event.

«I don't think an American female's ever won a stage, right?» she asked.

Price was right: The 31-year-old Californian this week became the first female American driver and third woman ever to win a Dakar stage.

Not bad for a Dakar rookie.

Price has forged a career out of remote adventures around the globe. She is a former X Games medalist, drove in an electric racing series for Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 team owner Chip Ganassi, was a national dirt bike champion, and went Hollywood for a spell, earning credits as a stunt driver, including in «Jumanji: The Next Level.»

But racing in Dakar?

The off-road race that stretches for thousands of miles, this year held for up to 15 days throughout the jagged rocks and canyons in Saudi territory, had been a dream for Price since 2015.

«This year, I finally just said, you know what, I'm going,» Price told The Associated Press. «If that takes spending every ounce of dollars I have in my savings account, I'm going to make it happen. I don't want to wait anymore. I was trying to get sponsors and funding to make it happen, I'd say heavily the last five years, and it just wasn't happening. It's a very expensive race to do.»

Price poured in her own money, held fundraisers in Canyon Lake, California, where she was raised, to collect roughly $500,000, and «took a leap of faith» to reach Dakar. She warmed up for Dakar in October with a second-place finish overall in the World Rally-Raid Championship in Morocco, also becoming the first American woman to earn a stage win in