Vince Brunasso
Desert rat from age 10. I bought my first dirt bike as soon as I turned 18. From there I discovered Glamis a few years later. It was love at first ride.
Back then, it felt like civilization was a million miles away – no cell coverage, no crowds on Gecko Road, and you were 100% on your own. Roadrunner was not yet built.
I started out on a variety of 3-wheelers, then a 250r quad, Honda Pilot, Extreme dune buggy and am now driving a Polaris RZR Turbo S while currently eying a RZR Pro R Ultimate – it never ends.
One night in 1998 while sitting around the campfire and after a night ride to Olds, our group was commenting on the lawlessness, trash, crime, and general disrespect for fellow duners. The consensus of dune visitors back then was that there weren’t any rules and that anything goes. It truly was the wild west. I said, “Someone needs to do something.” I had just retired, and so all eyes fell to me. That was the seed moment for the ASA.
Back in 1998, there was not much of an internet. I posted the ISDRA rules on a crude forum. My childhood friend Keith Rosewitz took that a step further and started a website called Glamisonline.org. From there he and I built dozens of pages making GOL into THE source for Glamis information. GOL was complete with crude forums by today’s standards. Our goal was to inform duners what was likely to happen because of the newly listed Peirson’ milk-vetch and that the general mayhem was likely to result in the dunes being closed.
In 2000 I filed the necessary paperwork to incorporate what today is the American Sand Association. Because I wanted to be able to hire lobbyists, we went with 501(c)(4). I was the first president; Keith was treasure and TRT chairman Jerry Seaver agreed to be our VP. We did sand shows, emails, info meetings, and recruited some fantastic and very dedicated volunteers while expanding the board of directors.
Over the years since 2001, I held board positions, presented several RAMP info meetings, orchestrated many PMV studies, published the ASA newsletter, drafted ASA RAMP comments, authored many “What’s New” articles, and served on the ASA advisory committee.
After a lengthy hiatus due to life events, I’m honored and excited to be back as the new Director of Communications. It is my great pleasure to resume the work that helped build the ASA into what it is today and to pursue the goal to Unite, Inform, and Mobilize the dune community so that we maintain our vigilance against anti-access groups. That too never ends.
