Buddy is owned and driven by award-winning automotive journalist Emme Hall. You can find her work in publications like Car & Driver, Overland Journal, SAE Engineering and OVR Magazine. Online she’s been published on CNET, MotorTrend, Jalopnik, TechCrunch, The Verge, Ars Technica, Inside EVs and many more. You can catch her car review videos on the Edmunds YouTube channel.

Emme piloted Buddy to a class win in the Mint 400…twice. She also finished the Desert Challenge at the King of the Hammers, racing with the big 1400 trucks. They took second in class at Battle at Primm but have yet to get a finish at Rage at the River. In October of 2026 the duo will make history yet again by racing the NORRA 500. First Miata to race Baja, baby!

Emme will get behind the wheel of anything, but she is especially interested in where EVs meet the dirt. She pioneered the EV class in the Rebelle Rally by driving the first Rivian R1T off the production line. She helped Volkswagen get an ID4 to the finish line at the NORRA Mexican 1000 and had a quick go in an all-electric rock crawler

Buddy is joined in Emme’s garage by a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata, a 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and a 1969 Baja Bug.