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Rich Minga - Stuntman to the stars

“I make a living dying – I get shot, burned, blown up, drowned and smashed by dinosaurs,” said 45-year-old Rich Minga of Fallbrook, who works as a Hollywood stuntman. His love for cars and racing is what eventually led him to this exhilarating career.

Minga’s gift for automobile-related ventures surfaced at an early age. At 14 he bought a Volkswagen minus the motor and transmission. His father then decided that he needed the book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Building Volkswagens.” With help from the book, Minga built a “Baja Bug,” then began to drive it off-road in Mexico.

In 1980, at age 19, he raced in his first Baja 1000. In the 26 years he has been racing, Minga has been honored with several awards; however, high on the list is his nomination for the AARWBA Award (American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association) as well as his honor as 1987 World Champion for Off-Road Racing.

Minga, a third generation native of San Diego County, has been a Fallbrook resident since 1995 when he opened his business, Baja Concepts. This company serves as a consulting business for motor sports and is the parent company for Baja Brokers and Baja Racing Products.

1995 is also the year Minga first drove as a stuntman, getting his break in the television show “Baywatch.” “That was a lucky break,” Minga noted, “to get my SAG card.” Minga credited director Ronnie Rondell for giving him his break.

Since then he has worked in a number of feature films as well as television shows. During the shooting of a segment of the television show “Gilmore Girls” he had to crash a ten-speed bicycle about eight times before the scene was satisfactory. He also traveled to Brazil and Paraguay to work on the 2006 film “Miami Vice.”

His other 2006 film was “Snakes on a Plane,” which was initially filmed in Canada, although a re-shoot was done in Los Angeles in order to give the “PG-13” film an “R” rating. “They flew the fuselage of the plane down to LA and we did re-shoots for three days,” explained Minga. “I was a human pad – climbing over chairs and protecting actors.”

For three months Minga worked on the 2003 film “Master and Commander” with Russell Crowe, which was filmed in Rosarito Beach. During the filming he was “drowned, hit by cannon balls and stabbed and washed down a flight of stairs by a huge wave.”

“I was killed four or five times in that movie,” said Minga. He explained that a 500-gallon tank dumped the water down the stairs to make it look like a large wave breaking over the ship. “The ship would yaw and roll on a gimble,” he explained.

“The detail on that set was unbelievable,” Minga recalled. “Every day we went into makeup for an hour… they made our eyes bloodshot, made us look exhausted and painted our teeth brown and yellow…”

In the 1998 Kurt Russell film “Soldier,” Minga worked a 27-gallon gasoline explosion. He also did some “blind driving,” which he considers his greatest challenge. Minga was seated 12 feet back in the vehicle and drove with the aid of hidden cameras. An actor was seated in the driver’s seat and the vehicle was pursuing Kurt Russell, who was on foot. “The tires on the truck were nine feet tall,” explained Minga. As a safety plan, Minga had Russell run between the tires. Fortunately, they shot the scene in one take, as the insurance people and others were very nervous. “Russell is a great athlete,” Minga explained, “but to help the actors to get to the point of confidence you show them your backup plan.”

Minga enjoys traveling to exotic film locations and is happy that he is able to include his family on these trips. Minga’s wife of 17 years, Heidi, accompanies him, as does his daughter, Christiana, who is a member of the cheer squad at Fallbrook Union High School. Both Heidi and Christiana have worked in Hollywood, putting some of their own gymnastic skills to good use.

At 45 Minga is not about to give up this demanding career. “I see myself doing this for another 20 years,” he said. However, he will eventually participate more in the stunt coordinating and production side of the film business. Minga said that one of his favorite aspects of the job is designing stunts and coordinating camera angles. “It is not all about the stunt itself; we are studying the actor’s moves and everything has to match. It takes incredible attention to detail, which is critical when it comes time for editing.”

Even though his stunt work keeps him busy, Minga still finds time for off-road racing and was excited to be able to drive a support vehicle in the “Paris to Dakar” race in January 2005. This race is a 21-day, 7,000-mile test of strength, which takes drivers from France to Africa and includes a ferry ride from Spain to Africa. “I tried for this race for 18 years and it was a life-changing event,” noted Minga.

Recently, Minga raced in the Baja 1000 with actor Patrick Dempsey of the television show “Grey’s Anatomy.” Dempsey raced the first 100 miles and then was airlifted out to appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” During the 100-mile trip with Dempsey, Minga said a helicopter followed them at all times. After Dempsey left, Minga drove the next 550 miles without helicopter support.

In both racing and stunt work, Minga puts himself in dangerous and sometimes life-threatening situations. How does he deal with the danger? “Crashing a car or dangling on a cable 50 feet in the air can be scary,” Minga confessed. “My Christian faith comes into play and God gives me strength, support and protection.”

 

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