He has raced the Check Chase, the California City Grand Prix and at Adelanto among other events. A member of the board of trustees for District 37, Waldheim recently was awarded the prestigious AMA Motorcycling Advocate award in recognition of his lifetime of work for motorcyclists. The award is one of the organization’s highest honors and was created by the AMA to recognize individuals fighting for the rights of motorcyclists.
Ed has won many honors for his activism including the Golden Helmet Award from the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Division of California’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the Off-Roader of the Year from the California Off-Road Vehicle Association. Recently, he had the main building at the Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area named in his honor. Nationally, the Bureau of Land Management awarded him their Volunteer of the Year award.
In May of 1984 he began serving on the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission and served until May 1988. During this time he was Chairman of the commission and was an effective leader and participant during the formative years of this board. After an over 20 year absence, he was reappointed to the commission in November of 2003. In this recent difficult time he has forged working relationships with all commissioners and is working to return the commission to a position of advocacy.
Ed oversaw the building of the Jawbone Canyon Visitors Center and through an arrangement with the Bureau of Land Management is operating it seven days a week for less than the BLM could for weekends alone.
He has been President of the California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA) since 1992, during which time membership has tripled and the association has maintained a leading position in the advocacy and education about the off-roading sport.
Ed attends over two hundred meetings every year and has a close working relationship with land management teams of the BLM and national Forests in California. Virtually all of his activist activities are funded out of his own pocket. He often tours off-road areas with land managers, politicians, OHMVR commissioners, journalists and scientists in his open “dune buggy” type vehicle. Often this is the first off-roading experience for many of these people.
Ed is the “go-to” person for information about off-roading and has been quoted widely in numerous publications including the Los Angeles and New York Times.
According to Rick Fisher, who has known Ed for many years, “I have had a relationship with Ed since before I became Treasurer of CORVA in 1996. In that time I have attended dozens of CORVA Board meetings, land use meetings, rallies and conventions. Nobody on this planet is more dedicated to the sport of off-roading or has more energy and enthusiasm than Ed. There is no doubt that he has changed the face of the sport in California.”
Ed is also a member of the AMA Hall of Fame:
