Cindy McCain: Daredevil With a Big Heart

Oct. 3, 2008— -- According to one family friend, Cindy McCain is Arizona: born and bred.

"The big skies, the sunset, in a way, the need to be independent and strong as a woman, and I think Cindy inherited that spirit," said real estate developer Sharon Harper, who has known Cindy for decades.

Cindy McCain's father Jim founded Hensley and Co., Arizona's largest distributor of wholesale Anheuser-Busch beer, and the third largest beer distributorship in the United States.

He had children from a previous marriage, but he and Cindy's mother left her almost all of his reported $100 million fortune, as well as his love of outdoor adventure.

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Cindy McCain, 54, describes her father as a "cowboy" who also loved race cars. She does, too. The former Junior Rodeo Queen has even mastered "drifting," a technique used by race car drivers. The high-speed thrill sport requires making sure that the front wheels of the race car are pointed in the opposite direction of the turn, which causes the rear wheels to skid. The technique originated in Japan, and is often used in competition to maintain speed after "drifting" through a turn.

She's also deeply involved in charity work. At the Republican National Convention, Cindy McCain was near tears when others praised her work, bringing medical supplies to developing and war-torn countries.

In seven years, she led more than 50 missions abroad as part of her charity, American Voluntary Medical Team. She continues to volunteer her time in developing countries and works with Operation Smile, a nonprofit, founded by a plastic surgeon, that performs operations on children with facial deformities.

"There's always at least 300, 400 children, all with these gaping holes in the lip and roof of their mouth, but she's right down there with them," said Dr. Bill Magee, who founded Operation Smile in 1982.

Cindy also contributes her time to the Halo Trust, an organization Princess Diana worked with that's dedicated to the eradication of landmines.