A Woman For All Seasons
by Timothy Kast
with an additon by Joe McKay
Hot Damn! Babes in leather! Racing high-powered crotch rockets! You be Butthead and I’ll be Beavis and we’ll get to the Bottom of this! Calm down you!
Stroll through the pits nowadays at a roadrace and you’ll probably be amazed to see that a lot of the ponytails beneath helmets belong to women racers. If you haven’t been paying attention, this may have come as a total surprise to you; but racing in general is no longer a male dominated sport, and motorcycle roadracing is no exception.
They are a new breed of rider that brings a welcome breath of fresh air to the roadrace paddock. From what I’ve seen, they’re smarter, faster, and thank-fully devoid of all the puckish schoolboy antics their male counterparts are infamous for. They are stoic, they’re not in the restroom teasing their hair, or fussing about breaking a nail, they are studying your face, not comtemplateing your Roman nose (like Joe M’s) and forehead, but wondering how much trouble you are going to be to lap. They are today’s women racers, and you damn well better not underestimate them. They haven’t spent their idle moments blowing up commodes at the track, they have used their time to work on their strategy and lines. They’re lean, mean and they want to win. Once unfettered by prejudices, you won’t stand a snowball’s chance in Ruidoso of ever catching them in traffic. In Victory lane, up on the podium, they can think faster on their feet, don’t require a trophy girl, and also have the good sense to save the victory champagne for a candlelight meal that evening. If all this has you feeling somewhat antiquated and unnerved -- too bad! You’ve had your shot, step aside and let the new winners walk through! Women racers demand respect and in the pages of National Privateer Online, they will receive that. Women in roadracing, at the time a curious oddity, are here to stay, and excel.
The majority of women roadracers are not a pridefull, arrogant lot. For the most part they seem more focused than the men, eschewing coarse behavior in the paddock for one of quiet concentration for the task at hand. While the chaps are given to bursts of boastful, boyish deportment, the fairer sex appears content with developing their skills with regards to going faster, easier. Irony notwithstanding this would herald a change for the best for racing in general. Gentleman racers everywhere, no longer able to baffle them with bulldirt, will have to busy themselves with dazzling them with brilliance, on the track and off. A definite improvement by anyone’s standards.
What drives a woman to compete in motorcycle roadracing, when it would be much simpler and safer to watch from the sidelines as a girlfriend or wife? Sometimes it can be as clear and natural as in the case fo Canadian 125 GP racer Nancy Dewar. When asked how she got into racing, she replied casually that she “always rode her bicycle like a motorcycle. It was just the next step.” Her easygoing confidence belies her fierce determination. Retired racer Sue Brightbill (raced in the 80’s with Joe McKay), stated that she found out that she could pull wheelies and go fast while riding street bikes with her husband Jerry and that “really made him crazy,” she teases. Sue’s early involvement in roadracing set precedents for women still in place today. Many women entering into the ranks of large displacement racing do so by the inroads that Sue “B” pioneered. Always the professional, Sue and her affable husband Jerry, have been a familiar sight at the racetracks nationwide.
Jennifer “Fer” Appel says “it all began when she was a sophomore at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas (home of Texas World International Speeday and the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association). “I was on again, off again dating someone who raced. He encouraged me to learn to race a bike if I was willing to act like I knew how to ride one. Originally, I did it to be closer to him. Albeit that was the wrong motivation; I did enjoy what I perceived to be racing. I was lucky.”
Premier racer Nancy Delgado said she got into roadracing because “ I got too many tickets in hazardous New York City; I like to go fast. I stayed in because it’s a challenge.” Delgado, America’s only professional female roadracer on the WERA and AMA National circuits has ridden Harley-Davidson 883’s, Endurance and 125 Grand Prix (and a championship in the class). A truly accomplished woman racer. (Since this article was first written, Lavaughn Montgomery and Vicky Jackson-Bell have shown their ability to win races).
These women and others like them did not come to racing bacause of the ease of transition; indeed there was no ease of transition. Women racers, like many other women who have taken the step, have suffered deeply in various ways. Health, finances, pride and relationships have all been casualties at trackside to the end that someday women might be accepted as equals in motorcycle raodracing. I’m sure many people will say that women are treated fairly at the track and there is no conundrum for women in motorcyle roadracing or any other racing for that matter. The fact that many women racers decline to comment on that for fear of being categorized for only concentrating on the negative.
Other women wish to avoid being called “whiner”, or “complainer.” However, simply pretending a problem doesn’t exist does not necessarily mean that the indecorous dragon will go away. Some racers, articulate in their indignation, have recorded matters thusly, “Life for a female trying to be accepted as one of the racers and still be treated fairly was not all that easy. Chip (not his real name) and I parted ways after the last race.
He had begun to emotionally blackmail me and witheld racing because I did not love him. It was racing that I loved.” Another was asked how she handled the odd crass comment, she replied cooly, “I make sure I finish in front of him in the next race. Remarks like that make me stronger. They pump me up. “This isn’t a question of being politically correct, it is clearly a case of being considerate in your conduct on the track and off. Campaigning a racing motorcycle for a complete season is tough enough without compounding the headaches with chauvinistic crap. The stigma that goes along with such misguided consideration is hard to shake. Our hardest won efforts always seem to fall short in other’s estimations. You are somehow “never good enough.” The women racers that I have met generally subscribe to the simple theory that the motorcycle doesn’t know whether it is a man or a woman riding it, so why should that be a problem at all?
Jessie Cahill, publisher of the Portland, Oregon based Women’s Motorcycle Market Journal, states that dealers are asking themselves “where did all the women come from?” Ms Cahill says “in 1997/98 the market will explode.” While some of the guidelines that she mentions are directed at motorcycle dealers, the principles certainly apply to racing and the motorcycle industry as a whole. “When you see a woman coming into your dealership, imagine 100 more women behind her,” Cahill proposes.
“Women network.” Manufacturers, sanctioning bodies and service sponsors all can benefit from welcoming the influx of new women riders. “There is nothing more potent that a new female enthusiast who wants other women... and .... men to get inolved in the sport” said Ms. Cahill.
She goes on to say that “preparing yourself for the women’s market is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight.” Many racer oriented people have first spent time in numerous dealerships before being able to come to the race track. It is to these people she warns the dealer about behavior that alienates women the most:
1. Not taking female customers seriously
2. Ignoring female customers
3. Giving female customers poor service.
Translate all of that into the roadrace paddock and you may be able to distill the reasoning behind women’s insistance on being treated equally. To most of the guys, it’s just another day at the races, but to a lot of women racers it’s a break-away. Many women, coming from traditional parent families, have had to overcome ideas such as “women just don’t do those kinds of things,” like racing motorcycles. The old stereotypes of women as children oriented, nurturing housewives just doesn’t apply in the new turn of the century rhetoric. Women can view riding motorcycle’s as a kind fo independence; something that’s really for them. Finally, to quote a chap that is not usually all that quotable, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Vaya Con Dios.
A word from Smokin’ Joe
Tim wrote this article for us three years ago and since then much has happened in our industry. Women are racing, and winning. Way back in the eighties I had the pleasure of making friends with Kathleen Coburn and Toni Sharpless, two beautiful and talented ladies. They raced in Canada for most of their careers and kicked butt, including mine. Did I care? No, I had great respect for both of them and their ability. The best part was after the race, when you could go over to their garage and revisit the action out on the track. (Bench racing, they kicked my but there too!)
Kathleen raced last year at Daytona, had a mechanical problem, but was still showing much of her old stuff. I hope she makes the trip again in March. Toni is retired from roadracing, but still rides in Canada at a riding school her and her brother run.
Nancy Delgado, another racer who would move next to you in a corner if you left two or three inches of space. Nancy was a good racer and if you went looking for her in the pits, you always looked behind her bike. She did most of the work herself.
Laura Perry, came along as I was starting National Privateer several years ago, riding a 125. She did well and had a good time. Laura was another woman who held her own on and off the track. She also worked on her bike, changing pistons, jetting, brake pads, etc. Laura is currently an AMA offical and can be seen on the grid at every race.
One of my favorite lady racers was Kim Coltrin, alias, Mrs. David Porter, now a mom, who in her last few races before retiring, was kicking some major butt in the Lightweight Sportsman Class. She started on the back row at Road America, all four miles of it, and finished second.
One of our local riders, at least here in South Florida, is Irene Berkson (now a mom). Irene jumped to the expert class after just over half a season as an amateur. Hooked up with Prieto Racing, Irene has the tools to ride a fast bike. She may get the opportunity to run a at a national or two this season.
All in all, our sport is moving along at a good clip and the ladies that are racing are all truly worth watching. They do indeed add a new dimension to our sport. For those of you that are not into the politics of our sport, let me just add that the women racers are more likely to bring in major sponsorship dollars. There’s an entire industry out there dedicated to women who would love to get involved in racing.
Jessica Zalusky, snowboarder and roadracer is a talented and marketable young lady who shows great promise. We cheer her on in both sports and wish her well.
Ann and Kit, Broad Squad Racing, are two more ladies we enjoy watching at the track. Both are accomplished racers and true privateers!
Know a lady racer? Encourage her to be better, help with the little things. It will help all of us.
Check out the latest ladies involved in our sport on the Racer and Teams Page.
Smokin Joe