Karen Stoffer always had an appetite for athleticism ... - NHRA.com

“I felt awful, but Doug told me that
he had seen enough in one pass to let
me continue. That sort of faith is what
has made our relationship so special.”
The deal was inked, and Stoffer
made her second debut at the 2002 Mac
Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis,
where she qualified 10th and was first
off the starting line with a clean pass in
the first round but was defeated by
Antron Brown.
Stoffer’s 2002 effort showed
significant improvement over her
introduction five years earlier. She
qualified for each of the four events
entered, and to highlight her
determination and polished skill, she
made her way to her first final-round
appearance next to eventual event
winner Sampey in Reading, where, as
(Above) Stoffer, who was runner-up to
Sampey at the 2002 Reading event in her
first final-round appearance, scored at the
event in 2006, the fourth victory of her
career. During qualifying, Stoffer recorded
a 6.970 pass to join the Mickey Thompson
Six-Second Pro Stock Bike Club. (Right)
The GEICO Motorcycle Suzuki team
celebrated in the winner’s circle following
Stoffer’s victory at the 2007 ACDelco NHRA
Gatornationals in Gainesville.
(Below) The 2004 season was the final year that
Stoffer rode the Jonco Motorsports Suzuki without
a major sponsor. Stoffer, pictured with the GEICO
Gecko (right) and aboard her blue Gary Stoffertuned
GEICO Motorcycle Suzuki (left), has
collected four of her five wins while enjoying a full
ride with the motorcycle- and car-insurance
company. GEICO was an associate sponsor when
Stoffer collected her first win in Houston.
they did in Denver in 1996, Stoffer and
Sampey made history together, this
time as participants in the first allfemale
final round in NHRA Pro Stock
Motorcycle history.
Stoffer had continued her ascension
in the class, climbing from 20th in
points at the end of the 2002 season to
11th in 2003 and finally breaking into
the top 10 following her first win in
Houston in 2004. The next season,
Stoffer again finished 10th, secured a
sixth-place finish in 2006, and locked
into eighth place in 2007.
In 2004, Stoffer collected her first
win and was finally standing out as a
rising star, but the year also saw
struggle, including financial concerns
and an accident during qualifying at
the Columbus, Ohio, event in which
Stoffer was thrown from her bike. She
walked away with barely a scratch, but
the Jonco Suzuki was badly damaged,
and the short-on-cash team didn’t have
a spare. Thankfully, fellow Pro Stock
Motorcycle rider Craig Treble lent the
team a set of wheels, and Stoffer went
on to qualify for all but one of the
remaining events that season. And
more good news were on the horizon:
The team’s financial worries would
soon be assuaged.
“We had a couple of small product
sponsors here and there,” said Stoffer.
“And, of course, Jonco
Motorsports sponsored
us for the first year
and a half we were out
there, but GEICO was
really the first [major sponsor] that we
had. It was a cold call, just saying, ‘We
see your advertising for motorcycle
insurance and don’t know if you’re into
promotions, but here’s an opportunity
for you.’ It was a pure cold call, and
they said, ‘Well, let’s test the waters
and see how you do.’ They sponsored a
few races and received a very good
response, so it just progressed from
there. It was a few more races the
following year, and after that, it was a
full-blown multiyear sponsorship.”
toffer is an ideal representative for
Sher major
sponsor because in
addition to her
refined skills
aboard the GEICO
Suzuki, she’s an
accomplished
businesswoman
with two Bachelor
of Science degrees
from the University
of Nevada, Reno.
Stoffer’s position
as a six sigma lean
master black belt
for operational
excellence at
General Electric in
Minden, Nev., may sound like a lengthy
title for a martial arts expert, but her
duties boil down to analyzing data in an
effort to help the business become more
efficient and effective in their processes
while producing a quality product. It’s a
tough and demanding job, and Stoffer
commutes an hour each way and works
more than 60 hours a week, but the
stress of her job is minimized by the
fact that she and Gary live close to her
parents, who provide meals, do the
shopping, bring in the mail, watch the
house while they’re away, and offer
unending support.
“I have a lot of people who take
care of me,” said Stoffer. “If they
weren’t part of my life, I don’t know
how successful I’d be in either of my
careers. I have a very supportive
network that allows me to be flexible
Stoffer, pictured with ESPN pit and
trackside reporter Gary Gerould, is no
stranger to the limelight. The five-time
national event winner has garnered
the attention of the media since
earning the Pacific Division
Motorcycle championship in 1993.
and do all the things that I need or
want to do.”
The support that surrounds her —
not just from her family and close
friends but also from fellow racers and
fans — became even more evident in
2005 when Stoffer was seriously injured
in a freak pit-area accident following the
ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.
One of the supports that held the back
door of her transporter released
unexpectedly, and the rear door crashed
to the ground and pinned Stoffer
beneath it. Stoffer was out of
commission for the final event of the
season but made a quick recovery to
race at the first Pro Stock Motorcycle
event of 2006, in Gainesville.
“It’s like a family network,” said
Stoffer. “I think I realized that most
when I was injured. It wasn’t just the
NHRA family, but it was all
motorsports in general. I was receiving
e-mails, cards, and letters of inspiration
and was just bombarded. I was
pleasantly surprised at how many
people had heard about my injury, when
the door fell on me, and responded in
kindness, and it was very encouraging.
If I had to give up racing, and that will
occur one day, it would probably be
hardest to separate from all the family
and friends you make out there.”
What could possibly make the
successful racer with so much ahead of
her, including the challenge of obtaining
her first Pro Stock Motorcycle
championship, climb off the bike?
“If I’m not being
effective for my
team anymore,”
answered Stoffer.
“If, for some reason,
I lose the edge and
there’s somebody
out there who is
better for the team,
I would step off the
bike. Also, it’s something
that Gary and
I do together, and
we both love doing
it. I’m not sure that
I would love doing it
if he wasn’t involved
in some way. If he
wanted to leave or he had any desire to
move on, or if he wanted to race, I
would definitely step off and let him do
it if we both couldn’t do it together. I
have a plan of when I want to stop, but
not right now and not in the near
future. I still think I’m good enough to
be on the bike, my team still believes
I’m good enough, and we still have a
very good relationship with GEICO. We
love them, and they love us. I don’t
have any inclination right now.”
here has been much discussion over
Tthe years concerning parity in the
class and the constant challenge of
maintaining a close field of competition
between current combinations, including
Buell V-Twins, Harley-Davidson V-Twins,
Suzuki inline four-cylinder engines, and
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May 2, 2008 ✦ 21