SuperBike Magazine November / December 2020

44 SuperBike
every once in a while. Instead she took
it to the local drag strip. Then, after
then taking off the Kawasaki GPz’s
road bits and bolting on a wheelie bar
and air-shifter, a racer was born. Or
rather, two were. Even Seeling was
converted. “He got a little aggravated
at first,” Sampey remembers. “But
then he came with me to the track and
fell in love with it.”
The first local races were supported
by her job as a nurse. “I worked
the night shift and we had the big
dry-erase boards. I’d stand there and
practice my signature. They asked:
‘What are you doing?’ And I’d say, ‘I’m
going to sign autographs one day.’
They’d laugh but I was serious. There
was nobody or nothing that could tell
me I wasn’t going to be a professional
drag racer.”
But the real ‘game-changer’
came a little while later when, three
days short of graduating as a nurse,
a storm flooded Sampey’s house,
ruining all her possessions except
the bike. Her response? Gambling
everything by selling the bike to raise
money to attend the Frank Hawley
Drag Racing School in Florida.
It was there she met instructor
George Bryce of the Star Racing team,
the man who, over the next 30 years,
is credited most with the promotion
and success of not just Sampey but of
Pro Stock drag racing itself.
Initially, Sampey made Bryce focus
on her talent rather than her looks or
gender by showing up with a Batman
hat pulled down over her face and by
wearing an unflattering T-shirt. Her
first runs were good enough to attract
Bryce’s interest and encouragement.
Then she ran run after run before
eventually setting a new school record.
A partnership that would last for
almost 20 years was born and, quickly,
Sampey would also show Bryce that
she could also use her hair, makeup
and charm to create an image that
would help attract sponsorship. Those
pageant days had proved useful after
all.
“I knew if I was going to jump
in with both feet on a little bitty girl
riding a motorcycle it was going to be
something special,” Bryce said later.
Sampey had proved she was it.
Bryce also later recalled a conversation
the two had before Sampey
made her debut in the ‘big league’
NHRA championships in 1996:
“She said she first wanted to win
Angelle’s Roll of Honour
1996 Makes NHRA debut and wins on fourth outing. Seventh overall
1997 Full season. Wins all-star invitational event
1998 Runner-up in Pro Stock all-star event
1999 Second in overall standings
2000 Wins NHRA Pro Stock championship with five wins
2001 Wins NHRA Pro Stock championship with seven wins
2002 Wins third consecutive NHRA Pro Stock championship
2003 Three wins
2004 Four wins
2005 Two wins
2006 Three wins
2007 One win
2008 0 wins
2009 Retires
2014 Returns to Pro Stock
2015 Limited schedule, one runner-up finish
2016 First win since 2007
2017 Full season, 2 x 4ths
2018 Full season
2019 Joins V&H Harley-Davidson, four races
2020 Wins 43rd victory
Other Women in drag
Although Angelle is famously
the ‘Winningest female in
professional motosport history’
thanks to her 43 career wins,
there are surprisingly more
women racers in drag racing,
particularly in the USA, than
you might think.
The pioneering women drag
racer was Shirley Muldowney
in car racing who in the ‘70s
and early ‘80s won the NHRA
Top Fuel championship three
times. Other successful female
drag car drivers include Erica
Enders-Stevens and Brittany
Force.
But there’s more than a few
women drag racing at the
top level in the States on two
wheels as well with Angie
Smith winning her first (although
so far only) Pro Stock
event in 2014 and Kelly Clontz
and Tiffany Butler also racing
at the highest level this year.