SuperBike Magazine November / December 2020

46 SuperBike
a round, then a race, and in about five
years, a championship,” he said. “And
she wanted to have a Suzuki dealership,
a red, six-speed Corvette and a
pet monkey. Within 24 months, she
had all of them.”
If that in itself is impressive, not
least because diminutive Sampey, at
just 5’1”, had to ride a machine that
weighed five times she did, those
early years were made even more
challenging by some male competitors
telling her to “Go back to the
kitchen where you belong.”
She responded in the best way
possible – with success. After winning
her fourth ever NHRA Pro Stock event
in 1996 she raced a full season the
following year. In 1999 she came second
in the series behind Matt Hines
of Vance & Hines fame. Then she won
the title three years in a row up to
2004 on her Winston-sponsored, Star
Racing Suzuki.
More wins, if not titles, followed,
finishing in the series top five for 12
consecutive years before, in 2010,
triggered by the loss of a sponsor and
motivated by the desire to be a mum,
she retired.
Sampey’s marriage to Seeling
had been short-lived, with another,
to former American footballer Nicky
Savoie, dissolved in the early 2000s,
but long-time boyfriend Seth Drago
was different.
“I said ‘I’ll marry you,’” she remembers
of Drago’s 2010 proposal
soon after the sponsorship bombshell.
“’But I want to get pregnant
right away…’”
Daughter Ava was the result,
in 2011, and for the next few years
Sampey focussed on being a wife,
mum and running their aquarium
business before, in 2014, George
Bryce came calling once more.
That first comeback was shortlived
– Sampey lacerating her
Achille’s tendon in a freak accident
at the fourth round. But after five
months of rehab she came back and
was fastest at the 2016 season opener
and posted another win.
Along with her talent, Sampey’s
popularity hadn’t dwindled over the
intervening years either. In an online
poll of fans’ favourite riders, while
four-time defending champion, Andrew
Hines, Matt’s younger brother,
received just 0.7per cent of the vote
and second placed Steve Johnson got
5.4, Angelle was the runaway winner
with a whopping 73.3per cent. No
wonder they call Sampey the saviour
of Pro Stock.
The reward, in 2019, was a callup
by the series-leaders and long
time great rivals Vance & Hines and
their Harley-Davidson team, initially
on a four-race deal.
“It was kind of a no-brainer,”
Andrew Hines said at the time. “Harley
has been picking on us the last
few years, last decade really, to have
a female on the bike and Angelle
does such a good job with media and
racing a motorcycle that she was a
great fit.”
And although initially a tough
transition, switching to the twin-cylinder
Harley after a whole career
on four-cylinder Suzukis, Sampey
learned quickly and finished the
season seventh overall, earning a
full-year deal for 2020.
“Harley-Davidson loves her,”
said team co-owner Terry Vance at
the time. “They love her attitude and
the obvious passion she has, and her
dedication to be the best she can be.
Personally, I’m so happy with her
I can’t tell you. She’s great for the
sport and great for Harley-Davidson
and Vance & Hines and I think
next year, we’ll be able to win some
rounds and win some races.”
Now she has, proving once again
she is the drag queen.
Oh, and by the way, if Ava grows
up anything like her mum, bikesport
had better watch out!