Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125874
• U'J Shy at home and a tiger on the track: to 5lQ ;i!I 5lQ g • ~ g ....... r--~ Cl r--C'J .... :r. ::::; :c ~ < Nancy Payne ... By Theresa Mart in Nancy Pa yn e is prett y mu ch a typ ica l twen t y year o ld, except fo r one th ing. Sure, she like s all the th ings a girl her age like s - to dr ess up a nd go o ut and feci pretty , but there is also so met hing different about her. Na ncy Payne is t he Woman 's Grand Na tio nal Cha mpio n. She wo n it in a two day eve nt he ld at ln d ian Du nes by sco ring the m ost points in both m o to cr o ss a nd grand prix even ts. Nancy h as come a long way s in ce her ridi ng career star te d on a step th rough Honda 9 0. whe n she was 15 . lIer par en ts bo ug ht her the litt le b ike to rid e wh ile spending t he summer at a lake. lIe r life has n 't be e n th e same since. Nan cy me t so me g uys tha t su m mer wh o had Yamaha 125s and t ho ug ht it would be fun to let her rid e o ne so they co u ld bl ow her off , but she surprised them b y stayi ng up wi th th em . "I re all y began t o b ug m y fo lks for a faster bike ." says Na ncy . She ended up with a Yam ah a enduro. After a coup le of mon ths o f rid in g so me of her frie nds talked her into racing m oto cros s at O ak Creek. Sh e won her first race - b eating tw o other girls. Nancy began to race p retty o fte n , on a shop sponsored R ickman. Her father was a great supporter. but her moth er wasn't a t first. Whe n h er mother fina lly came out to a rac e, Nan cy cras hed hard right in fr ont of th e wh ol e fa m ily! Her mom wanted Nan cy to forget a bo u t raci ng right then and th er e, but she was su re that racing was what she wanted to do: She continued to pr actice an d race. lf not en ough gir ls showed up, she would ride with th e gu y s eve n th ough sh e didn 't like it much. Gr ands Prix have always give n Nan cy tr oubl e. Either her bik e would brea k o r she would fa ll o r sorn et h ing else wo uld go wrong. On e yea r , a f te r leading t he Great Bear Grand Prix from th e sta rt and with only two laps to go the c ro w n broke o n her bik e. After pulling into th e pits everyone urged he r to at least fin ish. She did with difficul ty , but la ter found out sh e was never scored. Sh e tried to find out what the problem was , but a fte r gett in g a run-around sh e decided to for get the wh ol e thing. She still won't ride th at even t. Aft er a ll t he grands p rix she has ridden sh e na bbed her firs t win at t he 1974 Viewfinders ' rac e. T hey're not her favorite event . Now Nan cy is co m p le te ly sponso red b y her boyfriend Don Glasgow, wh o owns Pacifi c Customs. lIe b ought Nan cy a Honda 125 whi ch she re all y like s. Nan c y says she feels Don has helped to make her a het ter rid er by watc h ing he r race a n d tell in g he r about her mi stakes . o r during a race sign alling he r to ta ke a bct terlinc. She works for Do n a nd is very inv olved wit h her jo b a nd o f te n is o n the ro ad visit in g di strib u tors for P~I C pl astic t an ks. Aft er put t ing in lo ts of long hours, she . found herself ge tt ing a littl e " b u rn t-o u t" on raci ng fo r abo ut six m onths . Although she contin ue d to - Nancy b lasts thro ugh a water crossing during the 250 GP race at t h e Po wder Puff Nat ionals. rid e occasionally she d ecided to take a br e a k f r om racing . T hen afte r every th ing was a lit tl e b it m ore se tt led . Na n cy we nt ba ck to racing to prepa re fo r the im mi nen t Po wder Puff Na tio na l. With th e ti t le given to th e girl wh o sco red the highest in a sin gle two day contest , it made it a li tt le tougher th an if it had b een a series o f even ts , and y ou co uld se ns e th e pre ssure bui Iding in se veral of the girls. Nanc y seem ed as cal m as always . She d id n ' t d o a ny special trai ning for th e event, jut rid in g as usua l. She rode t he Maico 250 (with wh ich she scored th e high est p oints) three da ys pr ior to t h e Nat ion al and h ad lo ts of problem s. Afte r Don repl aced th e shoc ks every thing se emed to work better an d she fe lt a nd lo o ked mu ch be tter. At th e en d of th e first dav o f the Nation al Nancy had a good lead o ve r 250 Expert MX was where Nancy deaned house. the other girls. but afr aid something would happen . she did n't wan t to even risk thi n kin g she had it made . It was d ur ing her seco nd 12 5 Expe rt m o to, she was . runn in g second and tho ug h t she mi ght be ab le to pas s the fir st place rider, that he r sh oc ks gave o u t , alm os t throwi ng her ov er th e handlebars . One co mp lete ly br oke a way from her bike, whil e th e ot he r o ne co llaps ed : She still managed a third. Nan cy fe ar ed th is might be the beginning o f a bad luck strea k, b ut in her ne x t m ot o (25 0 Exp ert ) , Na ncy cleane d h o use. That n igh t she felt t hat sh e might s ta nd a good chance, but didn 't wa nt t o g-et ov er co nfide n t. Af t er din ner Na ncy go t a good n igh t 's sleep (so m e girls mention ed th e y couldn' t slee p e it he r ni ght ) wh ile Don worked in to the wee ho ur s getting her bi kes read y for the fina l d a y. Again. Nan cy do minated th e 250 class an d b y now almos t ever y one knew she had a good c ha nce o f wi nning. Nan cy felt d eep d own th at so m e t h ing st ill could go wrong, a n d sure enough after lea ding t he 25 0 G ran d Prix for ov er half the race she ha d b ike pr oblems an d th ought: "Oh, not aga in." S he still managed a fi f th. By n ow fa t igue was be ginn ing to sho w on so me of the gir ls. :\laney to ok a quick sho wer an d ca m e o ut lo o kin g fre sh - t hat's quite a feat afte r o ne t en lap m ot o a nd an hour long G rand Pri x. Nancv felt more at ea se. a t the start o f th e ri nal rac e - 125 GP - t ha n an y ot he r time. m ay be bec au se it was almos t ov er . Agai n she le d the ra ce a nd m ore pr ob lems se t in with he r Honda . With a pr ett y har d get of f, Nan cy be gan to start to ge t a littl e d isappointed. Sure she'd blo wn th e wh o le thing a t t he end o f t he last race, Na ncy ca m e in with tear s in her eyes . Aft e r a coup le of ho ur s o f sitt in g a roun d wond eri ng, it was Nancy who was ca lle d up to rece ive th e ' grand prize. a new 125 Can-Am pr esen t ed by Ga ry J o ne s. Na ncy fel t she finally d id som ething right. Lo ts of pe ople a re wonder ing if s he " ill race the .Gan. Am. ·b ot - Ilia",,)' fe ci• • he r Ho nda has been p retty good to her , so she'll stay with it. . Nan cy feels she is still no where nea r her pea k in rac i ng. Altho ugh she would like to ge t married a nd have kids she do esn ' t want to lose o u t o n her ra cing ca ree r right now. This y ear A~IA D·3 7 se t u p a po ints sys tem fo r the girl s with th ei r own number o ne plate and Na ncy has the motocross . p oints lead there. When as ked if she 's th e best. she gets embarrassed a nd sha kes he r he ad. Since Nan cy fir st sta rt ed ri d ing, th ere always were o t he r gir ls wh o attracted more a tten t io n an d got m ore me ntio n. Even th ough Nancy won o f t en she was sort of o ver looked. T his co ul d be be cause Nan c y is basicall y a shy person . Sh e worries a bou t p eopl e thin king she might get a bi g he ad. As Nan cy put it , " I jus t figured m y d ay wo ul d co m e." It • su re 100 ks Ii ke it has . Nancy spends he r d ays working for her ho ne y at PMC. i 29·