Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

By John D. Ulrich After five howling laps on Willow Spring's torCN turous track, the rider pulls into the pits , steps "5 off the 460 -pound, 120-horsepower Yoshimura ~ R&D of America 944cc GS750 Suzuki and walks ::;E over to a nearby van. "I love it," not a publicity hound . The fact is, I a) she says, pulling off her helmet. "It's fantastic! 1 just wish 1 knew the course." "Sponsors are interested in publicity... I am unique and I do draw a lot of attention." 14 Carter Alsop, 28, made history last June as the first woman to ever enter an AMA Professional road race. Her debut as a Novice attracted considerable attention in the press, which generated jealousy among some riders. That's understandable: Alsop's entering the race got more coverage than the event ,itself. And while her fame .continues, few people know or care who actually won that Novice race at Loudon . Now, in February, 1978 , Alsop is trying to put together a Superbike Production racing program for the rest of the year. Da ytona is two weeks , away . A gorgeous, articulate , shapely , personable brunette, Alsop sits on the floor of Pops Yoshimura's van and talks about her road racing career. " I've only been road racing for three years, but I've been catapulted into the spotlight. I get a tremendous amount of attention because I'm the first woman to hold an AMA Professional license , and that attention is not proportional to my ability at this point. I know I have a great deal to learn about road racing, and being in the spotlight has made it more difficult. It doesn't allow me to progress at my own speed as any other Professional Novice would - without criticism and attacks . If a man got a Novice license and didn't do well in his first races, no one would notice . Because I'm a woman and have attracted all this attention, people expect me to do well . If I don't do so well, then people say I shouldn't be getting all the attention . "It's difficult for me because I can't help . the fact that I'm going to be pufiticized because I'm a woman. I'm want to work very hard to be a very good road racer, but it's going to take time . 'I've had some advantages . People have helped me when maybe they wouldn't have helped another rider who had been racing longer. but who happened to be a male . I would hope that people would look at the fact that I'm a young racer , that I've just started. I recognize that I have a long way to go before I'll be a really great rider. I realize that there is a great amount of training I need . I recognize that I have a lot to learn. On th e othe r hand , any other Novice Pro ca n finish anywhere without criticism. "Som e of the criticism is bas ed upon the fact that other women hav e been riding longer than I . and d eserve attention . But they haven 't been interested in a Pro license . Still , watching two super wom an racers Kathy Teague and Liz W emmet inspired me to want to be a good Professional racer ." A few people have accused Alsop of applying for her Professional license when she did just to become th e first woman to do so : Asked about that , Alsop takes a deep breath and starts to explain: "Several people encouraged me to apply for the Professional license , even though I hesitated because I didn't feel I had enough experience. But I had "Being in the spodigh t has made it difficult. It doesn't allow me to progress at my own speed. " finished well enough in club races with my Honda 750 production bike to qualify - you have to finish in the top 10 places at each of five races for two years, I knew I'd have to race a GP bike, and since I'd never ridden one before, that made me unsure. I would have rather raced a GP machine for a year before app lying ' for the Pro license. Bu t five or six friends .rea lly encouraged me to go ahead and apply, so I d id . I got the license within three months. "It didn't dawn on me thatJ was making history. It was just something that happened through the encouragement of my friends. "When I entered my first National at Loudon , it was a frustrating . experience. My production bike ahd been stolen in November, 1976 and I had not been on a motorcycle at all until May . 1977. At the National warmup - a club race held the weekend before the National - I got on a G P bike for the first time. I never ! « "I was being publicized as the first, making history, and I really wasn't prepared for the event at all." got any pract ice on it because th e bike wasn 't ready. So, the first time I rode it wa s in actual competition . I encountered all kinds of problems handling it and understanding how it worked. The differences between it and my Honda 'were tremendous. The vibration and noise were particularly distracting. " T he National was held the following weekend . There was a practice session all day Thursday, so I took the bike out and rode about an hour and a half.or two hours. Things went wrong with the bike all weekend, and then suddenly it was time for the heat race. I was distracted by the fact that I was being publicized as the first , making history, and I really wasn't prepared for the event at all. The publicity was exciting in many ways, but it was hard for me to concentrate on my riding with people asking me questions and taking photographs and interviewing me. But I feel that I did fairly well considering everything. I concentrated as much as I cou ld and learned a lot in a short period of time. I didn't do badly. I stalled the bike at the start of the heat race and had trouble getting restarted . Once I got going I passed a few people and wound up qualifying on the third-to-last row . " In the final, I got off the line, but it was still a poor start. I passed about five or six people in the four laps that I raced and then the bike's drive chain fell off. That was very disappointing, but the fact that I was making history was not my major concern. I was pleased that it was a historic event and that I could be a part of it, but it was filled with frustration . "I only rode one other National Pocono - because I couldn't afford to go to the ones in ' Ca lifornia . I had gotten to the point where I felt competent on the bike the weekend before Pocono. It was then that I crashed heavily at the end of the straightaway at Thompson and ended . nnG up In the emergency room. Fortunately the inj uries weren't sever:;: but they were painful. When I wen ~ Eo put on my leat~ers at Pocono, I was.m tremendous pam because the lea the were tight' and my knee and hip were swollen . I cou ldn't concentra te because of the injuries and I've nevi r been fond of the track at Pocono , either. In addition , I didn't real~e that my bike's CD! unit was faili~: My practice sessions were fiascos. I waS frustrated by not liking the trac;K, hurting from the pain, and the COl was cutting out in the slower turns; I was only half there, I felt , so my second National race wasn't that great either. But I finished 32nd out of ' a field of 48 , which was an improvement over the first National. ' i J'~ q "I certainly would have liked a better season. My club racing was alri~ht , but t~e main problem ~.~~ gettmg off the hne . I'd get all ready to go and then stall it , because i t'~ so hard to keep a TZ250 in tli e powerband. I'd do something, wr\>Ilg every time. I would end up start~g races at the very back of the pack or else at a dead standstill with everyone else halfway around , then catching to finish third , fourth , fifth or sixth"in a class of 25 to 30 riders. I would J{~~e finished a lot higher if I had e'y learned to get th e machine off the l ip' But because it was someone else's b iKe , I wasn 't able to p ractice with it wh en I wanted to . I only rode the motorcycle at races, and I only went to about nin'e races last year , including Nationals , because of a lack of funds. )f "One good thing that happened at Po cono was that a dirt tracker who was he lping Gary Scott work on his bikes came up to me and said , 'I knoU. a woman in California who could help you.' I didn't see him again, but about t!tree weeks later I got a message for up "I would end up starting at the very back of the pack . .. then catching up to finish fourth , fifth or sixth." I me to call a number in Ca lifornia . I I called and it was the woman I

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