Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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-,.c:e to give her a full-time ride. 1'Nree races after her debut. the former ~Istered nUf'Se made more history pdaen she scored a convincing victory In Reading, Pennsylvania. Almost overnight. Savoie became NHRA's media darling, and her popularity quickly grew to rival that of long-time. drag racing stars like John Force, Kenny Bernstein and Larry Dixon. As popular as she was with the fans, Savoie was not immedjately accepted by some members the Pro Stock Bike fraternity, who no doubt bristled at the thought of being beaten by a woman rider. In retrospect, much of the acrimony was actually directed at Bryce, who has never seen himself as "one of the boys." Regardless, it was an ever-emotional Savoie who spent much the early part of her career feeling isolated from the rest of her peers. The situation did not improve in early 1997 when Myers left the Star team, ending his successful seven-year run. Eventually, the Schultz/Myers era gave way to an even more heated rivalry featuring Savoie and Hines. Unlike the Schultz vs. Myers battles, which were fought almost exclusively on the racetrack, Hines and Savoie often engaged in verbal battles and finger pointing. At one point during her most dominant period, Hines publicly accused the Star team of 52 MAY 7, 2003' 0: U 0: I • cheating, though NHRA officials never discovered anything outside the rules.. Though NHRA rules require that all Pro Stock Bikes weigh 600 pounds with rider, Savoie's diminutive sjze provided a significant aerodynamic advantage. With Savoie wejgbing just 105 pounds, the Star team also had the luxury of placing the excess ballast wherever they wanted, enabling them to adapt to a variety of track conditions. Regardless of any edge her size prOVided, Savoie also came eqUipped with undeniable talent and a burning desire to make the most of it. After finishing second to Hines in 1998 and 1999, the latter coming on a heartbreaking loss at the season's final event, Savoie celebrated the new mjllennium by winning her first NHRA championship. Uke Hines before her, Savoie continued rolling, winning three straight championships. By the end of the 2002 season, she had won 28 times and had become not just NHRA's most successful female racer, but one of the top 20 winners in the history of the sport. The winds of change blew through the Pro Stock class again in 2003. First, Hines announced that he would not ride this year after his long-time sponsor, n e _ 50 Eagle One, ended its association with the Vance £, Hines team. A talented tuner, the hiatus also gave Hines an opportunity to assist his father with the latest Vance £, Hines project, the Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson. With the class still in shock over Hines' sudden departure, Savoie dropped another bombshell less than a week later when she abruptly left the Star team. Once again, a lack of sponsorship was listed as the official cause for the breakup. Savoie was unemployed for all of two days before resurfacing alongside fellow rider Antron Brown, as part of his Indianapolis-based Team 23. Brown and his partner and crew chief Mark Peiser have already been rewarded for their faith in Savoie, as she has begun the 2003 season with back-toback wins in Gajnesville and Houston. As impressive as Savoie has been, her perfect start has nearly been overshadowed by the emergence of the Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson as a legitimate threat. The last time a V-twin powered bike did anything noteworthy in Pro Stock Bike was in 1980, when Ed Ryan began the season with a runner-up finish in Gainesville. In 1995, in an effort to add variety to a class that had been completely overrun by Suzukis, NHRA granted a 50-pound weight break to V-twin powered bikes. Several racers took NHRA up on the offer, but progress was slow. Rob Korn, Dan Baisley and Connie Cohen actually qualified at separate events in the late 1990s, but none of them were able to win a round. Tile Harley-Davidson factory got serious about NHRA's Pro Stock Bike class in 2000. After folding its muchmaligned VR 1000 road racing program, Harley signed a deal with Vance £, Hines to dev..lcp 0 PrO Stock