NHRA Power ade Drag Racing Series
(Left) Karen StoHer (near lane) became the second
female in NHRA history to take home a Pro Stock Bike
e ve nt title. StoHer downed Antron Brown (far lane) in
the final at Houston Raceway Park.
NOt
t
AnOther
prettY Face
(Above) StoHer shows oH her
NHRA "Oscar." She is only the
se ve nth woman in history to win
an NHRA Pro Class title.
Stoffer becomes the second female Pro Stock Bike winner.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY KEVIN McKENNA
t might not have had the historica l
significance of the recent HarleyDavidson sweep at the Gatornationals, but Karen Stoffer's Pro Stock
Bike victory at the NHRA O ' Reilly
Springnationals in Houston was noteworthy nonetheless.
In winning her first career title, Stoffer
became just the seventh woman to win an
NHRAnational event and only the second
to win in the Pro Stock Bike class, behind
three-time champ Angelle Savoie.
Riding Doug johnson's Geico Cycle
Guard Suzuki, Stoffer claimed the final
I
50
MAY 5, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
round victory by a scant .0 17-second over
Team U.S. Army' s Antron Brown , 7.15 to
7.17.
Ironically, Stoffer was nearly left Without a ride after the recent Gainesville
round due to a lack of sponsorship. Only
an I Ith-hour reprieve allowed the team ,
which also includes Stoffer's husband!
crew chie f Gary, to remain on the
POWERade tour.
"Wow, " Stoffer said. "I think that 's the
only way to describe this. "To go from
almost not being able to race to winning
our first event is unbelievable. Geico
Cycle Guard stuck with us after
Gainesville, so we were able to stay out
here . Otherwise, we were going to have
to park the bike for a while. I'm so glad
because we were running well and I didn't want to stop."
Stoffer had one of the quickest and
most consistent bikes in Gainesville, and
she matched that performance in
Houston. She qualified fourth in the
16-bike field, trailing only Andrew Hines'
Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson, reigning NHRA champ Gena Scali,and Brown,
who were separated by just four-thou-
40th Anniversary
sandths of a second with runs of 7.072,
7.074 and 7.076 respectively. Stoffer was
not far behind with a 7.103, the quickest
run of her career.
No one will ever be able to say that
Stoffer didn't earn her first victory as she
took the hard road to the final round , as
her opponents included Mateo Toolsrider
Craig Treble, both of the Vance & Hines
Scream in' Eagle Harley-Davidsons and
Brown in the final.
Stoffer outran them all with runs of
7.16,7.13,7.19 and her 7.15 in the final
against Brown.
