I was strong and I had a tough
chick persona, so I never really
had any problems."
Stenersen won the District 37
number one plate and then moved
on to the Expert class. At that
time, the Women's Championship
was a one-day event, held at Carls-
bad. In 1975, she won the first
125cc moto at the championship
race but suffered a flat tire in moto
two. She decided she needed sup-
port to maximize her talents, so
she went straight to the top.
"In 1976, I went to Yamaha
International and told them I was
the best female racer out there
and if they would just give me a
bike, I would prove it to them. So,
they gave me a 125 and a 250.
I was able to get parts through
DG Performance." With Yamaha's
support, she returned to the Na-
tional Championship event, again
winning a 125cc moto, but even-
tually finishing second overall to
Fish. Soon after, Sue Fish took
her game to the AMA Nationals,
pursuing her goal of qualifying
for a National against the fastest
men in America.
"I took racing very seriously,
but doing something like that
wasn't even on my radar," Sten-
ersen says. "There were 40 riders
on the gate and all of those guys
were fast. It was very intimidat-
ing for me."
"I wanted to win, but we still
had fun. We would camp out the
night before some of the races.
We called ourselves 'Team Reeb,'
which was just beer spelled back-
ward. We partied and did a lot of
silly things!"
When her motocross career
ended a couple of years later,
Stenersen, like many retired rac-
ers, learned that finding fulfill-
ment in everyday life would be
a challenge. With no racing to
absorb her skills and energies,
the puzzling darkness that she
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P139
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knew as a child now manifested
as demons in the young woman.
"The trauma that I experienced
as a child, things like neglect,
abuse and abandonment began to
come out of me in things like ADD,
OCD and other mental illnesses."
She worked in everything from
massage therapy to landscap-
ing. "I was performance-oriented
and a hard worker, but I couldn't
keep a job. If I got triggered, I
generally didn't have a filter, and
I got fired a lot. I had potential.
I just didn't know how to get
there. When you have a nervous
system that is in fight-or-flight
all of the time, it's exhausting.
I had big, big anger issues, just
from not getting my needs met
as a kid. And I didn't understand
that. Back then, talk therapy re-
ally didn't know what to do with
someone like me.
"Today, I understand. I have
language for the things that I
was experiencing. Life is too
short not to be truthful, and I
honestly didn't think I would even
still be around at this age."
Still around and retired at 69,
Stenersen is getting ready to
see the USA from her new home,
an RV. She hopes to spend her
days sightseeing and hiking in
the national parks across the
country. There will also be some
mountain biking, which is about
as close to motocross as she
can get these days. A good way
to battle any inner demon.
"It [motocross] was thrilling,"
Stenersen says. "God, it was just
so much fun. A wonderful outlet.
And it absolutely saved my life."
CN
(Above) Stenersen wrote a book
about her troubled childhood and
how she turned something bad
into something good. (Below)
Stenersen is still plenty active,
enjoying retirement.
