TEAM 7 RACING'S VALERIE THOMPSON AND DENIS MANNING
P112
Interview
growing increasingly red from
the gash underneath it, Thomp-
son helped clean up the pieces
of the shattered streamliner
alongside the course workers,
mindful of the other racers wait-
ing to take to the track.
"Crashes happen," she said,
"The crashes get bigger when
you get faster. It's dangerous.
There's no room for error. And I
might have made one of the big-
gest errors I probably have ever
made."
But whether or not the acci-
dent was through any fault of her
own remains to be determined.
The team won't know much until
the Bub 7 returns stateside for a
full investigation by the team.
"People are making their own
assumptions and that's fine, but
until we really see that bike…
that will give us 10-times more
feedback. Because do I want
to know? Absolutely. I want to
know! [laughs] I even want to go
to a hypnotist and find out if I can
remember!"
Upon returning home to Scott-
sdale, Arizona, Valerie Thomp-
son quickly discovered her
"crash heard 'round the world"
had placed her directly in the
limelight. Her sensational wreck
was the subject of several local
news broadcasts. Despite giving
several interviews in the next few
weeks, her own memory of it
hasn't returned, but video of the
crash surfaced, which proved to
be rather shocking to see.
"My heart skipped a few
beats," Thompson said watching
of the video. "I didn't know it was
that violent, to be honest.
The frustrating blank spots
and discernible lament that
occupy Thompson's mind are
underscored by feelings of relief,
a sentiment shared with the
team. "I'm going to say that bike
saved my life," she said. "There's
no way around it."
Denis Manning (second from
left) has been chasing speed
for over five decades. No name
is more synonymous with two-
wheel land speed records.
It's interesting… it's what I
live for, is to be in a perfect
situation and you're two hours
away from history."
–Denis Manning
