THE DRAG QUEEN
Angelle Sampey
Photos courtesy of Vance & Hines / Harley-Davidson
After Angelle Sampey graduated from nursing school she took a job at a local hospital , covering the night shift . She would list her rounds on a dry erase board with a slick flourish of the marker . “ Someone asked me what I was doing ,” she said . “ I told them , ‘ practicing my autograph ,’” adding that they laughed . Some of her colleagues may have known she was a drag racer , but it wasn ’ t widely broadcasted .
But nursing was just a means to launch her prolific racing career . She started racing young , but her father ’ s support primarily rested on her motocrossing brother . As Sampey tells it , as her brother ’ s interest waned , hers became unstoppable .
After she outgrew her childhood motorcycle and her father sold it , she secretly rode and raced her friend ’ s street bikes , taking them to the strip on the weekends . With her savings from nursing and the sale of her motocross bike ( which she ’ d converted to a drag racer ) she went all in to pay for drag racing school in Gainesville , Texas .
“ Fortunately , I impressed the teacher , who hired me to be part of his team . And I made my professional debut in 1996 ,” Sampey said .
By the time of her first Michael Jordan-style retirement announcement in 2010 , she was the winningest female in professional motorsports . While that is a superior accolade , she had unfinished business , both personally and professionally , although she had no
idea more racing was in the cards . By 2011 , she was married and had given birth to her daughter Ava .
“ I thought , ‘ what I have been doing with my life ?’ Being a mom , now that is living ,” she said . “ I kind of resented my career for a while . I put off having a family and when I had Ava I was mad I waited so long . I regretted it because I should have had a family a long time ago .”
As she was reaching new heights of personal fulfillment as a mom , she got a phone call from her former team . Their racer had abruptly quit and they needed someone to fill the spot .
“ I thought they were insane . I hadn ’ t been on a bike in six years and they wanted me to go 200 mph in six seconds ,” she said . “ They convinced me , and all I can say is it was like giving a recovering alcoholic a drink . That was in 2014 and I am still on a bike .”
But Sampey found getting back in the saddle difficult . For one , being a mother had completely changed her outlook and she was very conscious of what she could lose . “ If there was a crosswind pushing me to the side , leaning off to fix it was something I had to force myself to do , unlike before when it was natural . When it was just me , I was gonna ride
58 | MAY 2020 | THUNDERPRESS . NET