women's class!
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Joy Higa
Jan 9, 2009, 2:52:16 PM1/9/09
to Dames Don't Care MC Collective
first - i hope i'm posting in the right place....
hey everyone,
this is joy higa, i was one of the co-authors of the petition.
2009 is my 6th year roadracing motorcycles. i've raced everything
from a CRF 150 in flattrack against other girls, to a GSXR-1000 in
Open Superbike and in a 4-Hour Endurance Race against the men. After
6 years of racing, I'm capable of holding my own against everyone else
out there.
this women's class that we are proposing would be in addition to all
the other classes that the women racers would be eligible to race in.
The reason why we are starting it up is that we feel that there are
women out there who are on the fence about racing, but for whatever
reason, don't take that first step. We see a lot of women at
trackdays, but hardly any at the races! This year i raced my 600cc R6
in AFM 600 production, 600 superbike, 750 production, 750 superbike
and Formula I. I raced 5 races every AFM weekend in 2008 and in ~35
races out of a total of 40 races that i raced, i was the only female
out there! Where were the ladies?
the fastest growing group of motorcycle buyers are women. i see women
riding on the street, i see women at trackdays, but i don't see very
many women racing with the AFM. i'm not sure why, maybe because it
*seems* to be a pretty big step from trackdays to racing.
i remember way back in the day, just thinking about racing in 600
superbike or even 600 production was like watching a men’s high school
football game. it was like someone saying to me, "you wanna play with
those guys? you know how to throw a football, you know how to catch,
and you know how to run. you should do it!" and then handing me a
football, helmet and pads and jersey and cleats and all the gear and
then saying, "all right! you're all dressed and ready to play! now
go for it!! oh, and btw, you're a girl. most guys don't like to get
beat by a girl. try not to get tackled by that mean 6'3" 250 pound
defensive guy over there named Eric Arnold, ok, cuz he don't like
girls. oh yeah, and there are 65 other guys on the grid just like
him. have fun!! here's the ball! now run! Don’t get tackled! and
go fast or else they'll lap you and run you over like a herd of
stampeding woolly mammoths!!"
in my head, gridding up with all those racers was like getting dumped
onto a football field with the men's high school football team who had
played together since they were 5 and pissed that i was trying to
play with them. and they were gonna teach me a lesson.
everyone who races knows this isn't true (mostly), but this is the
impression that i had when i decided i wanted to race.
other women who want to race might have the same impression of what
being a beginner female in a man's sport is like. (at the last race
of the year i counted 7 women out of a total of 200-250 racers, ~97%
of racers were men) a women's class would give new women racers a
chance to get their feet wet racing, so that when they do jump into
the regular classes, they only have to concentrate on racing. the
other stuff would be "been there done that, i can handle this" kinda
stuff.
don't get me wrong, there are prolly a bunch of women out there that
don't need or want a women's class, but there are some that do. its a
way of showing the other female trackday riders out there, "look, we
can do this, you can too." and it would be a lot of fun!
we are still working out the fine details of the class. We’re
thinking (but not 100% decided) on a women’s class with 2 waves -
experts in front and novices in back. Experts will have places 1-3
and novices will have places 1-3. This will keep things safer and
easier for the spectators to keep track of the racing.
I hope some of you ladies who have never raced or done a trackday will
come out and see what we're doing. Entry fee to spectate is $10 for
the whole weekend. We usually practice on Saturday and race on
Sunday, but we do race on Saturdays sometimes, depending on the
class. And if any of you are interested in getting really up close
and personal, you can always sign up to be a turnworker. Turnworkers
get a nice free hot breakfast (the bacon always smells GREAT!) :) and
a sack lunch, free entry into the races, and the infinite undying
gratitude of us racers who wouldn't be able to race without
turnworkers out there!
Thank you everyone who signed our petition! :)
See you at the races :)
Joy Higa
AFM #25
hey everyone,
this is joy higa, i was one of the co-authors of the petition.
2009 is my 6th year roadracing motorcycles. i've raced everything
from a CRF 150 in flattrack against other girls, to a GSXR-1000 in
Open Superbike and in a 4-Hour Endurance Race against the men. After
6 years of racing, I'm capable of holding my own against everyone else
out there.
this women's class that we are proposing would be in addition to all
the other classes that the women racers would be eligible to race in.
The reason why we are starting it up is that we feel that there are
women out there who are on the fence about racing, but for whatever
reason, don't take that first step. We see a lot of women at
trackdays, but hardly any at the races! This year i raced my 600cc R6
in AFM 600 production, 600 superbike, 750 production, 750 superbike
and Formula I. I raced 5 races every AFM weekend in 2008 and in ~35
races out of a total of 40 races that i raced, i was the only female
out there! Where were the ladies?
the fastest growing group of motorcycle buyers are women. i see women
riding on the street, i see women at trackdays, but i don't see very
many women racing with the AFM. i'm not sure why, maybe because it
*seems* to be a pretty big step from trackdays to racing.
i remember way back in the day, just thinking about racing in 600
superbike or even 600 production was like watching a men’s high school
football game. it was like someone saying to me, "you wanna play with
those guys? you know how to throw a football, you know how to catch,
and you know how to run. you should do it!" and then handing me a
football, helmet and pads and jersey and cleats and all the gear and
then saying, "all right! you're all dressed and ready to play! now
go for it!! oh, and btw, you're a girl. most guys don't like to get
beat by a girl. try not to get tackled by that mean 6'3" 250 pound
defensive guy over there named Eric Arnold, ok, cuz he don't like
girls. oh yeah, and there are 65 other guys on the grid just like
him. have fun!! here's the ball! now run! Don’t get tackled! and
go fast or else they'll lap you and run you over like a herd of
stampeding woolly mammoths!!"
in my head, gridding up with all those racers was like getting dumped
onto a football field with the men's high school football team who had
played together since they were 5 and pissed that i was trying to
play with them. and they were gonna teach me a lesson.
everyone who races knows this isn't true (mostly), but this is the
impression that i had when i decided i wanted to race.
other women who want to race might have the same impression of what
being a beginner female in a man's sport is like. (at the last race
of the year i counted 7 women out of a total of 200-250 racers, ~97%
of racers were men) a women's class would give new women racers a
chance to get their feet wet racing, so that when they do jump into
the regular classes, they only have to concentrate on racing. the
other stuff would be "been there done that, i can handle this" kinda
stuff.
don't get me wrong, there are prolly a bunch of women out there that
don't need or want a women's class, but there are some that do. its a
way of showing the other female trackday riders out there, "look, we
can do this, you can too." and it would be a lot of fun!
we are still working out the fine details of the class. We’re
thinking (but not 100% decided) on a women’s class with 2 waves -
experts in front and novices in back. Experts will have places 1-3
and novices will have places 1-3. This will keep things safer and
easier for the spectators to keep track of the racing.
I hope some of you ladies who have never raced or done a trackday will
come out and see what we're doing. Entry fee to spectate is $10 for
the whole weekend. We usually practice on Saturday and race on
Sunday, but we do race on Saturdays sometimes, depending on the
class. And if any of you are interested in getting really up close
and personal, you can always sign up to be a turnworker. Turnworkers
get a nice free hot breakfast (the bacon always smells GREAT!) :) and
a sack lunch, free entry into the races, and the infinite undying
gratitude of us racers who wouldn't be able to race without
turnworkers out there!
Thank you everyone who signed our petition! :)
See you at the races :)
Joy Higa
AFM #25
Joy Higa
Jan 9, 2009, 3:02:17 PM1/9/09
to Dames Don't Care MC Collective
oops sorry didn't mean to start a new thread. :P
Jane Doe
Jan 10, 2009, 1:23:57 AM1/10/09
to Dames Don't Care MC Collective
I closed this post as Joy has reposted this in the AFM section. I
can't figure out how to remove the post though (again with my computer
illiteracy)
em
can't figure out how to remove the post though (again with my computer
illiteracy)
em
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