Wow this off season has flown by. Between school, Tough Girl Designs, and getting our race equipment ready for the new season, I have been extremely busy. All things considered, I could not be more excited about life right now. During the off-season I have focused on pushing my business and working hard to make my dreams come true. Of course I still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do, but I am so excited about everything I have in the works.
I also made some other decisions during the off season. I am almost done with my associates degree in small business and entrepreneurship, and I have been trying to decide if I was going to further my education or just focus on my business. I finally decided to go for it and go to art school online. I am going to study graphic design once I finish up my associate degree. I know it is going to be a lot of work, but I am really stoked to be able to do it.
Of course I could not have a bigger smile on my face since the race season is almost here. We will be headed to Gainesville for the first Pro Stock Motorcycle race of the year, and as long as everything goes as planned, I have a really big announcement coming up and this is an announcement that I could not be more proud to make. We have been working so hard to get everything ready to go, because we will be leaving early to test in Valdosta, Ga., before heading to Gainesville. I haven’t been on my bike for a while so I have to brush off the cobwebs before we head to Gainesville.
At this point, I am not sure how many NHRA races we will attend this year. It really depends on how the Suzuki's can stack up against the Buell’s and the Harley-Davidson’s. When we are not at the NHRA events though, we will certainly be bracket racing and I hope to do some Division 7 Lucas Oil Series events this year. I always love a weekend of bracket racing.
Some other great things also happened during this off season, I celebrated a very great 21st birthday in Canada. I had such a good time and I want to give a big thank you to the people who made my birthday so amazing. My nephew also had his first birthday, complete with chocolate cake all over him and my sister, Kristen. My big brother, Chance, also celebrated his birthday and turned 28. He is the best big brother in the world. I have had a very productive off season, but I could not be more ready to head to Gainesville. Hope to see everyone there!
Growing up I always had this big drag racing dream. I was always dreaming about being out there racing with all my heroes. So I always have a soft spot with people who dream big and are going after what they want in life, especially girls. So naturally when I heard about Sadie Floyd who was not only chasing her dreams, but had overcome huge obstacles in her life I had to know more. Then I thought all of you might like to hear her story as well, so here it is:
Sadie Floyd grew up in a racing family, which races a series of dragsters, roadsters and door cars in the Pacific Northwest. Sadie was first introduced to the sport of drag racing when she was 10 and her father purchased a ‘48 Anglia and raced it in the Pro class at Woodburn Dragstrip in Oregon. She served as crew chief for her dad that year until she was exposed to thecNHRA Junior Drag Racing League. The following year, Sadie got behind the wheel of a junior dragster and was officially hooked. Growing up in a mechanic’s house hold she had always been exposed to the life of cars and even had a go-kart at the age of six that resembled a ‘32 Ford roadster that she drove around at car shows throughout the Northwest. Getting behind the wheel of a racecar seemed to be the natural next step for Sadie and served as a transition step in her life. At the age of 11, not only did Sadie become a racecar driver but also she hit her 5-year mark of being officially cancer free.
Sadie was diagnosed with Acute lymphoblasticleukemia (A.L.L) when she was two-years old. The symptoms started out with severe fevers and puzzled doctors unable to find out what really was wrong. After a week, her symptoms minimized until she woke up one morning with the side of her face completely swollen. Rushing her to the hospital, an immediate blood test was ordered. The blood work showed that she had no red blood cells and would have to have a blood transfusion within the hour or she wouldn’t make it through the night.
The following morning, Sadie had a bone marrow procedure to diagnose the specific leukemia she needed treatment for. The next four years were spent in and out of Emanuel Children’s Hospital in Portland, Ore. In that four-year span, Sadie had over 15 blood transfusions, several experimental procedures, and four years of chemotherapy. Losing her hair twice from the chemotherapy, her hair always grew back with the vibrant red that is now the essence of her sassy personality, or ‘red hair flair’ as some call it. By the age of six, Sadie was allowed to be at home full time and was on her way to being cancer free.
Now, 16 years later, Sadie still resides in the Portland area, pursuing a degree in marketing at Portland State University. At the age of 22, she has the fight of any man twice her size. Competing in classes such as Pro, Top Dragster, Super Pro and Super Comp, Sadie has many victories under her belt from the last decade she has been behind the wheel.
Away from the track, Sadie plans to use her racing career as an outlet to get the word about blood cancers and children’s cancer to the forefront of the racing community. She has a keen interest in supporting others who are facing the disease and also has been in alliance with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for the last couple of years. Making appearances with her racecars at their Light the Night Walk, sharing her story and giving hope to other families in similar situations is precisely Sadie’s mission. Continuing her racing career in the years to come, she wishes to pair up with many other cancer related programs on her path to become a professional racecar driver.
Although the walls in the Floyd’s "Hot Rod Garage" are covered in plaques and trophies, Sadie would agree that the biggest victory she will ever experience is her victory of beating leukemia. I am so impressed by Sadie, and I can't wait to see where her drag racing career takes her!
First off, let me say how sorry I am that it has taken me so long to update everyone. I’ve been on the road and as soon as I got home I have been on the go trying to make up for lost time. Of course, that’s a good thing. I am ecstatic to say I have had a lot of graphics work for my company, Tough Girl Designs. Trying to work all day and keep up with school has been a challenge but I am very happy to report that I have been able to keep up. Of course, not without my share of late nights and early mornings but I’m okay with that.
I am a little sad to report that we were unsuccessful in qualifying for the last two events in Las Vegas and Pomona, but I am extremely proud at the same time. This year, I was really the one who struggled. We had power during the season and we came out really strong in Gainesville with my first six-second run. My team, and especially my dad, Charlie, and Mark Savage, worked really hard at putting a good bike underneath me. Then I developed a bad habit. I was short-shifting the 1-2 shift really bad. After you make that shift early, it becomes extremely hard for the motor and everything to catch up and make a good run. Even though I usually hit the other four shifts one time, my runs were not nearly as quick as they could have been.
This habit made it extremely hard for my team to tune on the bike. It is hard to tune when you don’t make clean runs. In Las Vegas, I have to be honest, I came back to the pit and I just wanted to hide. I knew that even though my dad didn't say anything he was getting tired of seeing the same mistake over and over. I was really beating myself up after the first pass. On the next pass, I did the same thing again. So then I was really frustrated with myself. I knew that without fixing this habit, we were just sitting ducks out there and we weren’t going to qualify. Everybody was working so hard on giving me a great bike, and until I started to ride better we weren't going to improve.
On Saturday, something happened in the clutch. Which to be honest was a blessing in disguise for me. When I put the bike on the two-step, and went to let the clutch out, the bike didn't move. Of course right as I relaxed my body and went to pull the clutch lever in, the bike took off. I was caught way off guard, and tried to get caught up. However, I got into the rev limiter in first gear. After that I just pulled the clutch in and aborted the run. However, being behind the bike and running the first shift into the rev limiter seemed to help me break my habit.
On the final qualifying pass on Saturday, I felt amazing. After my pass I felt the best I have in a long time. My dad came down to get me and he just said ‘Katie you did a great job’. We both knew that was the pass we had been waiting for to bring us out of the slump. As we opened up the graph of the run on the computer, my dad just smiled and gave me a hug. I had finally broken the habit that caused us to struggle quite a bit this season.
The next weekend, we stayed in Las Vegas for the Division 7 Lucas Oil series race. We put in our new Pro Stock engine and we set out to do some testing and bracket racing. I felt great after that weekend, even though we went out in the first round. I felt like we had done exactly what we set out to do. We broke in our new motor and I was able to get some more valuable seat time.
Going into Pomona with a fresh motor, I had a lot of high hopes. I felt like my riding had improved and we had some great data to tune from. We went out and made four complete runs down the track. I felt like everybody helping us and my dad and I put everything we had into this last race. Unfortunately we seemed to be down on power. After our last pass though, we went back to the trailer with our heads held high because we are improving.
I can't believe I have been so lucky that this is my third season racing an NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle and I am still only 20-years old. Ever since I first got into a race car, and then on a bike I have had a huge drive to win. Pro Stock Motorcycle is a lot more challenging than I ever thought. I have been greatly humbled with the challenges it has given me. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for the day we are standing in the winner's circle holding up a big Wally and I know that day is coming. However, for a small town family, who does this out of their pocket, because of the passion we have for it, I could not be more proud of what we have accomplished.
Every time we step out onto that track, we have walked away with more knowledge. I know our day is coming, and we are going to keep working and doing whatever it takes to make it happen. Thank you so much to all the people who have supported us this season. I am constantly receiving emails and face book messages from fans telling us they know we can do it, and I can't tell you how much that support means. Happy Holidays everyone!
Well, I can officially say I made it through my first time racing in Phoenix. I am now safely at home and back at work. In Phoenix we didn't catch up with everything fast enough to be able to make the show. Of course I was disappointed to not be racing on Sunday. However, I feel pretty good about our time there mostly because we learned some big lessons. Any time you are learning, is not wasted time.
On our first pass, we had a bit of an oversight when we put a new rear slick on the bike. The wheelie bar height was set too high. When I launched the bike, the front wheel went straight into the air and when it came down it caused the back tire to unload. That makes it awful hard to get the bike down the track, so I ended up aborting that run. On our second run, we just couldn't get hooked up to the race track and spun really hard. Now I have to be honest and admit that our second run was a real eye-opener for me.
When I got to the finish line, I got on the brakes and something caused my front tire to wash out. Instinctively, I threw my foot out, and then tried to drop the front brake as fast as I could to set the bike back up right. Needless to say, the bottom of my foot got pretty hot and it definitely got my heart pumping. It was really humbling to have something like that happen and it's a reminder that you can never take what you're doing for granted, because anything can happen. I was able to get the bike and myself stopped and off the track without doing any real damage, and at the end of the day that's just like winning.
The next day we just couldn't quite get everything to come together. After not making it into the show, I could see that my dad and Mark where a little down so I made sure to remind them it's all a learning process. Now we just take what we learned and move forward. I really have to give a huge thank you to them, because they really did work so hard this weekend.
Now that Phoenix is over, I feel good about Vegas. That race in Phoenix was one more learning process and one more weekend of experience we can add to our growing list. Rome was not built in a day, and I am learning that neither is a successful race team.
There are also a couple of other reasons I look forward to Vegas. It is one of my personal favorite tracks. That is where I met the Gann's who helped me make my first professional start in Pro Stock Motorcycle. I love the track and the facility. I also love the fact that it's Halloween time! I haven't figured out my costume yet, but rest assured it will be good. Even though Halloween falls on a Monday this year, I think celebrating a day early at my favorite place in the world won't hurt. Hope to see you there, don't forget a costume!
