Ups & Downs
Ups & Downs
UP: To Angelle Savoie and Karen Stoffer, for beating the boys at their own game. At last September’s NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Reading, Pennsylvania, the two Pro Stock motorcycle drag racers both advanced to the finals, marking the first all-female bike final in NHRA history. The first all-female final was held between car racers Shirley Muldowney and Lucille Lee two decades previous. Savoie won for the fifth time this season, moving one step closer to her thirdconsecutive national championship. How’s that for Girl Power?
DOWN: To the Florida Highway Patrol, for blurring the line between honest policing and outright deception. According to The Miami Herald, in an effort to reduce accidents in construction zones along major highways, the department enacted “Operation Hardhat,” in which radartoting officers pose as road surveyors. “Is he a surveyor? Is he a construction worker? Or is he a trooper?” asked Miami-Dade FHP Lt. Julio Pajón. “The driver won’t know until it’s too late.’” Great...
UP: To Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” for putting aside its usual stick-and-ball reporting for an interview with 2002 AMA Superbike Champion Nicky Hayden. The segment, which aired this past September, began with highlights from the Kentucky native’s title-winning season, followed by a few minutes of lighthearted banter with show cohosts Chris Rose and Tom Arnold, and fellow guest David Allan Grier. Then, things really got hot, with Hayden performing a wheelie and a burnout on his Honda RC51. This coming season, the 21-year-old will race a factory Honda RC211V in MotoGP
