RACER BLAZING HER OWN TRAIL.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock Bike racer Karen Stoffer professes she doesn't want to be the best female drag racer. She just wants to be the best racer.

For a weekend, the St. Genevieve High of Panorama City graduate was the best racer in her class, winning her first career NHRA event in Baytown, Texas.

Stoffer, a 40-year-old drag racer who grew up in Panorama City, added her name to the short list of women that includes Shirley Muldowney and Angelle Savoie who have won NHRA races. By winning the Pro Stock Bike title at the 17th annual O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park on Sunday, she became the seventh woman in NHRA history to win an event.

``It's a big deal,'' Stoffer said. ``It's such a male-dominant sport. There's no female competitors in two of the four pro classes. It's very special to be the seventh woman to ever win an NHRA pro class race.''

She beat Antron Brown in the final round that featured two Suzukis. Stoffer narrowly won, by .0018 seconds, and sits six points behind the class leader, Andrew Hines, in the NHRA Pro Stock Bike standings after two rounds.

Pretty good for a racer who almost didn't make the first race of the season in Gainesville, Fla., because of a lack of sponsors. Even better for a racer who gave up racing at the pro level for five years.

Stoffer started racing motorcycles at L.A. County Raceway in Palmdale 14 years ago when her husband built her a bike, almost on a whim.

``When we were dating, he was always into racing. That was our weekend, spending it at the race track,'' said Stoffer, who now makes her home in Minden, Nev. ``He built a bike for me, pretty much behind my back.''

She made it to the semifinals in her first race and won the rookie-of-the-year award in her class at L.A. County Raceway.

Stoffer went on to win National Motorcycle Racing Association championships in three divisions before moving up to the NHRA Pro Stock Bike class. Her husband and crew chief, Gary Stoffer, a Poly High of Sun Valley graduate, built her first bike and even raced against her at the regional levels.

``I never thought when I was 10, 11, 12 years old that I was going to be a Pro Stock Bike racer,'' said Stoffer, who races the Jonco Motorsports Suzuki for owner Doug Johnson. ``Once I started racing and doing good, I thought, 'yeah, I want to do this.' Gary and I can do it together, and that's the big thing.''

But making the jump to NHRA competition was a bit bumpy.

Stoffer spent the first few years of her racing career at the regional level before the NHRA added a motorcycle class to its pro ranks. She entered two races between 1995 and 1996, one at Denver and the other at Pomona, but didn't qualify for either. After the race in Pomona, Stoffer decided to move back down to the regional level and didn't return to the pro ranks until 2002.

She made her comeback to the NHRA pro level at Indianapolis Raceway Park, where she qualified 10th. By the end of the 2002 season, she met Savoie in the finals at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania, the first time in NHRA history two women competed for a Pro Stock Bike title.

But coming into the 2004 season, her team was unable to secure enough sponsorship funding to run a full schedule. They had enough money to make the season opener in Florida, but her racing future was in doubt beyond that.

``We went into Gainesville with a lot of energy and a lot of hope,'' she said. ``We did well enough and decided to continue. We put a focus on marketing partners and put up what we needed to go to Houston.''

In the time between the Florida races, which concluded March 21, and the Houston race, Geico committed to fund Stoffer for nine of the 15 NHRA Pro Stock Bike races. That would be enough for her to finish the season.

Winning at Houston only makes it that much easier to challenge for the class championship.

``Never give up,'' she said. ``You gotta persevere. Here we are now sitting six points out of first. That's just huge.''

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