| June 28, 2022
Much like a goalie in hockey or a relief pitcher in baseball, it sometimes pays for an NHRA drag racer to have a short memory. That was certainly the case for Vance & Hines Suzuki’s Angelle Sampey who quickly bounced back from a tough loss in Bristol, Tennessee, to win the Summit Racing Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.
By Kevin McKenna
Sampey had the best bike in Bristol but threw away the final round on a red-light start against Jerry Savoie. Seven days later, the Bristol final is a distant memory after Sampey rode to a solid 6.861 to 6.928 win over Reed Motorsports Suzuki’s Joey Gladstone to score historic career win number 46.
“You don’t know the internal battle that I was going through since last week,” Sampey said. “This was huge after the final in Bristol. I threw it away. I gave it to Jerry. It just slipped through my fingers and on Monday, I started to prepare for this race. By Friday, I dug deep within myself. Twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have had to do what I did, mentally, but I’ve found that the biggest competitor these days is myself.”
Sampey, who has admittedly had her ups and downs this season, was solid throughout qualifying and eliminations in Norwalk. She qualified number two and then rode to wins against Ron Tornow, Matt Smith and Bristol champ Savoie before powering past Gladstone. Even a stiff crosswind wasn’t enough to prevent her from making consistent runs.
“The crosswind was brutal out there,” Sampey said. “In the first round, Ron Tornow and I got a lot closer than we should have been, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t going to be the end of my career. Fortunately, my crew has a way of keeping me calm, and we made the adjustment to the bike that we needed to make and that helped me get through the rest of the race.”
The significance of 46 wins also wasn’t lost on Sampey. Dave Schultz, the late five-time NHRA champ earned 45 wins and was the class all-time leader before his death in 2002. Sampey has often longed to equal or better that mark. Even though Andrew Hines has since become the Pro Stock Motorcycle leader with 58 wins.
“To get 46 wins; that was the only goal I hadn’t achieved in my career,” Sampey said. “There was a time when I wanted to be the winningest rider in the class, but Andrew Hines has put that goal pretty much out of reach. Dave was the GOAT. To pass him after 25 years of trying is pretty special.”
As for Gladstone, he remains perhaps the best rider in the class who still does not have a victory to his credit, but based on his performance in Norwalk, that might not be the case much longer. Gladstone was solid in qualifying with the number-five spot and had little trouble advancing to his third career final with wins against Jimmy Underdahl, Karen Stoffer and Hector Arana Jr. Loaded with talent and a reputation for being able to ride almost any sort of high-performance motorcycle, Gladstone is overdue for a win, a fact that wasn’t lost on Sampey.
“Joey is going to win one of these and when he does, I’m going to be very, very happy for him,” Sampey said. “Of course, I wanted to win this race, but if for some reason it didn’t work out, I would have been thrilled for him and [team owner] Cory Reed. Cory and I have a history because we were teammates, and their day is coming.”
With six races in the books, Sampey is the championship leader thanks to an early-round loss by incoming leader Steve Johnson.
The Camping World NHRA Drag Racing Series will now take a two week break before the start of the grueling Western Swing which includes back-to-back stops in Denver, Colorado, and Sonoma, California.
FINAL
- Angelle Sampey (Suz)
- Joey Gladstone (Suz)