saying things like “I would never own a crotch rocket” or “I
would never own a rice burner”. All of those negative things,
but she assured me that those bikes are amazing and have
incredible performance. “It is another breed of animal”.
She told me “I have an angel and a devil on each shoulder
with the devil pushing me and the angel telling me to slow
down.” She obviously doesn’t listen to the angel when it comes
to racing because she is sometimes known as “America’s
Queen of Speed” because she is an official member of the
Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials 201 MPH Club (formerly
BUB Speed Trials), Mojave Magnum 200 MPH Club, ECTA
200 MPH Club, Texas Mile 200 MPH Club, Colorado Mile 200
MPH Club and lifetime member of the famed Bonneville 200
MPH Club.
Being a woman in the racing world can be tough, the first
instinct is to act like one of the guys. She told me that when
she started “I threw away my girlie side of me. I thought I had
to dress and cover up and not show my girlie figure. I did that
for six years and I thought it would help me. I tried to play
the boy’s role and at the end of the day it just didn’t work out.”
At one point she decided that she didn’t need to fit in, she
needed to stand out. She decided “I am going to have a pink
bike I am going to put my Swarovski crystals on my bike and
helmet, I am going to wear my cute little clothes and that was
when I started to create my own brand “I would get asked
‘who rides that bike?’” She would respond with “I do!” and
the questioner would reply; “Oh I thought you were just the
model.” “A lot of them didn’t know I was a girl until I started
going in with pink and bling.” Subtle bling as she describes it.
Being a woman in a man’s world meant she didn’t have
female mentors, so she used the men she raced with as her
mentors. Her passion for racing motorcycles is apparent.
She told me “A guy once asked me if I was pregnant because
I had a glow. I told him I wasn’t, and he said “You just have a
glow when you ride a motorcycle.”
Valerie has a fierce competitive nature. When she races
she tells the others “I want to win the race so I can send
you home.” In the end she advises women who have an
interest in racing to “Play up that girl role, be real and be real
to yourself! Make sure aren’t hiding who you are.”
I asked her the obvious question, what does it feel like to
go over 200 miles per hour? She told me “It is difficult to
understand, or have you understand.” She continued by
telling me that “When you are going fast, like anything over
200 MPH, you are concentrating on the dash and your body
24 Thunder Roads Magazine® Colorado
position. You want to be one with the bike. You are going so
fast that you have to be really connected with the bike. The
adrenaline hits you when you are done and you see the MPH
slip. If you did well your confidence level goes through the
sky.” I learned that even if she has a few bad days of racing
it is truly the final result that matters. She said “You can have
two days of bad racing and on the last day you get a 217,
then nothing else mattered from the previous days.”
Valerie loves to engage the children at these events. If she
wins a trophy, she always gives them away to a kid who was
hanging around during the races. Her inspiration was Tripp
Nobles, because he would take off his face shield, sign it and
give it to a kid that he’d spent time with. She loved that would
give away his trophies to a special kid.
Valerie told me that she loves the kids. Sometimes they
are shy around her, but she has had parents tell her afterward
that she had a big impact on their daughter. They would tell
her “She will not let go of her “hero card” (Valerie makes her
own VIP cards for the kids). She signs the back of them with
a sharpie, laminates them and puts them on lanyards. She
does this all herself. The parents reach out to her later and tell
her that she has inspired their child to race. She tried to make
the kids feel special by taking pictures with them and giving
them a kiss on their cheek. If she sees them in the stands
she asks them for a “high five” to give her good luck before
the race. She loves to entertain the kids. It is particularly
satisfying for her to go back someplace the following year
and see all the VIP cards and Valerie Thompson gear. “It
makes you feel great” she said.
She obviously loves kids because Valerie donates her
time to HopeKids, an organization that supports kids with life
threatening illnesses. Her annual Motorcycle run and golf
tournament help to raise money. She visits the Children’s
hospital in Phoenix each month and has monthly “Day at the
Movies” and ongoing appearances and autograph sessions.
Valerie found herself having to educate her family on
motorcycle racing and what it is. She told me that was a
challenge in itself, explaining that the Red Hat from Bonneville
was very prestigious and how much money and patience
it took to earn it. Explaining how there are a lot of people
who try for years to accomplish that. Her mom loves that
she is racing and will ask her “ How fast did you go?” While
she was participating in a race in Portland her mom was in
the stands taking pictures and cheering her on, even though
January 2016
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