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Well, now, I have been waiting over a month to meet Nancy Emde, Nancy Emde, a woman who Won a Pro Class in The Score Baja 1000, a major motorsports event here. I am a bit nervous because this interview is outside my wheelhouse. As a Storyteller I wonder what questions I would ask to understand why a woman would do such a thing. What called her to take her first ride? What dream did she have going into major motorsport with a bunch of crazy guys defying gravity? But when a story knocks on the door like this one did, the only thing that I can do is show up and surrender to where it will take the reader. So, buckle up, here we go!
A five-year-old blondie jumped on her one and half horsepower mini motorcycle. It was a Christmas present from mom and dad. Nancy Emde’s life was literally launched on two-wheels with the throttle wide open. There was a field next to the house and there she grew up racing, falling off, and getting back on again. She was a natural. And her brother just two years behind her raced with her on his own mini. The passion was literally in her blood as she can trace her lineage all the way back to 1919 and her father, Floyd Emde. Today the Emde family name is included in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and anyone into motorsports knows the Emde family motorcycle dynasty.
Nancy began racing as a teenager in Southern California before Motorcross was a big thing. An old veteran coordinator told her one day that it wasn’t fair her winning all the “Powder Puff” races with the girls because she grew up riding with her brothers and their friends. He said, “You need to start racing with the guys.” Nancy happily replied, “Sure! Good, I am use to it.” She was 16 and at the time this was unheard of. But she was that good. Back then male egos were a bit fragile when women began to intrude into their world. Nancy experienced what many women were experiencing when entering men’s sports in the 70s. There were times when they would actually try to run her off the course, but Nancy laughed “Only when they could catch me!” She went on, “I held my own and began to gain their trust. And even better was their respect.”
I asked what her girlfriends thought? “I was surrounded by handsome guys; they were a bit envious. They decided they wanted to learn how so not to be left out. But on the flip side their boyfriends weren’t good teachers.” The mishaps and struggles without the guys’ consistent attention shutdown the desire and they ended up hating the motorcycle. “I was having none of that, so I stepped in to teach all my friends. I made sure everyone I knew could ride.”
A good story always has a little love affair. One bright sunny day at a motorsport event well know motorcross fellow named Chris Steward spotted a beautiful blond woman walking by. He admitted he was a bit of a “player.” He asked his friend standing next to him, “Who is that gorgeous woman?” David Emde kicked Chris and hollered, “That’s my sister and she is married!!" As life would have it Chris went on to continue his brilliant racing career and in riding a Yamaha, won the Battle of the Twins in its first year. Apparently, the racing cupid gave Chris a second chance and this time he was ready for a perfect match. Both Chris and Nancy had the same passions. They both loved Baja California and they both were seasoned riders loving the thrill of the races or simply riding for the pure joy of riding together.
In 2006 Nancy joined Chris as part of the relay team for the 39th SCORE 1000 for the small-bore pro motorcycle class. She had already raced with Chris in the Baja 1000 in 2005 where she faced a scary challenge alone in the middle of the desert. She was riding at night on a Honda XRS 650 weighing 340 pounds. The track went up a steep hill that the Trophy Trucks had torn up. She wasn’t riding a light weight dirt bike. The big bike couldn’t handle the sand and she went down. She describes, “I couldn’t lift it and I didn’t know what to do. Then two guys came out of the dark and I thought that they were going to steal the bike.” But they called out to her, “Oh, no! We are here to help!” Like angels in the night, she was back on course. The team placed 5th.
Chris gave Nancy another opportunity in 2006 with riders from New Zealand. They had been touring and were eager to do the famous race. Nancy would ride the last 90 miles to the finish line. Not to take personal credit Nancy said, “We were a team and these guys were hot.” Nancy began her tale, “I drove out the night before in a little rental car to the pit stop. In the morning, I packed up and saw campers at the lighthouse on the hill prepared to watch the race. I was nervous putting on my gear. I kept checking in with the pit north of me watching for Tony, a co-rider, who would hand over the bike to me. Just then Chris called her and said, “Put your helmet on! He should be there any minute!” Morning light caught the dirt cloud as Tony roared in and jumped off. Nancy straddled the grimy bike and peeled out at full throttle leaving dust hanging in the air. Nancy recalls, “The campers on the hill started cheering. I really didn’t understand why at the time.” Later she would realize that they had just seen a rare site, a woman racing a motorcycle in the Baja 1000.
There were plenty of hazards to watch out for and the most dangerous were the open class of Trophy Trucks. “They would come up behind me passing at nearly 100 miles per hour. They tore up the track and I had to be ready to get out of their way.” Hard to comprehend, but certain malcontents with dark humor liked to create boobie traps by digging holes and covering then with palm fronds. They watched the “fun” hoping to see a rider fall in. Nancy continued, “I had to be completely present and aware of every turn. We did prerun, but if it rained as it had when Hurricane John came through, there were washouts. I’d be headed into a turn at 50 miles an hour and the road was gone! The hardest part in this race is going as fast as possible to win without crashing with blown out shocks and no suspension.”
“When I came out to the pavement near the finish line in La Paz I thought, “Was this really happening?! We did it! And it was a long 90 miles.” Nancy was so touched, “Everyone in our group and her two daughters were waiting with bottles of champagne. They popped the corks the moment I turned the corner! It was a thrill of a lifetime!” And what happened next was featured in all the newspapers - Nancy dismounted the Honda, took off her helmet and shook out her long blond hair. The whole crowd gasped, “It's a woman!”
Nancy was very careful to make sure she acknowledged the many great women in motorsports, riding freelance, giving tours, and sharing with friends. But she and Chris were the first to take long tours into Cabo San Lucas. Trail Boss Tours became a very successful business based on their shared passions for bikes and Baja. “Rip to the Tip” tours took riders on the historic Baja 500 and Baja 1000 trails. Trail Boss Tours annually hosted 160 riders for Baja California motorcycle adventures and totaled 12,000 miles a year for over 15 years.
I asked if she might have a message for women today. She answered thoughtfully, “Always follow your dreams, never look back, and don’t have regrets. Sometimes it is a challenging path. There are things you might have to give up to attain that goal. But don’t give up. I am so glad that I didn’t. I loved being a stay-at-home mom too. I decided I’d try to have it all and that I’d manage. I’d just do the best I could. I have four of the best kids, all successful and the grandsons are following in their footsteps. Raising good humans is really the most important job of life.”
