I wouldn't say I have more to prove because I'm a girl. I just have a lot to prove as a racer. – Elena Myers
TOOELE — Elena Myers was just an 11-year-old who loved racing motorcycles with her dad when a stranger offered her a glimpse into what the sport could offer her.
John Ulrich, who owns RoadracingWorld.com and has sponsored, mentored and groomed other world champion racers, told the budding star that he saw something special in her.
"He was very intimidating," said Myers, who will compete Sunday in Miller Motorsports Park's World Superbike BIG M Weekend. It is one biggest weekends of racing in Utah, and Myers is one of the sport's most intriguing young stars. "He is kind of a stern person or at least I thought so back then. He laid out this whole plan for me … and pretty much everything went according to plan."
Ulrich's intuition turned out to be prophetic as Myers is proving to be one of the sport's best racers. In 2010 she delivered the team a victory at California's Infineon Raceway, and became the first woman to win an AMA Pro Racing event in the organization's 76-year history.
At 5-foot-3 1/2 inches and 120 pounds, strangers are shocked when she tells them what she does for a living. But because she has always raced against "boys and men" exclusively, she doesn't feel out of place in a sport dominated by them.
"I wouldn't say I have more to prove because I'm a girl," she said. "I just have a lot to prove as a racer. I don't really feel any different. It's not like I've ever raced against girls. … I've dealt with this from a very early age, so nothing has ever changed."
Myers said that first conversation with Ulrich changed the way she viewed what started as a weekend hobby with her father.
"I was just kind of blown away," she said. "He said I was doing the same things that some of his world championship riders had done at that age. … He took me on as a project to see where we could go with it."
He helped her land her first sponsorship deal at 13, and slowly her hobby evolved into her passion and — at 16 — her profession.
"But it was still me and my dad and a mechanic going to the races," she said. "I don't think it really changed until I turned pro."
Once she turned pro, she raced for Ulrich's team and her bike was handled by professional mechanics. With the advantages of coaching, advice and financial backing came the responsibility of winning bigger, more pressure-packed races.
"There is also pressure that comes along with it," she said. "But not from really anybody but myself. I feel like I've got to step up my program."
Any rider in her situation would feel the pressure of riding for a living, but Myers has the added pressure of being one of few women in her profession.
Fortunately, she doesn't see her gender as an advantage — or a disadvantage.
"I think there are challenges as a woman in a male sport, but I don't think just because I'm the only one that I'm going to have more or less," she said. "I just I think it's more the physical aspect of it. I am pretty small. It's a 350-pound-plus motorcycle. It takes a lot to get it from one turn to another and you have the whole gyroscopic effect going on too."
So she trains — mostly cycling — to compensate for what nature didn't give her in muscles. Myers believes that 90 percent of the sport is mental and that what a rider may lack in natural skill he — or she — can make up for with knowledge and effort.
"It's a lot of knowledge, self-confidence and just, I don't want to say talent, but your understanding of the sport. It can kind of get you to the same place. Having a full understanding of the bike is important. If you have a full understanding of a bike, that's how you push it to its potential. And obviously, that's how you win races is going fast. Plus, pushing yourself mentally, in your head."
Crashing, she said, is definitely the worst part of the job.
But, she points out, even injuries can be overcome.
"I won at Daytona earlier this year with a broken hand and I had surgery right after," she said offering up the scar on her wrist as the tiniest bit of evidence. "It's been about six weeks and it feels fine."
The challenge of racing includes constantly learning. She is in a division where riders are supposed to be developing. She will move up a class next year, and she hopes to continue to be more than a pretty face on the race track.
Still, she acknowledges that being a woman makes her unique to her profession. When asked how to avoid becoming a novelty, she doesn't hesitate, "Results."
And she has those. She has two historic wins, including last month's victory at Daytona International. In 2011 she finished fifth in the standings and in 2010 she was second in the AMA Pro SuperSport West Championship. She is a contender in every race, something she will prove to Utahns this weekend when she races Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park.
"If you prove you're the real deal," she said. "I still get some of that, but I'm still learning and basically in the development class, so I'm not out there racing with the best in the country. I'm certainly racing with some of the best. It's hard to say. I'm doing things that nobody else has done, so I'd like to think I'm not a novelty."
She said she'd love to see more women in the sport, but understands that cost and accessibility make that difficult.
"I don't think people get their kids into racing, for one," she said. "And if they do, they're probably more likely to get their sons involved. It does cost a lot of money and you basically have to have your family's full support while you're growing up. A lot of women do it as adults, and it's just that much harder. When you learn something as a kid, it's kind of ingrained into you, like learning a language."
Myers would welcome other girls and women into the sport and said it is both challenging and fulfilling.
"The reward," she said, "when you achieve something like this is very gratifying."
Big M Weekend
When: May 26-28
Where: Miller Motorsports Park
2901 N. Sheep Lane, Tooele, UT 84047
Qualifying: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
Superpole: Sunday, 3 p.m.
Superbike race: Monday, 3:30 p.m.
Tickets: Weekend — Open Grandstand: $110; General Admission: $85
Single Day — Open Grandstand: $45-50; General Admission: $35-40
More info: millermotorsportspark.com
Email: adonaldson@desnews.com