Diane began racing motocross when she was eleven years old.
  “A friend took me to the beach and taught me how to slide,” she said, “And I thought, wow- this is fun!”
  She decided to give flat track a shot, and entered the Powderpuff class at a TT race in Oregon.

  “There were four other girls…well, two of them were women. They were married and had kids… and it was a lot of fun. The next year, I was going to race there again, in the Powderpuff class, but there were no other entries.”

  A vote was held, and it was decided that Diane would be allowed to race with the guys.

 

  “I was racing at all of the local Oregon tracks,” Diane said. “Sidewinders, Roseburg… and it was a lot of fun. Then, I applied for my Pro Novice license when I turned sixteen, and I got it.”

  When asked if she had encountered any adversity, getting a license to compete in what was predominately viewed as a “man’s sport,” she paused.

  “It really wasn’t a big deal,” she said. “Most of the friends I had been racing with, locally, turned Pro around the same time I did.”

  In fact, “Ma Joyner” (the mother of one of Diane’s friends, Chuck Joyner) made Diane a set of racing leathers.

 

  Debbie Seldon had taken AMA to court in order to obtain HER flat track license, not long before Diane had applied. She mused that this may have made her own application process go more smoothly.
  “Debbie wasn’t trying to make a big statement (about gender equality) or anything like that. She just wanted to race for the same reason I did… because it was fun. But it DID open the door for other female racers, I think. I sent in my application, and it went straight through.”

 

  “My first race as a Pro Novice was at the Houston Astrodome,” Diane said. “It was a doubleheader. We had a short track on the first night and a TT on the second. One hundred and seventy-seven racers entered. Only sixty could qualify to go on to the heats. I qualified one night, but not the other.”

 

  In her first year as a Novice, and with the sponsorship of a local Suzuki shop, Diane quickly accumulated the forty points that she needed to return as an Amateur/Junior, the following year.

  She entered her final race of her Junior year with seventy-eight of the eighty points she needed to turn Expert.

  “The race was at Ascot,” she said. “I hated Ascot. It scared me.”

 

  She earned the two points she needed during the heat race, becoming the first female in the sport to earn an Expert license.

  “Up until then,” Diane said, “Everyone was really nice. When I turned Expert, well…” Diane paused. “People weren’t very nice.”

  She recalls an incident where she faced down a spectator who heckled her in the stands at an Indiana short track national, and another in which a fellow racer called her a derogatory name.

  “Some of them, like Mert Lawill, were really nice, though,” she quickly added.

 

  When asked about her favorite track, Diane responded that she loved the miles. “San Jose was probably my favorite,” she said.

  When asked to recall a few of her favorite race memories, Diane’s smile radiated through her words.

  “I had bought Mike Kidd’s Triumph,” she said, “And I loved that bike. And, at San Jose one time, Gary Scott offered to let me ride his Harley Davidson. It was totally different. I made it to the semi, and you had to win it, to move on. Only first place moved up. On the last lap, going into turn three, I thought, ‘If I’m going to pass, I’d better do it now!’ I wasn’t used to drafting. I was used to going fast, but not THAT  fast!

  “I passed the guy, and I thought, ‘I’m going to fall.’  I went down while I was in first. It was a wide track. I started going down on the inside of the track, and ended up by the haybales!” Diane laughed. “Afterwards, people were telling me, ‘I thought I was going to hit you!’ and I was, like, ‘Well, I’m glad you didn’t!’ “

 

  “About fifteen years ago…fifteen or more… I went to a Meet and Greet at a motorcycle shop in Longview, Washington. I waited in line to see Gary Scott. When I got up to him, he started to sign his autograph and I whispered, ‘Hey, do you remember that time I borrowed your bike and crashed it?’ Then, he recognized me and it was really great.”

 

  Diane also competed in the “Battle of the Sexes,” competing in three racing events against David Aldana at Ascot.

 

  Diane’s final race was in the 1980’s.

  “I was working five days a week, and it was hard to afford taking time off of work,” she said.

  When asked if she had any advice to give young women who dream of racing, she didn’t hesitate. “I would tell them the same thing I’d tell any young person who asked,” she said. “Follow your heart. If it’s something you really love, enjoy it. Have fun!”

 

 

  Thank you, Diane, for taking the time to share your memories with us. It was an absolute pleasure!