Flat Out Friday, presented by Harley Davidson Motor Company, is Friday, Feb. 21 at Fiserv Forum. It is part of the "Mama Tried Motorcycle Show." To find out more and to get tickets, click here.Three hundred motorcycle racers will participate in this year’s Flat Out Friday event – described as “part race, part rock show and part circus” – including Yvette Sanchez and Alex "Bumpus" McDonald. I like to believe we are past identifying racers by their gender – racers are racers, right? – but the fact more women are participating in a sport that, historically, was comprised mostly of dudes, seems worth exploring.
Yvette Sanchez, who was born and raised in Milwaukee and grew up in a family with 13 kids, will compete for the fifth time in Flat Out Friday’s Women’s and Open Boonie (mini bike) Class. She was inspired to race half a decade ago while attending Flat Out Friday as a spectator.
“The energy and the atmosphere was unlike anything else I’d ever seen or felt in my life," says Sanchez. "I was sitting way up in the ‘nosebleed seats,' but it was an infectious experience. I knew I wanted to do it."
Sanchez, who is a smaller-framed person, was also drawn to the Boonie class because she thought riding smaller bikes would be easier for her. She later learned that was definitely not the case.
Although Sanchez would go on to find the sport arduous, she was up for the challenge.
“It had a lot to do with the people I was meeting. Everyone I met was so friendly and approachable and really wanted to help me get better,” says Sanchez. “I enjoy the adrenaline, but mostly it’s the people that keep me going.”
Today, Sanchez owns eight bikes and has raced throughout the state of Wisconsin as well as in Georgia, Colorado and Brazil.
“Racing has opened the door to a lot of opportunities for me,” she says. “Nothing makes me feel more like the possibilities are endless. I found my niche.”
Recently, filmmaker Wendy Schneider released a documentary called “Angels Of Dirt,” which chronicles the life of Milwaukee-based moto superstar Charlotte Kainz who, after many years of winning races, was killed on the track at the age of 20.
Does the dangerous aspect of the sport – and losing someone from the local racing community – adversely affect Sanchez? Is she ever scared while on the track?
“When I am racing, I don’t think about anything except the turn ahead or the other people around me. I literally have a one-track mind,” says Sanchez. “But I never take racing lightly. I know at any point, something could happen. But if I gave in to the ‘what ifs’ I wouldn’t get the chance to push myself in a way that makes me feel incredible and experience what I truly enjoy.”
Alex “Bumpus” McDonald, who lives in Bumpus, Tenn., will also race on the sticky track at Flat Out Friday. McDonald’s moto story stretches back to when she received her first dirtbike at the age of five.
“I have literally grew up on a bike,” says McDonald. “I was raised in a dealership so it was a foregone conclusion. But luckily, I love it.”
McDonald watched flat track racing most of her life and started racing herself about five years ago.
“My husband got into hooligan racing (street bike racing) when it first took root and, after a while, I just couldn’t sit out on the fun,” she says.
This year will be McDonald’s fifth time participating in Flat Out Friday. McDonald plans to race in the Open Hooligan Class, a high-speed, high-stakes race featuring riders on highly customized street bikes. McDonald plans to ride a Royal Enfield build.
Flat Out Friday – and Mama Tried – also provide McDonald the chance to connect with racing friends from all over the country.
“I love everything about it: the people, the energy, the philosophy of it,” says McDonald. “It’s really a home of sorts.”
McDonald never knows what to expect at Flat Out Friday, and she prefers it that way. Her first race, she was lapped by an 8-year-old rider. Last year, she won one of her races.
“It always reminds me that with effort, patience, balls and a bit of crazy, I’ve been able to grasp skills that keep me being young and living the dream. It’s definitely a thrill.”
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
