Page 12 - 2019 April-May IWMA Magazine

You’re never too old to live your Dream An Interview with Mary Spitler
By: Linda Spangler
When most women are ready to settle down in life, Mary Spitler is just gearing up for her 2019 racing season. Mary, who says “she older than dirt” is a drag racer who races a Pro Super Bike Drag Bike in the Fleet Doctor Bracket Points Series as well as an uphill and flat track sand rail, with plans to race in around 35 combined races in this season alone. Not only does she work full time as a medical secretary, but she’s a grandmother of three and a mother of three.
There are not many grandmothers out there that can go from 0 to 130 - 150 miles per hour in under three seconds on a KZ1000 motorcycle Super Pro Bike. There are even fewer that can scale a 100 foot hill of sand in a Volkswa- gen Sand Rail with a 2236 cc engine in around 2.7 seconds. This impressive racer feels that she owes all of her success to her kids, ex husband and her “guys” as she calls them. Mary’s family and extended family are her moral support, best friends, pit crew and mentors.
We’ve all heard that racers have to earn their spot among the great racers with blood, sweat and tears. During a race in July, Mary finished her Super Pro Bike burnout and set up for the green to fall. As the green lit up she increased in speed on her bike and she began to drift towards the wall where her tires ended up hitting the gravel near the wall. She
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had accelerated her speed to around 100 miles an hour when her bike came out beneath her and it continued to travel by itself further down the track. What it left behind was a rookie racer with two broken ribs and severely swollen feet. While recuperating, Mary ended up developing pneumonia. What should have taken her six weeks to heal, took her over eight weeks. During the interview she didn’t seem upset by the ac- cident itself because during her recovery time she watched videos of other races and talked to her fellow racers about the incident. Mary’s first race after she healed, she ran her best race ever. When asked “What was the worst part of that experience?” She didn’t even hesitate when she responded that “the worst part was feeling that I let my guys down.”
The guys that Mary are so proud of are Bill Stetz (her mentor), Glen Wood, Mike Mullendore & the entire MDM Race team, Tim Layton, Ron Raymond, Lee Warren, Mike George, and the rest of her “crew.” She feels they have sup- ported her and mentored her throughout her racing career. Without her entire crew she feels she would never have made it as far as she has today. Mary’s crew also consists of her son Austin who is twenty-one years old and is the major part of her pit crew. Her daughter Ashley who she considers her right hand and her youngest son Adam are her moral support.