Gann Defeats a Blast from the Past

© Mac McClure / RumBum.com

As Rum Bum Racer Shawn Gann pulled up to the line for his second qualifying round Friday afternoon at Norwalk's Summit Nationals, he met a distinctive opponent at the track: a woman. Not just any woman - the perky, blonde and single Angie McBride. But if you thought this lady racer was all sugar and spice, guess again. "She was spittin' nails," according to the Rum Bum racer. But her front didn't cramp Gann's style on the track. "I peeled her face off," he says with a proud and mischievous guffaw.

It's not the first time Gann has faced McBride; in fact, they have quite an involved history - on and off the track. "We used to date," explains the now-married Gann. And then, the kicker: "We were engaged, actually." The two North Carolinians met just after Gann began racing and dated for over four years.  But, if they had wound up at the alter as planned, the two of them would have been too young to drink the celebratory shots at their reception - it was that long ago. And where did these once betrothed racers meet? According to Gann, they met at the track, naturally. The Rum Bum racer actually got his ex-track sweetheart into racing, and even bought her her first bike.

Today, McBride isn't a big intimidator on the drag, but she can hold her own, which hightened the gratification of Gann's win. And in spite of their past, Gann says he's pretty indifferent to who he meets on the line - nail-spitter or not. "When I go race, I'm racing me. It's nice that we outrun the people we want to outrun, but I'm racing me."

The big news on Gann's racing front is a significant repair to his Buell Pro Stock Motorcycle. After he hit the retaining wall in Englishtown, a small bend in his front wheel sent the bike drifting right. But now, with the wheel shooting straight once again - a repair that Gann calls "huge, really huge in my book" - plus his characteristically competitive performances Friday and racing-friendly weather, the stars seem to be aligning for Gann's continued success.