‘It’s an addiction. Racing gets in your blood and never gets out.’

“Like driving at nighttime in the fog while doing about 80 m.p.h.” is how Karla Sturckow, 26, a desert off-road ATV racer, describes her sport. The El Cajon resident and pet store owner took up racing in July, 1987 after working as part of a pit crew for her brother’s racing team for several years. In only two years, she has gone from recreational racing to a well-respected racer in the predominantly male sport. Sturckow, who is also pursuing a master’s in business administration at San Diego State University, is ranked among the top 10 racers nationally. She and teammates Bruce Carroll and John Criscenti make up the champion international Tad Too Rad desert racing team. Having won two crucial events in the Baja series earlier this year, Tad Too Rad was on mark to earn the bigger Triple Crown Series title if it won a race in Baja on Saturday. Sturckow was interviewed in her El Cajon store by Times staff writer Terry Rather and was photographed by Linda Hecht.

I’ve always been really interested in racing. My brother raced in desert off-road events, and I pitted for his team for three years, and we went to all the major events. That’s where I initially got into racing. Unfortunately, I wasn’t well off enough financially to buy a truck, so I started on a bike.

Basically, there are two types of ATV racing. There’s short-course racing, where you run around a set course, which could be anywhere from, say, a mile or even less. That type of race doesn’t usually last more than 45 minutes and, in general, about 15 minutes. The type of racing we compete in is desert off-road racing. Desert off-road racing is a completely different sport. In the desert race, it’s anywhere from 100 to 1,000 miles. It entails that you have a full pit crew, where in short races you don’t. In short races, you just go out and run your 15 minutes.

There’s really a lot involved in desert racing. It’s not just who’s the best rider or who has the best bike. You have to have a pit crew, and it has to work fast, prepared and able to fix anything. In a race like the Baja 1,000, you experience a lot of down time, with flat tires, blown engines or whatever it might be. Your chances of breaking down out there are a lot higher than when you race a short course.

Admittedly, in ATV racing there’s not many women. I’m one of the few. But I don’t think my being female has any bearing on my racing. I think my male counterparts just see me as “one of the guys.”

Desert racing is really a team effort. Bruce and I are the original members of the Tad Too Rad racing team. We later picked up a third racer, John. But the racing team is actually very large when you include pit crews and mechanics. Since it’s our first year as a team, winning the Triple Crown would be our polishing mark, our Hall-of-Famer.

The first check that we won as a team we copied and signed in blood a “Till death do we part” agreement. We promised to commit our lives to racing and to this team and to do whatever it takes.

We usually compete two to three times a month. And that means at least a full weekend, if not a week, each time. Any race in Baja, we spend a week down there pre-riding the course. But usually we head out on a Friday night to the race, and we’re not back until Sunday night. It’s really a huge involvement, time-wise.

I find desert racing to be a family sport because they are allowed to be more than just spectators. You can include them in the sport. For instance, my boyfriend and (members of the team’s) families are a part of our pit crew.

Why do I race? It’s the feel of competition that keeps me racing. People are either competitive or they’re not. We’re competitors. Nobody out there racing is not a competitor. You’re going out there, eating dust, fighting the elements. It’s an addiction. Racing gets in your blood and never gets out. I can say I really don’t have any other interests. The No. 1 priority in my life is racing. No. 2 is earning a living and No. 3 is finishing graduate school.

I think it’s a real popular sport. Desert off-road racing is really growing. It’s becoming more and more high dollar and is getting a lot of major corporate sponsors. It’s not exactly at the Indianapolis 500 level yet, but I think it’s approaching that.