CanadaShe is also known for her appearances on the TV show, All Girls Garage, on Velocity, has recently been working with the Barrett-Jackson Auction, also on Velocity, covered the ESPN XGames at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas at the beginning of June and is also working, along with Jonathan Green and “The Texas Tornado”, former World Superbike and MotoGP legend, Colin Edwards, on the new MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series.
This is a very busy Lady, only 5 feet 2 inches tall, but with massive amounts of energy, passion and strength.
I managed to arrange to chat with Cristy during a rare short break between the XGames and a new assignment, literally a couple of hours after she stepped off a plane in Atlanta.
TM: Good afternoon, Cristy, thanks so much for taking the time to chat to Torqued Magazine today, I know how busy you are and it’s great that we have managed to find time to get this all arranged.
CL: Hi Neil, thank you for calling, it has been difficult to find the time, I have been so busy, but it’s great to finally get to chat with the magazine.
I won’t really be spending too much time today chatting about the TV shows, but rather about you, about your passion for motorcycle racing and a bit about who Cristy Lee is, to offer our readers more than the media releases do. I know you spend a lot of time on the road, staying in hotels and eating at restaurants, so how do you maintain a healthy diet and what is your favorite food?
It’s pretty easy these days, as healthy food is readily available at most restaurants and hotel dining rooms, even at airports and I try to stick to those kind of healthy meals where I can. I eat plenty of fruit, vegetables, good wholesome meals. Most of the onsite catering when we are filming is very good, the menus are varied and offer a good amount of healthy choices. The catering at the XGames was out of this world, the food was wonderful and they really looked after all of us.
I love Italian food; I am half Italian and I just love to eat it when I can and of course, I enjoy a glass of wine with a good meal.
Do you have an exercise or workout regime you try to keep to when you are away from home, working?
I utilize the fitness centers at hotels where I can, but I don’t really try to stick to any kind of routine. My job is a very active one, running around in the pits at race meetings, physical work on All Girls Garage and that sort of thing. That all keeps me in shape and pretty fit, but I do like to get to a fitness center or gym when I can.
When I am at home, mountain biking is my choice of exercise, I love getting on my bike and hitting the trails, just getting away from things for a while in the open country
You are now working with not only Jonathan Green, but also with racing legend, Colin Edwards on the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North America Road Racing Series, what is it like working with them both, especially Colin?
It’s a real blast. I have known Jonathan for a few years and when we all got together as a team, we got very chummy real quick. Colin is great to work with. We have a long way to go with this and CBS have put a great package together for us. At the moment we are not broadcasting live, but that is what we are looking at and I promise you we will have a much bigger and better package in the next couple of years.
This is a feeder series for World Superbikes and MotoGP, it’s something that American motorcycle racing needs so we can get our riders on the world stage, racing with the best and we want to make this as credible and professional as we can, for the rest of the world to see, to show them that we are to be taken seriously.
Who is your favorite all time bike racer?
I know you will probably laugh at me for this, but it has to be Valentino Rossi, he has just done so much in motorcycle racing, he has been incredible. The coolest thing ever was to meet and interview him live, a while back. He is such a fun guy, down to earth and a real pleasure to chat with. Of course, my favorite ex racer and broadcaster is Colin Edwards.
What is your favorite track to ride on and which is your favorite to work at?
Without a doubt, Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, both to ride on and work at. The track is beautiful, the facilities are out of this world. One cool thing is as you come through a sweeping right hand turn, you see the motorcycle museum, which is huge and has just about anything to do with bikes you could ever think of. I have done a lot of track days there and love riding that track.
Apart from motorcycle racing, which other sport do you enjoy watching or working on?
Motorcycle racing is my absolute favorite, I just love the whole race weekend, the skill and dedication it takes to ride a bike like that, the prep, the practicing, the qualifying, the racing, it is a passion of mine to watch and be involved in. I do enjoy covering any type of racing though, I like dirt bike racing a lot and also off road truck racing. In my downtime, when I get a chance, I do like to watch ball and stick sports; football, hockey and baseball especially.
You have been riding bikes since you were 18, what do you ride on the track?
I only really do track days, although I did have a race license, but because of work and the fact that I can’t afford to have crashes racing, I veered away from that, maybe in a couple of years I will go back to racing again, it’s something I really want to do. I had a whole lot of bikes, but since moving to Houston, I have sold most of them, although I do have a 250cc left, which will be going soon.
I normally ride whatever is supplied for me at track days and I do ride the Triumph a lot.
What’s your favorite color?
Umm, I never thought about that, but I’d have to say red, yes, I am a red kind of girl.
If you could commentate on any sport event in the world, what would that be?
Definitely F1 formula one car racing. That would be the ultimate for me, it is such a great motor sport. That would be my dream.
What bike would you love to ride on the track?
I would love to ride the MotoGP Yamaha M1. I am only 5 feet 2, so it can be difficult riding some bikes, although I have ridden so many different ones, from 250cc right up to the 1400cc Hyabusa.
That was a test ride after we did the work on it for All Girls Garage, I just got on it and pinned the throttle and found it really easy. Strangely enough, I was able to even put me feet on the ground, it’s a very low bike. It is all power and that means you can ride it at 100 % all the time. I once had a VFR400 and that was so much more difficult to ride, you could only ride at 40 %, it was so hard.
Finally, Cristy, I know you are very tired from travel and so on and I will make this the last question, what advice would you give to newcomers trying to get into broadcasting and your line of work, given how tough you need to be to put up with all of the politics that goes with it and all of the people lining up to take advantage of newcomers?
Really, you have to work your way up, you have to earn respect by doing a great job, but you need to be humble and true to yourself. If someone is taking advantage, you have to be tough enough to say no and stop it, but as you gain more experience and become better known, it gets a lot easier.
Cristy, thank you so much for your time and for chatting to Torqued Magazine today, it really has been an absolute blast and a real pleasure.
Thank you, Neil, it has been fun and definitely a very enjoyable chat.
Cristy can be followed on Twitter @CristyLee09 on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CristyLeeOfficial?fref=ts or of course you can catch her on All Girls Garage on Velocity or the MotoAmerica racing broadcasts on CBS
Pictures provided by Cristy Lee
