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Women's Global GT Series Driver As one of the Women's Global GT Series newest drivers, Karen Salvaggio may have recently joined the Series, but she is far from new to the world of auto racing. In fact, if she has her way, this will be just another stop along the way to a career in professional motor sports. Growing up in a small Pennsylvania town, Karen's childhood days were far removed from virtually any form of auto racing. It was the late1960's, and the only access that she had to racing was in the form of NASCAR events that were captured on the weekly "ABC Wide World of Sports" television program. Karen remembers being "glued" to the television on those Saturdays, as racing legends Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty, and Buddy Baker etched into her mind a vision of driving the legendary super speedways of Daytona, Talladega, or Charlotte. Since that time and for as long as she can remember, racing has been a driving force in her life.
That day came in 1984 when she took the offer of a co-worker to drive his NASCAR street stock at the local, Saturday night 1/4-mile dirt track in Merced, California. One lap in the car and she was hooked. "Yeah, it was dirty, noisy, and downright brutal, but I knew right then that this was what I had been waiting for!" To see the grandstands from inside the car, to be one with this dirt churning, four wheel drifting, powerful machine was like a dream come true. She bought her own car the next week, and hasn't returned to the stands since. Karen believes that her years as a dirt track racer have given her a grounded and valuable perspective on auto racing that would be hard to replicate in other venues. "When you talk to the best drivers they will tell you that the key to driving a race car is to "feel" the car, or as some call it, driving by the seat of your pants. In dirt track, you live by the seat of your pants, always on the edge, always finding the ultimate slip angles and making corrections in such a balanced manner that it truly becomes second nature. All the schooling and book learning in the world cannot replace that innate ability to feel the car.
In these endeavors, she secured consecutive championships with the National Council of Corvette Clubs (NCCC) in 1998 and again in 1999. Additionally, she has competed in NHRA sanctioned drag racing events, garnering the Gardei Memorial Overall Competitor Award in 1997, and Top Eliminator at the Pomona Drags in 1999. She also serves as an instructor driver at NCCC and SCCA driving school events, and enjoys working with novice drivers as they overcome apprehension and develop confidence through driving mastery.
Karen joined the WGGT Series this last July at Sears Point and finished 11th in her first start. At the season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in late October, she concentrated pushing her driving skills further and learning more about the handling characteristics of the Panoz sports cars. "It was an exhilarating experience to work on lap times and begin to master the car. By the end of the weekend, my lap times had fallen to within range of the front runners. With that knowledge, I am looking forward to continuing to develop my skills and competing in the Series in the 2001 season."
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Karen
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