EVERYONE STARTS FROM SCRATCH IN TMS WOMEN’S EVENT
INDIANAPOLIS (August 28, 2000) -- The Women’s Global GT Series, the only
professional racing series for women in North America, is only in its second
year of existence in 2000. Nearly everything about the series still has the
look and feel of "new" to it.
But there will be even more newness for the drivers of the series as they
help inaugurate the just-completed infield road course at Texas Motor
Speedway in the Grand Prix of Texas Sep. 1-3. The series will run a
45-minute race at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Sep. 3.
The WGGTS, founded by Don Panoz as a companion to the American Le Mans
Series, features women drivers in equally-prepared Panoz Esperante race cars
that are provided by the Panoz Racing School at Road Atlanta in Braselton,
Ga.
Texas Motor Speedway will be the fourth venue for the series this season.
After starting the season at Sebring, Fla., the series has also raced at
California’s Sears Point Raceway and at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte,
N.C. The road course at LMS, like the new venue at Texas Motor Speedway,
incorporates part of a 1.5-mile, high-banked
superspeedway.
"The greatest factor will be that no one has raced at Texas before, and no
one has tested," said WGGTS driver Terri Hundertmark of Indianapolis. "We’re
all starting from scratch. All any of us will know the first time we slip
behind the wheel is what the track looks like on paper.
"I think getting on and off the banking smoothly will be a big challenge,"
said Hundertmark, who enters the TMS race eighth in the series point
standings. "You can lose a lot of speed there if you don’t get it right.
Trying to set the car up so it handles well on the banking of the oval and
on the twisting infield road course is tough."
Like all of the drivers in the WGGTS, Hundertmark is thrilled at having an
opportunity to race cars professionally. "I dreamed of being a race car
driver," the former personal watercraft racer said. "Through a lot of hard
work, dedication and a bunch of wonderful people, I am living that dream."
Asked, as she often is, about what advice she gives young girls who seek her
out at race tracks and autograph sessions, Hundertmark said she tells them
to "follow your dreams," she said. "You can be anything that you want to be
if you put your mind to it and work hard."
The Grand Prix of Texas includes racing events for five series, headlined by
a two-hour, 45-minute race for the American Le Mans Series under the TMS
lights at 7 p.m. on Saturday night, Sep. 2. Following Sunday morning’s race
for the Women’s Series will be events for the BF Goodrich Trans-Am Series,
the Speedvision World Challenge and the Star Mazda Series.
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CONTACT: Andy Hall, Director of Media, American Le Mans Series (317)
581-0281
Andy Hall
Director of Media
American Le Mans Series
(317) 581-0281
andyhall58@hotmail.com |
