Some four hours north of the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Karen Stoffer lives a pretty quiet life in the quaint little town on Minden, Nev. But get the girl out of her country surroundings and she transforms into a living-on-the-edge daredevil, routinely drag racing her powerful GEICO Powersports Suzuki down the quarter-mile in 6.8 seconds at speeds nearing 200 mph.
In the midst of her seventh successive top-10 campaign, Stoffer is ready to head south and continue to live out her dreams at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the site of the upcoming 10th annual NHRA Nationals. It’s the penultimate race of the 2010 season and Stoffer is hoping that competing in their home state will bring her a victory.
“We consider Las Vegas Motor Speedway as one of our home tracks, along with Bruton (Smith’s) other masterpiece in Sonoma (Calif.) so we’re anxious to have a big race in front of our family and friends,” said Stoffer, a runner-up earlier this year in Denver. “You do put a little extra pressure on yourself when you’re racing at home but drag racers thrive on pressure so we’ll be up for it.”
Like most of her peers, Stoffer enjoys the unusual atmosphere of a national event taking place in Sin City on Halloween weekend. Each season, many drivers, Stoffer included, get into the spirit of the holiday by dressing up in costumes and handing out treats to the younger fans that stop by the yellow and black GEICO Powersports pit.
“We have some fun with it,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hard to focus on the race itself because you get caught up in all the shenanigans so my No. 1 task will be to take care of racing first before we have fun. If everything goes right, we’ll be celebrating Halloween in the winner’s circle.
“With our ties to the state of Nevada and this racetrack, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, would be the perfect place to get a win. We’ve run world record numbers this year so we know we have the potential to get it done.”
