{"id":33837,"date":"2020-01-23T17:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T22:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=33837"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:48","slug":"the-other-kind-of-racing-jankowski-motorsports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/owners-clubs\/2020\/01\/the-other-kind-of-racing-jankowski-motorsports.html","title":{"rendered":"The Other Kind of Racing: Jankowski Motorsports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s true that Stage Rally isn\u2019t the most popular motorsport\nfor Dodge Brand vehicles. Regardless, Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> vehicles still command a strong presence.\nOver the years, Dodge Neon, Plymouth Arrow, Dodge Shelby and Dodge Dart\nvehicles have been featured. However, in a sport where Subaru is the dominate\nbrand, an SRT4\u00ae<\/sup> Caliber is taking them on. It also happens to be piloted by a\n5-time national class champion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hailing from Manteca, California, Karen Jankowski\u2019s history in the Stage Rally community is extensive. Jankowski attended her first rally in 2003 (Rim of the World in Southern California), became Team Manager of a rally team shortly thereafter and later completed the Primitive Rally School. One week after the school, Jankowski was asked to be a co-driver at the Oregon Trail Rally and jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SRT-4<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unlike most athletes in stage rally, Jankowski is both a driver\nand a co-driver. With many events featuring over 130 miles of racing on gravel\nand dirt roads, Karen\u2019s focus as a driver only benefits from her experience as\na co-driver. On some courses, roads are quite narrow and can reach speeds at well\nover 120 mph. An experienced co-driver can be a great performance advantage and\ncan really make the difference between winning races and championships. They\nalso play a significant role in guiding the driver through all racing\nconditions. For each event, the driver and co-driver spend time before the\nrace surveying each stage and writing pace notes, which includes noting special\nconditions on the road like a jump, rough or super narrow road, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SRT-4<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We first caught sight of Jankowski\u2019s car, not Jankowski.\nThat\u2019s when we first saw a SRT4 Caliber make a stage rally appearance, we\ncouldn\u2019t help but stop and stare. We had to ask her why she chose the SRT4, and she\ndescribed it as a great car due to the power to weight ratio and torque, but\nalso because it\u2019s a fun unique car. In fact, she won her first championship in\na Dodge back in 2010 and has raced for Dodge in two Targa Newfoundland races.\nThe race for Dodge was in 2006, driving a Caliber with Ralph Gilles, current\nHead of Global Design, as her teammate. Then, in 2008, they teamed up again, but\nthis time in a Challenger SRT8\u00ae<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, there are some difficulties with such a unique\ncar that no one has ever really raced. SRT4 Caliber parts are not easy to come\nby, and regular Caliber parts often aren\u2019t compatible. Sometimes, Jankowski\nstruggles in this sense of accessibility and time, especially because many of\nthe parts must be custom fabricated, like her diff, which is a phantom grip,\nand not LSD (no one makes one for her car). This season, Jankowski flipped her\nCaliber four days before a race due to too much torque steer and brake issues. While\ntrying to dial it in, she lost control at a corner. Jankowski caught it. A second\nlater, the Caliber lost it again, but this time, Jankowski wasn\u2019t able to\nrecover in time. We remember looking at photos of the car upside down in the\nwoods. We thought: that\u2019s it. That\u2019s the end of that Caliber. What a pleasant\nsurprise it was to see how her team did everything they needed to do to get it\nrace-ready by that weekend, which she and her co-driver Mitch Meadows finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jankowski describes rally racing as \u201c100% a team sport\u201d.\nThis collaborative team consists of a driver, a co-driver, a crew chief and crew.\nThe sport itself is also a team effort, mostly consisting of volunteers. During\na rally race, it takes hundreds of volunteers to secure the roads, keep them\nsecure, pre-run the roads to make sure they are ready to race on and so much\nmore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spirit of the rally community, Jankowski is excited\nto see so many women getting into the sport, especially over the past 5 years.\nShe is a mentor for many and also works to get the word out about rally racing and\nhow easy it is to get into the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"people<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For anyone interested in getting started in stage rally, Jankowski\nsuggests volunteering at an event before getting behind the wheel. Volunteering\nat a rally offers the opportunity to see how a race works, and it also allows\nfor a great opportunity to network. TSD (time speed distance) Rallies teach great\nfundamentals of the sport and are a good way to get started driving or co-driving. They are also easy to participate in because you can use any car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Jankowski first began\nrally racing, she remembers how she would hop on the plane and in talking with\nher seatmate, they would ask where she was going. When she would tell them she\nwas competing in a rally race, mostly all she would get was a blank stare.\nThat\u2019s because in the U.S., stage rally is still a niche sport, whereas in Europe\nand many other countries, it is one of the top sports so everyone knows about\nit. Today, with household names like Travis Pastrana, Ken Block and many\nothers competing in the sport, the stage rally fan base is ever expanding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, she formed her own race team, Jankowski Motorsports,\nwith the goal to drive for her own team in as many rallies as she could. She\nknew it wouldn\u2019t be easy making the jump from co-driver to driver, so she\ncompleted a five-day class at Team O\u2019Neil Rally School, competed in several rally crosses\nto get additional seat time and also spent a lot of time at her local go-kart\ntrack. The preparation paid off as she finished all three of the stage rallies\nshe drove in, which is quite difficult for a novice driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She also co-drove in seven other rallies, became a team manager of goSPEEDRacing<\/a>, worked as the Chair of the American Rally Association Competition Committee, volunteered at several events she didn\u2019t compete in and also helped to organize her local rally. It\u2019s safe to say that for Jankowski, 2019 was a busy year. In 2020, Jankowski plans on racing four events in her SRT4 Caliber and will continue to co-drive for the goSPEEDRacing team in the American Rally Association championship. In addition, she plans to get her Neon SRT4 road coarse ready to race at several Lucky Dog races this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outside of racing, Karen owns a consulting company that\nfocuses on sales management and marketing. Her husband, Don Jankowski, shares a\nlong history with Chrysler and Dodge, as he worked there for many years. He was\ninvolved with the development of the original Viper and was heavily involved\nwith Viper racing. Karen’s and Don\u2019s love of racing brought them together. In\nfact, they met at a rally and Don eventually proposed at Lake Superior Rally.\nAlthough they have never raced against one another, they have raced together on\nseveral occasions. The Jankowskis are proof that finding somebody who fully\nsupports the other is a key factor in the success of a relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2020 marks one full season of driving for Jankowski when she\nreturns to the Oregon Trail Rally in May. With her husband, her co-driver Mitch\nand her crew by her side, along with years of successful stage rally\nexperience, we\u2019re confident she has the winning combination to take home more class\nchampionships. In fact, we can\u2019t wait to see her do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow her 2020 season on Facebook<\/a> & Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Caliber SRT4 Specs:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Engine<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n