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Steve Saleen

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American businessman and former racing driver (born 1949)
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Steve Saleen
Steve Saleen (left) at Le Mans in 1997
BornStephen Mark Saleen
(1949-04-02) April 2, 1949 (age 75)
Inglewood, California, U.S.
EducationWhittier High School
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Occupation(s)Businessman, former racing driver
Known forFounder of Saleen, Inc.
SpouseElizabeth Saleen
Children3

Stephen Mark "Steve" Saleen (born April 2, 1949) is an American businessman and former racing driver. He is best known for being the founder and former vice chairman of Saleen, Inc., originally named Saleen Autosport, which is an OEM manufacturer of specialty vehicles including the Saleen S1, Saleen S7 and highly modified Ford Mustangs.

Biography

Born in Inglewood, California, and a 1967 graduate of Whittier High School in Whittier, California, Saleen (pronounced suh-lean) worked at his father's manufacturing business before attending the University of Southern California and graduating with a degree in business.

With an interest in fast cars sparked by his father's purchase of a Porsche, Steve joined the Porsche Owners Club and worked his way up through the ranks of club racing, which led to a career in professional racing. He entered the Formula Atlantic series where, in 1980, he finished third in the final standings behind eventual champion Jacques Villeneuve. He progressed on to the SCCA Trans-Am Series in 1982, driving a Ford Mustang. From here, a passion for one of Ford's most famous automobiles begin to manifest itself.

Saleen formed Saleen Autosport in 1983 and set to building the first Saleen Mustang, equipped with special aerodynamic, suspension and handling packages and a completely redesigned interior. The car was completed in 1984 and was immediately tested against the world's top sports cars with great success, finishing first in its class at the Mosport 24-hour race that year.

In 1995, Saleen formed a race team with comedian Tim Allen and fellow race driver Bob Bondurant, called Saleen/Allen "RRR" Speedlab (the name "RRR" was a play on Allen's "arr arr arr" grunt which had become his trademark in both stand-up comedy and on his television show, Home Improvement). The team raced Saleen Mustangs in the SCCA World Challenge, with Saleen and Allen themselves as the drivers.

In 1996, Saleen was (along with Carroll Shelby) inducted into the Mustang Hall of Fame.

In March 2007 Steve Saleen resigned from Saleen, Inc. the company he founded in 1984, to pursue other business opportunities in the automotive sector.

On March 13, 2008, Steve Saleen announced the formation of "SMS Supercars Archived 2021-02-28 at the Wayback Machine", Lifestyle Performance Automobiles. Through the years of building the reputation behind each automotive company brand, Saleen maintained close participation throughout product development, sales and marketing. He announced that the focus of SMS is with the high-end of the American Muscle Car and Global Supercar markets. In April 2009, Saleen announced that SMS Supercars will voluntarily honor the warranties of vehicles manufactured by the now-defunct Saleen, Inc.

Nearly 5 years after resigning from Saleen, Inc., on April 2, 2012, Steve Saleen announced that he is once again associated with the Saleen automotive brand.

In August 2020, Steve claimed Chinese government of Jiangsu Province - Rugao filed his 500+ patent without consent and he was ripped off in the intellectual property battle during his JV business in China. The article was published on WSJ.

Personal life

Saleen lives in Southern California, with his wife Elizabeth ("Liz"). Saleen has three adult children and seven grandchildren.

Motorsports career

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

Year Track Car Engine Class Finish Start Status
1978 Road Atlanta March 76B Cosworth Formula B 16 4 Running
1979 Road Atlanta March 76B Cosworth Formula Atlantic 5 4 Running

IndyCar World Series

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rank Points Ref
1989 Saleen PHO LBG
14 		INDY
DNQ 		MIL DET
14 		POR CLE
17 		MEA TOR
12 		MCH POC MDO
14 		ROA
25 		NAZ LAG
13 		31st 1

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
pos.
1997 United States Saleen/Allen Speedlab United States Price Cobb
Spain Carlos Palau 		Saleen Mustang SR LMGT2 133 DNF DNF

References

  1. "MCA: General info". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  2. "SMS Supercars to Honor Saleen Inc. Warranties". wardsauto.com. Archived from the original on 2009-07-03.
  3. "Steve Saleen regains right to build Saleen badged Mustangs Camaros Challengers". MotorTrend. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  4. "Steve Saleen Claims Chinese Joint Venture Has Stolen $800M Worth of His Intellectual Property". 4 August 2020.
  5. "Fraud charges, lost patents: How an L.A. auto legend's China venture crashed". Los Angeles Times. 2020-08-13. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  6. "Steve Saleen – 1989 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.

http://www.saleenclubofamerica.com/SCOATech/images/Early_Magazine/HotRod-April-1986.pdf

External links

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