 |
|
|
Best Friends Logo to be Featured on Racecar
|
03/23/2007
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Driver donates space on his race car for Best Friends logo,
and plans to help raise money for the cause
|
|
|
|
|
By Michael Rinker, Best Friends Animal Society
|
|
|
|
|
Gentlemen (and ladies), start your
donations!
Best Friends will be affiliated with a motor
sports team
this year, after a top young driver of
Indianapolis 500
style racing donated space on his car for our
name
and logo, and will participate in a fund-raising
event
based on the number of laps he completes.
Andrew Prendeville, 25, has won a championship
and
been named rookie of the year as he’s driven his
way
up through national racing leagues to the Indy
Pro Series,
one notch below the IndyCar Series, which
includes the
iconic Indianapolis 500.
In his brief career, Andrew has started 59
races, winning
12 and finishing among the top five in 46 of
them.
He also is an instructor at The Bertil Roos
Racing School.
“I have been looking at working with a charity
through my racing program for about four years
now and I think that I have found the right
place with the right ideas,” he wrote in an
email after visiting Best Friends in early
March. “I am looking forward to representing
such an amazing place with such amazing people.”
Andrew drives for RLR Andersen Racing, a
partnership that includes Rahal Letterman Racing
(RLR). Former Indy 500 champion Bobby Rahal and
late night talk show host David Letterman own
the team, which last year included high-profile
IndyCar driver Danica Patrick.
Both Andrew and his team are competing in their
first season of Indy Pro, which recently has
been the training ground for the latest
generation of racing royalty such as Marco
Andretti (grandson of Mario) and A.J. Foyt IV.
Andrew’s mother, Pat Prendeville, influenced his
decision to pursue a career in motor sports. Her
father had introduced her to the world of auto
racing.
“I grew up listening to the Indy 500 on the
radio every year,” she said, adding with a laugh
that she made sure Andrew grew up “enduring the
same thing...except on television.”
Pat, a Best Friends member and supporter for
several years, also instilled in her son a
respect and love for animals, and encouraged him
to donate the space on his car. ��It was my idea,
but he immediately embraced it,” she said.
Best Friends hopes the exposure to racing fans
will raise awareness of the organization and
gain support for animal welfare.
In addition, Andrew and Best Friends have
established a new website through which fans can
make donations, get more information on Andrew
and RLR Anderson Racing, and follow the team’s
progress through the season. You can visit the
site at www.racinglapsforbestfriends.com (this
website you are on).
Later in the season, supporters can participate
in a promotion that allows them to pledge a
dollar amount for each lap that Andrew completes
in a particular race – call it a “fund-racing”
event.
The first opportunity to take part in the pledge
“drive” is the Freedom 100, which will be run
May 25 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Details will be available on
www.racinglapsforbestfriends.com in the days
leading up to the race.
The Freedom 100 is a prelude to the Indy 500 –
which is scheduled for May 27 – and Best Friends
representatives will be there to mingle with
current supporters and introduce our work to
future ones.
The Indy Pro season consists of 16 races
beginning March 24 with the Miami 100 at the
Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. That night,
on that track, the IndyCar series also gets its
season started with the XM Satellite Radio Indy
300.
The following weekend, in St. Petersburg, Fla.,
Indy Pro drivers will be competing in one of the
league’s nine road races.
The season ends September 9 in Chicago, IL.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<< Back to All 2007
News & Events
|
|
|
|
|
