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Prendeville Gets Caught Up In Accident at Start Of Milwaukee Race
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06/02/2007
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He and the Best Friends Volunteers Look Ahead to IMS
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By Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
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WEST ALLIS, Wis., June 2 - Andrew Prendeville
was one of the victims of a seven-car accident
at the start of Saturday's Road Runner 100 Indy
Pro Series race at the Milwaukee Mile. Although
the driver from Morristown, N.J. wasn't hurt,
his Best Friends Animal Society No. 5 didn't
complete a single lap of the 100-lap race, and
placed 20th.
 Prendeville
and the other Best Friends Animal Society
volunteers manning the Racing Laps for Best
Friends tent on the midway near Turn 1 here will
now focus on his next event, a doubleheader on
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course
June 16-17. They'll take donations for America's
largest no-kill animal sanctuary at their tent
and on line at racinglapsforbestfriends.com, and
hope for better luck in Indy.
Saturday's race at Milwaukee will be broadcast
at 6 p.m. Eastern time this coming Thursday,
June 7, on ESPN2. A feature on the Racing Laps
for Best Friends program is scheduled to be part
of that telecast.
Saturday's race was the first event Prendeville
didn't finish this year, and he was totally a
victim of circumstances.
He qualified seventh, got to start sixth after
the driver ahead of him crashed before the start
of the race, but then got clipped by Hideki
Mutoh on the initial drop of the green. He
ricocheted off the outer wall, spun across the
track, got hit by another driver who had no
hopes of avoiding him, and ended up hitting the
inside wall too.
Seven drivers were involved: Mutoh, Prendeville,
Chris Festa, Logan Gomez, Jaime Camara, Al Unser
III and Robbie Pecorari.
Prendeville's post-race quotes follow:
"Before the start, [Stephen] Simpson popped the
clutch, lit up the rear tires and went straight
into the wall right in front of me," Prendeville
said afterwards.
"Then at the start, Mutoh essentially did the
same thing. He popped the clutch, floored it,
lit up the rear tires, bounced off the rev
limiter, and that's what started it all.
"I know he was trying to get a good run, but I
thought we had one going. I don't know why he
was so impatient," he said.
"He clipped me and I got into the outside wall.
I tried to keep the car up against the wall, but
it shot across the track. [Chris] Festa had
nowhere to go and he hit me, and then I went
into the inside wall. I just covered up at that
point; I pulled my legs in and waited for the
hit.
"This didn't help the Racing Laps for Best
Friends program at all," he continued. "It's a
shame. We had a good car. I need to qualify
better so I can avoid the messes.
"On a scale of one to 10, I guess the car is a
two or a three. It could have been a lot worse."
Click Here to view the Road Runner 100 Photo
Gallery
Donations may also be made by telephone at (435)
644-2001, extension 4801, or by mailing checks
payable to "Racing Laps for Best Friends" to:
Best Friends Animal Society
5001 Angel Canyon Road
Kanab, Utah 84741-5000
Donations to the Racing Laps for Best Friends
program may be made using MasterCard, Visa,
American Express or Discover credit cards.
Best Friends Animal Society supports animal
welfare programs throughout the world. At any
given time it is caring for approximately 1,500
animals at its sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. Best
Friends hopes the exposure to racing fans will
raise awareness of the organization and gain
support for animal welfare.
Saturday's race was the fifth of 16 races on the
2007 schedule.
For more information see
racinglapsforbestfriends.com; bestfriends.org,
andersenracingteam.com and indycar.com/pro.
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