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Indianapolis Mayor Makes Prendeville An Honorary Citizen
Due to His 'Racing Laps for Best Friends' Program
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07/01/2007
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By Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
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INDIANAPOLIS, July 1 - Indy Pro Series driver
Andrew Prendeville's efforts to raise money for
animal welfare programs have not gone unnoticed
by the mayor of the racing capital of the world,
Indianapolis.
 Prendeville,
driver of the RLR/Andersen Racing Best Friends
Animal Society No. 5 in the Indy Pro Series,
received a special recognition from Indianapolis
Mayor Bart Peterson, who appointed Prendeville
"an honorary citizen of the city of
Indianapolis" recently.
"Few have earned more respect and gratitude from
our citizens or have served our community more
notably than Andrew Prendeville", the
proclamation read.
Prendeville, 25, of Morristown, N.J., developed
a program called "Racing Laps for Best Friends"
that allows fans to make donations to Best
Friends Animal Society through a Web site at
racinglapsforbestfriends.com (this website).
Fans make monetary donations based on the number
of laps Prendeville completes in his races. He
competed in three races this year at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 25, June 16
and June 17.
With headquarters in Kanab, Utah, Best Friends
operates the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in
the United States. It is affiliated with animal
shelters throughout the world, including
Indianapolis Animal Care & Control at 2600 S.
Harding St., Indianapolis.
As part of his promotional work prior to the
Indy Pro Series doubleheader at IMS in June,
Prendeville was Angela Ganote's guest on
Indianapolis' FOX59 Morning News June 12. He
arranged to have Pacer, a golden retriever mix
being cared for at Indianapolis Animal Care &
Control, to be on the show with him in the hopes
of finding Pacer a new home.
"Our interim administrator, Steve Talley, and
all of us really appreciated Andrew thinking of
us, and we told the mayor about it," said Adam
Garrett, Indianapolis Animal Care & Control's
volunteer coordinator and public information
officer. "It was great that Andrew was able to
get Pacer on TV. He hasn't found a new home here
yet, but he's been selected to be on our animal
transport to Massachusetts this week.
"With their strong spay and neuter laws, some of
the New England states don't have enough strays
for their shelters sometimes, so they
periodically take some of ours and try to find
new homes for them up there", Garrett explained.
"It's a partnership we have with them. We try to
work together, just like Best Friends does."
"Pacer will leave for New England on Thursday,
and hopefully he'll find a new home there",
Garrett added.
 When
he was in Indianapolis in June Prendeville also
visited the pediatrics ward of Methodist
Hospital on behalf of Best Friends, the Think
First National Injury Prevention Foundation,
RLR/Andersen Racing, the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway and the Indy Pro Series.
ESPN2 plans to air a feature on the Racing Laps
for Best Friends program during its coverage of
the Iowa Speedway race at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time
on Tuesday.
Fans can learn more about the Racing Laps for
Best Friends program, which is also currently
offering a raffle for 2008 Indy 500 tickets, at
racinglapsforbestfriends.com. Prendeville's
racing bio can be found on his team's Web site
at andersenracingteam.com. The series' Web site
is at indycar.com/pro.
Prendeville has eight more races this year. The
next two are coming up Saturday and Sunday at
Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
He races at Nashville Superspeedway July 14; the
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio on
July 22 and Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky.
Aug. 11. A doubleheader at Infineon Raceway in
Sonoma, Calif. Aug. 25-26 and the finale at
Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Sept. 9
completes his season.
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