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Prendeville Finishes All 29 Laps Saturday at
Watkins Glen for Racing Laps for Best Friends
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07/07/2007
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By Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., July 7 - On what some people
think is the luckiest day of their lifetime
since it's 7/7/07, Andrew Prendeville finished
all 29 laps of Saturday's Indy Pro Series race
at Watkins Glen International for the Racing
Laps for Best Friends program.
 No
matter what, homeless animals were lucky today
and other days because of the work of the
Morristown, N.J.-based driver. He raises
awareness and donations for the Best Friends
Animal Society with his Racing Laps for Best
Friends program. Centered around a Web site at
racinglapsforbestfriends.com
(this website), fans make donations to the
largest no-kill animal shelter in the United
States based on the number of laps Prendeville
completes in each race. Donations can also be
made at the Racing Laps for Best Friends blue
tent in the infield of the track Saturday and
Sunday. All of the money raised from the two
Indy Pro Series races at Watkins Glen this
weekend is being allocated to the Best
Friends-affiliated Pets Alive shelter in
Middletown, N.Y.
The RLR/Andersen Racing crew had to change the
engine in Prendeville's Best Friends Animal
Society No. 5 between qualifying Saturday
morning and the race Saturday afternoon, but
Prendeville made it to the grid on time and
started 11th.
He dropped back three spots initially while he
felt his new engine out. He was in 13th when the
first full-course yellow waved on lap two when
Ryan Justice spun into a tire barrier off Turn
5.
The green came out again on lap four.
Prendeville passed Stephen Simpson for 12th on
lap six and then set his sights on Jonathan
Klein. He got 11th on lap eight when Robbie
Pecorari spun in Turn 9, shortly before Chris
Festa hit the wall in Turn 2 to bring out the
second full-course yellow on lap nine.
The race resumed on lap 12 and one lap later
Prendeville got around Klein for tenth place. He
chased Mike Potekhen the rest of the way.
Potekhen, Prendeville, Klein and Simpson were
running nose-to-tail on lap 27 but the order
didn't change, with Prendeville tenth at the
checkered on lap 29.
"It was a lot of fun," Prendeville said
afterwards. "The race was great. I had a good
battle with Jono [Jonathan Klein] and with Mike
Potekhen. Both of them raced clean, so it was
fun."
"Potekhen was having a fuel-pressure problem on
all the right-handers, but I didn't have enough
oomph to get around him," he added. "He was just
strong enough in the places where I thought I
had the advantage. Jono's car was losing oil in
places, so I'd have to back off sometimes when I
was trying to pass him. I passed both Jono and
Simpson on the backstretch."
"We had to do a motor change before the race,
and I have to thank the RLR/Andersen crew for
all their hard work," Prendeville continued. "We
made it to the grid on time, we had a good race,
we had a solid top-10 finish, and we finished
all 29 laps for the Racing Laps for Best Friends
program."
Prendeville will start tenth in tomorrow's race.
Click Here to be taken to the Photo Gallery
slideshow of the race
Fans unable to attend the races in person can
watch the live timing and scoring carried on
indycar.com/pro, or watch ESPN2's coverage at 5
p.m. EDT Thursday, July 12. Other information is
available at racinglapsforbestfriends.com and
andersenracingteam.com.
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.
Fans donate a set amount of money for each lap
that Prendeville completes in each race. At $1
per lap for the 18-lap races such as the two
Indy Pro Series races at IMS this weekend, the
donation would be $18 per race or $36. If the
car would only complete 10 laps in one race and
five laps in the other race, then the donation
would be $15.
Best Friends Animal Society supports animal
welfare programs throughout the world, including
Indianapolis. 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.
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