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“Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach Mentioned During Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s Presentation”

Washington, DC. (Sept. 21, 2010) – The annual national Distracted Driving Summit was held this week in Washington, DC, headlined by Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation, Ray LaHood. The conferences convened leading transportation officials, safety advocates, law enforcement officials, industry constituents and Andretti Autosport’s 15-year-old USF2000 race car driver Zach Veach.

Veach, who serves as FocusDriven’s national spokesperson, was honored along with musicians Jordan Sparks and The Jonas Brothers during LaHood’s headlining presentation for their efforts to bring visibility and attention to putting an end to distracted driving.

“The opportunity to attend the DOT and NOYS conferences were important to our mission and platform to continue on our journey to put an end to distracted driving,” said Veach, who is a semi-finalist for Sports Illustrated’s 2010 SportsKID of the year award. “To be able to meet Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and other key officials and share our story was quite the privilege for me. I’m committed to making a difference on behalf of my peers.”

Veach, named to CNN’s ‘Intriguing People’ in May 2010, has been leveraging his youth and unusual occupation as a race car driver as a platform to expose fellow drivers to the dangers associated with driving while distracted. Focused primarily on the severe consequences of text messaging behind the wheel, Veach took it upon himself to gather support for Oprah Winfrey’s anti-texting initiative, the ‘No Phone Zone.’ He obtained the signatures of 33 Indianapolis 500 professional race car drivers, including IndyCar and NASCAR star Danica Patrick and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Dancing with the Stars champion, Helio Castroneves. He also convinced CNN’s Anderson Cooper, host of AC360, and TLC’s Paige Davis, host of Trading Spaces, to sign Winfrey’s pledge.

Veach even took it a step further and created a Droid application to fight texting behind the wheel, called urTXT, released in July 2010, which sends an auto response to the sender that the receiver is driving and will respond later. He also created a safe driving program, Ziggy’s Safe Driving, which he helms in each race market he competes in by raising money to give 16 students better training behind the wheel of their car. He’s been doing all this and he’s not even old enough to drive.

In addition to attending the Distracted Driving Summit, Veach, who graced the cover of the latest Car Safety Report released by MediaPlant through the Los Angeles Times just last week, is also participating in the Teen Distracted Driving Prevention Leadership board along with 20 other teens who are convening several times throughout the three days while the students are in the nation’s capital. Veach is the youngest member of the group being the only individual under the age of 16 years old, while the rest range in age from 16 to 21 years of age.

Veach returns to the racetrack on Sept. 30 at Road Atlanta for the final two races of the 2010 USF2000 National Championship Series. Fifth in Series points despite not participating in the first two races of the season, Veach and teammate Sage Karam currently carry the torch for Andretti Autosport in team championship points.

About Zach Veach

Zach Veach is a 15-year-old autoracing driver that competes in the Indy Racing League’s ‘Road to Indy’ USF2000 Championship Series for Andretti Autosport. Veach began his racing career at age 12 in go-karts. It was in 2007, where Veach caught the eye of Dave Fisher, father of IZOD IndyCar Series driver and team owner, Sarah Fisher. For the next two years Fisher [Dave] coached and developed Veach’s talent, as he did with Fisher [Sarah] in the early stages of her career. By the middle of 2009, in just 16 months, Veach had progressed from entry-level karting to Formula BMW. In late 2009, Veach signed to compete in the Atlantic Championship Series, before it folded in early 2010.

Veach has created a safe-driving initiative: Ziggy’s Teen Safe Driving Campaign, with seminars and supportive school programs to be held in race markets where Veach competes in 2010. He released his first published Droid application, urTXT, earlier this year, to help consumers avoid dangerous text messaging while driving. Further, he’s set to author a book, due out on his 16th birthday, “99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Turning 16,” set to be released Dec. 9, 2010. For more information, please visit www.zachveach.com.

About Andretti Autosport

Based in Indianapolis, Ind., Andretti Autosport is led by racing legend Michael Andretti. Andretti Autosport, which is the winningest team in Indy Racing League history, fields multiple entries in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Andretti Autosport also campaigns multiple cars in the Firestone Indy Lights series in a joint venture with AFS Racing and two cars in the USF2000 National Championship. The company boasts three IZOD IndyCar Series championships (2004, 2005 and 2007), two Firestone Indy Lights titles (2008 and 2009) and has won the Indianapolis 500 twice (2005 and 2007). For more information, please visit www.AndrettiAutosport.com.

- Andretti Autosport Press Release