Catchfence

Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Aug. 18,2010) Zach Veach spent so much time in Illinois talking with teens about safe driving, he decided to do some more of it before moving on to his next race. After Veach left lasting impressions on the many young drivers that participated in his “Ziggy’s Safe Driving Day” at Autobahn Country Club, the 15-year-old Andretti Autosport driver decided to practice what he preached before leaving the track.

“We were fortunate to get to do some testing at Autobahn to prepare for our next race at Road America,” said Veach, who will be a guest speaker at the TEDx (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference at Microsoft headquarters next month along with 10 other deemed amazing kids. “It’s going to be a challenging course, but I feel like the Andretti team is beyond ready to take it on.”

The Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase in Elkhart Lake, Wis., will feature a variety of racing disciplines in addition to the Cooper Tires Presents USF2000 Powered by Mazda including, Cooper Tires Prototype Lites, Patron GT3 Challenge, Star Mazda Championship, VW TDI Cup, Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda, and the American Le Mans Series.

The USF200 National Championship will features rounds 9 and 10 as a double-header weekend before taking a month hiatus in advance of the Road Atlanta event in late September.

The Road America track boasts a 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course that hasn’t changed since hosting its first national race 55 years ago. What used to be 525 acres of Wisconsin farmland now offers drivers like Veach to cut his teeth with the demanding track.

The No. 7 ADS Andretti Autosport machine will participate in the weekend-long showcase at Road America Aug. 21-22. The event offers activities for fans as well, including a drive-in movie on Friday night and public karting. For more information about this weekend’s activities, visit the Road America website at www.roadamerica.com.

To keep up with the Andretti Autosport Team and the rest of the USF2000 series, visit: usf2000.com or for live timing and scoring, visit: usf2000timing.com.

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, in the Marketplace for Droid, to help consumers avoid dangerous text messaging while driving. Further, he’s set to author a book, due out this fall, “99 Things Teens Wish They knew Before Turning 16.” 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.

- Zach Veach Racing Press Release