[media-credit name=”Chris Jones” align=”alignright” width=”280″]
[/media-credit]Zach Veach Treats National Young Marine of the Year Recipient to An Exciting Memorial Day Weekend
BROWNSBURG, Ind (June 5, 2012) – Andretti Autosport driver Zach Veach hosted 17-year old Young Marine Sergeant Major (YM/SgtMaj) McCall Behringer, National Young Marine of the Year recipient, at Lucas Oil Raceway (LOR) last month in honor of her accomplishments. Veach’s race ran prior to the long-standing Memorial Day race tradition at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway and before both took in the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500.
“The Young Marines has brought a group to Indy the past two years,” said Veach. “I had the opportunity to meet Young Marine Sergeant Major McCall Behringer at the Young Marines Adult Leaders Conference in May. To have YM/SgtMaj Behringer and her fellow Young Marines supporting me at my race was very motivating to me and my team. And then to host her and the Young Marines National Executive Director, Mike Kessler at the 500 was a great opportunity for me to show my commitment to the partnership with the Young Marines.”
Veach had the opportunity to share his unusual occupation with Behringer during her first visit to auto-racing’s most famous weekend. She received a first-hand glimpse into what it takes to be a racecar driver and the challenges that surround competing in a race event.
Behringer says she got a better idea of what racing is all about. “Zach applies many of the same values that Young Marines use every day to racing. From his discipline behind the wheel to his leadership on and off the track, Zach definitely deserves his honorary title as a Young Marine,” said Behringer.” Young Marines from the local area came out to support him and he was very generous in showing them around his car and answering questions. Zach’s commitment to the same values and ideas as the Young Marines makes our partnership special to all of us. Of course, watching him race and seeing our Young Marines logo on his car was a blast. I can’t wait to attend his next race.”
Veach and Behringer plan to continue using their national platforms to reach out to other youths and teens about their shared values of living a healthy drug-free lifestyle and anti-bullying efforts.
Easily a new race fan, Behringer hopes to attend a few more of Veach’s races, including his upcoming race on the streets of Baltimore later this year as Behringer is a resident of the city and member of the Hamilton Young Marines (MD).
Young Marines National Executive Director Mike Kessler was proud to announce that 17-year-old Behringer of Baltimore was the National Young Marine of the Year for 2012-2013 and would be traveling to Indianapolis for the special Memorial Day weekend. Behringer joined the Young Marines in 2006 when she was 10 years old and has since won over 120 awards with the Young Marines program including three Personal Commendations, the Meritorious Service award issued at the national level and is the 13th recipient of the coveted Young Marines Distinguished Order of Merit.
Kessler says Zach is a remarkable young man with incredible talent. “He has the qualities that are rare in many young adults. I am proud of our relationship with Zach and his family and hope that the trip to Indy becomes an annual event for the Young Marine of the Year,” said Kessler. “Naturally, we look forward to the day when our Young Marines logo is on his car going around the Brickyard on Memorial Day weekend at the 500″.
The month of May, long known as the lead-up to the famed Indianapolis 500, began with Veach serving as a guest speaker for the second year in a row at the annual Young Marines Adult Leaders Conference, in Reno, NV, before returning to the cockpit of his racecar. As a guest speaker, Veach spoke to over 350 adult volunteers of the program about the partnership with the Young Marines organization and the shared values of anti-bullying and living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines have sponsored Veach’s race program for the past two years and they have partnered together to encourage youth to serve as leaders and remain drug-free. Veach is an honorary Young Marine.
The “Night Before the 500” race at LOR marked Veach’s first appearance on an oval in the Star Mazda Championship series. While making his first start in the USF2000 National Championship Series at LOR in 2010, Veach qualified third and put in a top-five result. During his second trip to Indianapolis in 2011 for autoracing’s most famous weekend, Veach finished where he qualified in the 2nd position, improving his previous finish of 4th. Upon his return to the track late last month, Veach boasted a third place finish marking his second podium result in the Star Mazda Series.
To view photos of the Young Marines with Veach at Indy, please visit, https://www.facebook.com/
Sanctioned by INDYCAR, the Star Mazda Championship is one of two series part of both the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver program. Andretti Autosport is currently the only INDYCAR team to compete in each level of the Mazda Road to Indy.
For more information, please visit www.YoungMarines.com, www.zachveach.com, www.AndrettiAutosport.com.
About the Young Marines youth organization:
The Young Marines is a national non-profit 501(c)3 youth education and service program for boys and girls ages 8 through completion of high school. The program focuses on teaching the values of leadership,teamwork and self-discipline so its members can live and promote a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The national organization is comprised of over 10,000 youths and 2,800 adult volunteers in nearly 300 throughout the United States and overseas. For more information about the Young Marines youth organization, visit the official website:www.YoungMarines.com.
About Zach Veach:
Zach “Ziggy” Veach is a 17-year-old autoracing driver who competes in INDYCAR’s ‘Mazda Road to Indy’ Star Mazda Championship Series, an important open-wheel stepping-stone to a career in the IZOD IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500. In 2012, Veach captured the Formula Car Challenge Winter Series Championship and in 2011, he secured the USF2000 Cooper Tires Winterfest Championship and was voted the “Most Popular Driver in USF2000”. Named by ESPN The Magazine as a NEXT athlete in motorsports, Veach keeps an active pace both on and off the race track. In 2010, Michael Andretti signed Veach to his team, Andretti Autosport, while also being named one of CNN’s “Intriguing People” and being nominated for the Sports Illustrated “Sports Kid of the Year” award. In addition to his racing, Veach is an advocate for safer driving as the national spokesperson for FocusDriven, an advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving drivers using their cell phones and has campaigned for Oprah Winfrey’s “No Phone Zone.” Veach designed a phone application through his phone-app building company, ZaAPP, releasing urTXT, in the Marketplace for Android to help consumers avoid dangerous text messaging while driving. Like most of his peers, Veach was bullied as a kid and works to combat the growing epidemic as part of the Cyber Safety Academy’s “No BULL Challenge” as a key ambassador. Veach has been a guest or profiled on a variety of national platforms including NBC’s The Today Show, CNN’s Headline News, ABCNews.com, Oprah Radio’s The Gayle King Show, The Los Angeles Times, AOL.com and is a blogger for RACER magazine and The Huffington Post. The son of a national truck and tractor-pulling champion, Veach is sponsored by Zakosi Data Backup, The Young Marines, Replay XD, Arai Helmets, OMP, ADS IT Solutions, andartrotondo.com. He entered his sophomore year of high school this past fall and released his first book, 99 THINGS TEENS WISH THEY KNEW BEFORE TURNING 16, in 2011. For more information, please visitwww.ZachVeach.com.
About Andretti Autosport:
Based in Indianapolis and led by racing legend Michael Andretti, Andretti Autosport fields multiple entries in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Andretti Autosport competes in Firestone Indy Lights, the Star Mazda Championship and 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), one USF2000 championship (2010) and has won the Indianapolis 500 twice (2005 and 2007). For more information, please visit www.AndrettiAutosport.com.
About the Star Mazda Championship Series:
For 2012, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will again be a major part of the “Mazda Road to Indy”. The 2012 schedule consists of 17 races on 10 weekends, most with IndyCar. Rising stars from around the world will compete on road courses, street circuits and ovals in front of more than a million fans as they battle for prizes valued at $1.5 million, including a scholarship to move up and race in the 2013 Firestone Indy Lights series. Drivers 16 and older are welcome to compete and the Star Mazda Championship also features the Expert Series for drivers 30 and older. The Star Mazda Championship features standing starts, wheel-to-wheel racing at 160 mph and budgets a fraction of other top open-wheel ladder series. For more information on the Star Mazda Championship and its drivers, as well as the Mazda Motorsports ladder system, please visit www.StarMazda.com.
