PELFREY INDY RACING RE-CREATES A FAMED LAUNCH PAD FOR RISING INDYCAR STARS


By Star Mazda

January 12, 2011

Once a competitive IndyCar team featuring drivers such as John Paul, Jr., Brian Tyler, Billy Boat, Robby Unser, Memo Gidley, and Sarah Fisher, Pelfrey Indy Racing is back to compete in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship.


St. Petersburg, FL – Entrepreneur and racing enthusiast Dale Pelfrey announced today that Pelfrey Indy Racing, a competitive IZOD IndyCar team from 1998 – 2000 then run under the banner of Team Pelfrey, will return to competition with a multi-car effort in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.

Nick Andries, a rising young open-wheel racer who competed in both the 2010 Skip Barber National series and the Star Mazda Championship with sponsorship from Dale Pelfrey, has been signed as the new team's first driver. Andries, 20, is a student at St. Petersburg College.

Headed by veteran open-wheel team manager Geoff Fickling and headquartered
at a new 6300 sq. ft. facility in the St Petersburg, Florida area, Pelfrey Indy
Racing, P.I.R. for short, will make its official Star Mazda series debut at the St
Petersburg Grand Prix, March 25-27.


“I ventured back into race team ownership after a ten year hiatus because I was
seeing so many talented young racers like Nick fail to get the opportunity to move
up and race in the Star Mazda series,” says Pelfrey, former owner of Dayton,
Ohio's Enginetics Aerospace, a company specializing in the design and
manufacturer of jet engine components for the international market.


"The Star Mazda series is only one step below Indy Lights and a valuable
stepping-stone in the professional career ladder to Indy. I have hired an
experienced, professional crew for P.I.R. which will be led by Geoff Fickling, who
won the 2010 Team Championship with Andersen. I have also re-signed a fine
young driver, Nick Andries who I have supported throughout his racing career.
My plan is to add two more drivers making P.I.R. a solid three car team."


Dale Pelfrey has a track record of building successful open-wheel teams; the
1998-2000 version of Team Pelfrey signed Sarah Fisher, then an 18 year-old
rookie, to compete in the Indy Racing League. She ran her first IRL race in
Team Pelfrey's Dallara at Texas Motor Speedway in 1999. Team Pelfrey has
also provided racing opportunities to a number of other drivers including Lynn St.
James, Sarah McCune, Memo Gidley, Bryan Tyler, Billy Boat, Robby Unser and
John Paul Jr., who led 39 laps of the 1998 Indianapolis 500.


Pelfrey himself has raced motorcycles, karts, Skip Barber Racing cars and a P2
car in Grand-Am Rolex Series. His passion for racing has sometimes put him in
the driver's seat, but more often he indulges his competitive instincts by providing
a seat for young talented drivers who lack financing.


"I want to thank Dale for his support throughout my racing career and for what I
feel is my most important opportunity so far," says Andries. "The opportunity to
start a new team is very exciting because P.I.R. has put together the right
personnel for success. It's a new team, however all the guys know each other
and have worked together before. As a result, I strongly believe the team and I
will be ready to contend for race wins -- and ultimately the 2011 championship --
starting at St. Pete."


Pelfrey is committed to providing the team with the tools to be successful and
competitive in 2011. The team has an ambitious test schedule, with multiple
tracks, before the Star Mazda Season Opener in front of their hometown crowd
on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Work is already underway as the team moved
into their new shop in Clearwater on December 15th. Equipment has been
purchased and an experienced full-time crew, drawn primarily from the nowdisbanded
Andersen Racing Star Mazda team, has already begun preparations
for next season.


“First of all, we’re extremely grateful to Dale for not only putting this team
together, but how he has assembled it," says team manager Geoff Fickling.
"From Day One when we first began discussing this venture, he made it clear
that if we were to do this, he wanted it to be done the right way and every step of
the way he has proven that. We’ve assembled the best of the best in terms of
personnel, equipment, shop space, and the resources to immediately contend for
a championship. I can’t express enough how excited we are to be a part of a
project like this."


About Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear
Now entering its 21st year of competition, the Star Mazda Championship
presented by Goodyear is one of the premier open-wheel driver development
series in the world with prizes for 2011 valued in excess of $1.5 million. The
series is part of the new MAZDA ROAD TO INDY that will provide scholarship
funding for the champions in each series (USF2000, Star Mazda, Indy Lights) to
move up and compete in the next level – all the way up to the IZOD IndyCar
series and the Indy 500. The 11-race 2011 season includes six races held on
IndyCar weekends, and tracks include road courses, street circuits and both long
and short ovals. The Star Mazda Championship features standing starts, wheelto-
wheel racing at 160 mph, unlimited testing to accelerate driver development
and budgets a fraction of other top open-wheel ladder series.
__________________________________
For more information about Pelfrey Indy Racing, visit the team's web site at
www.pelfreyindyracing.com, or contact Team Manager Geoff Fickling at
gfic@ymail.com / (727) 329-8860.
__________________________________
For more information on the Star Mazda Championship and the Mazda Road to
Indy, please visit www.starmazda.com or contact Star Mazda Communications
Director Peter Frey at StarMazdaPR@aol.com / (818) 398-5733.

Keywords: star mazda

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