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VEACH NAMED ONE OF INDYCAR'S MOST POPULAR DRIVERS INDIANAPOLIS (November 21, 2011) – INDYCAR Nation announced the winning drivers in the annual "Most Popular Driver" award category with Andretti Autosport "Mazda Road to Indy" regular Zach Veach being named as the "Most Popular Driver" in the USF2000 National Championship Series as voted on by INDYCAR Nation members. Fans voted for their favorite INDYCAR drivers on IndyCar.com for the opportunity to win racing memorabilia, which from Veach will include a signed copy of his book, an autographed hero card and a Young Marines commemorative Zach Veach, limited-edition coin. "On my list of dreams, there has always been my desire to compete in INDYCAR, win the Indianapolis 500, and be the fan-favorite driver; I know I'm only the fan favorite USF2000 driver, but it's a start," said Veach. "I really want to thank everyone that voted for me. The support was amazing, and I can't begin to express how much it means to me! It's a great honor to me being one of the fan favorites, thank you all again!" The 17-year-old from Stockdale, Ohio, joined the USF2000 National Championship Series in 2010, finishing fifth in the overall USF2000 driver championship points, despite starting the season two races behind the rest of the field. He returned to the series in 2011 by using two race wins and three pole positions to capture the Cooper Tires USF2000 Winterfest championship before the regular season, where he finished fourth in driver points with one win, five podiums and three pole positions. Veach's team awarded the young driver with two race starts in the Star Mazda Championship Series in late 2011, where in only his second start, he finished on the podium with a third-place result at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. During the off-season, Veach is competing in The Formula Car Challenge as a testing platform as he prepares to move up from the USF2000 National Championship Series to the Star Mazda Championship Series in 2012. He swept the first weekend of racing at Infineon Raceway with two pole positions and two race wins. The series is currently on hiatus until heading to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. for three events in January 2012. The 5'2 teen athlete has also turned heads off the racetrack. In May 2010, Veach joined Oprah Winfrey's "No Phone Zone" initiative as a SpokesKID for the program and added 33 Indy 500 drivers to her campaign to help put an end to distracted driving. Veach joined nearly 100 taste-making public figures that included Ryan Seacrest, Jerry Seinfeld, and Kim Kardashian, amongst many other A-List names aligned by Winfrey for her campaign. Following his visit to "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Veach was named as the national spokesperson for FocusDriven, Advocates for Cell-Free Driving, alongside Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Veach later appeared at the 2010 Distracted Driving Conference in Washington, D.C. and was honored alongside musicians Jordan Sparks and The Jonas Brothers for their collective efforts to curb distracted driving. Popular Internet site AOL honored Veach's efforts against distracted driving by featuring the young athlete on "Take Your Kids To Work Day" where his self-made Android application, urTXT, was featured as a product of his phone-app building company, ZaAPP. In March 2011, Veach released his first book, 99 THINGS TEENS WISH THEY KNEW BEFORE TURNING 16, with an appearance on NBC's The Today Show. He has also made appearances on a number of CNN's outlets, C-Span, PBS, The WB, and been profiled on Oprah Radio, ABCNews.com, ESPN.com, Mashable.com, NBC's ivillage.com, MSNBC.com, FOXNews.com, justjared.com, The Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, Metro, The Huffington Post, USA Today, Fast Company magazine, and iPhone iLife magazine, to name a few. ESPN The Magazine named Veach a NEXT athlete in the motorsports space with a special feature in the commemorative 9-11 September 2011 issue. He was a nominee for the Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year award, the CNN Hero award and the Gatorade Athlete of the year award. CNN also named him to their list of "Intriguing People" and The Century Council, an arm within the government, also named Veach a "SuperStar" alongside the NBA's Shaquille O'Neil and Olympic Speed Skater Apolo Ohno. Veach was also recently announced as an ambassador for Pencils of Promise, an organization that partners with local communities to build schools and increase educational opportunities in the developing world, alongside musician Justin Bieber and actress Sophia Bush. Further, Veach is a spokesperson and celebrity judge in the Cyber Safety Academy's No BULL Challenge, a national anti-bullying movement contest for youth across America. He took a stand by speaking out about his battle with bullying as the youngest speaker on Capital Hill during American Public Health Association's annual celebration of the National Public Health Week in 2011. Veach's popularity within INDYCAR is no surprise given his commitments to not only his performance on the racetrack but also in the classroom as a student at K12 Online Public School and his devotion to giving back through his many charity affiliations. Of all active INDYCAR drivers, Veach ranks second in the most "Likes" on Facebook behind only three-time Indy 500 winner, Helio Castroneves. Veach is joined in the popular driver award winning category by the late two-time Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon in the IZOD IndyCar Series, Jacob Wilson in the Firestone Indy Lights and fellow Andretti Autosport teammate, Sage Karam, in the Star Mazda Championship Series. The winning active drivers are scheduled to be honored at the 2012 Honda Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March. For more information on INDYCAR Nation, visit http://indycarnation.indycar.com. |
