03/26/2008
RLR/Andersen Racing Ready to Start 2008 Indy Pro Series

By Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications

PALMETTO, Fla., March 26 - There's no place like Home(stead) for RLR/Andersen Racing, unless of course it's the team's new "home" race, the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Both are on the docket for the Palmetto, Fla.-based team's Indy Pro Series squad in the next two weeks. Drivers Andrew Prendeville of Las Vegas (Best Friends Animal Society No. 5) and J.R. Hildebrand of Indianapolis (RLR/Andersen Racing No. 25) will try to rack up as many points as possible in their season opener this Saturday afternoon, March 29, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., as well as at the doubleheader that is part of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6, on that Florida city's street course.

RLR/Andersen Racing fielded two cars in the Indy Pro Series last year from its base in Fairfield, N.J., but moved to Palmetto, Fla., near St. Petersburg, in November. The team headquarters are now on the grounds of the 18-acre Andersen RacePark, a facility that includes a 1-mile road course test track.

Prendeville, 26, who moved from New Jersey to Las Vegas over the Christmas holiday, is beginning his second season of Indy Pro Series action, as is the team. Prendeville finished fifth in his first Indy Pro Series race ever at Homestead last year, and he gave RLR/Andersen Racing its first podium finish in the series in the next-to-last race of the 2007 season.

Hildebrand, 20, a native of Sausalito, Calif., will be going for the Lucas Oil Rookie of the Year award in 2008. Saturday's race at Homestead will be his first oval-track race ever, although he's tested an Indy Pro Series car on the ovals at Homestead and Nashville previously. He's anxious to get back to work with RLR/Andersen Racing's Dominic and Nicholas Cape, with whom he won 12 of 14 Formula 2000 races in 2006 enroute to that championship.

RLR/Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp.

Prendeville also represents the Best Friends Animal Society, while Hildebrand's sponsors include Mockett.com and Formotion Products.

Homestead's Indy Pro Series race, the Miami 100, will go for a distance of 67 laps (100 miles) around the 1.5-mile oval at 12:30 p.m. this Saturday afternoon. There are two one-hour practice sessions prior to that, at 1:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. on Friday, as well as qualifying at 8:15 p.m. Friday night. The race will be covered live on the Internet at indycar.com/pro, and at 4 p.m. April 3 on ESPN2. All times are Eastern.

The day after the Homestead race the RLR/Andersen Racing set will try to be in front of a TV at 3 p.m. to watch SPEED's coverage of the recent Star Mazda season opener at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Fla. Three of Andersen Racing's five Star Mazda drivers finished in the top five in that race, including two (Charles Hall and Peter Dempsey) on the podium.

The next day, Monday, March 31, Prendeville and Hildebrand will be off to Sebring themselves, exchanging Homestead's variable banking of 18 to 20 degrees in the turns for the short course at Sebring for a one-day test. Then they're off to St. Petersburg, where the team will try to quickly arrive at the best set-up possible for that city's 1.8-mile, 14-turn flat city-street course.

There won't be much time to tweak set-ups at St. Pete either, as again there are just two hours of practice (9:25 a.m. and 4:45 p.m.) on Friday, April 4 before qualifying at 10:05 a.m. Saturday morning, April 5. The first 40-lap Indy Pro Series race at St. Petersburg gets the green flag at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, April 5. The next day there is a 10-minute warm-up at 8:05 a.m. followed by the second half of the doubleheader at 10:45 a.m. that Sunday morning. Both of the St. Petersburg Indy Pro Series races will be carried live on indycar.com/pro and also shown on ESPN2 at 2 p.m. April 10.

Andersen Racing is the development team of Rahal Letterman Racing. Its website is at andersenracingteam.com.

Pre-race quotes follow:

Andrew Prendeville: "We've really worked hard in the off-season from a team perspective, a car perspective and a Racing Laps for Best Friends perspective. I think as a whole we're ready to go. I'm excited to get back in the race car and go racing again.

"The most challenging thing about Homestead will be racing in a pack. There are a lot of new guys in the series, and there will be a lot of anxiety throughout the field. You're banking on other people's rational decisions, and sometimes that doesn't work out too well.

"For St. Pete, for the first time in Andersen Racing's history we'll have a home race, as we're now based in Palmetto. It's a doubleheader, so it's an important event for the championship.

"I'm excited to get back to that track. It's a fantastic venue and a fun track to drive. I'll be going there for the second time, so hopefully we'll be able to perform better there."

John Andersen (team co-owner and Indy Pro Series team manager): "I'm looking forward to Homestead, St. Pete and the whole season. I feel we have two very qualified, talented drivers. I feel very comfortable with the set-up we arrived at in testing. Andrew is comfortable with how the car will run. J.R. has never raced at Homestead, but we have a lot more knowledge going into this race than we had last year, so we're optimistic."

About Allied Building Products Corp.:

Allied Building Products Corp., headquartered in East Rutherford, N.J., is one of the largest roofing and siding distributors in the United States. Founded in 1950 with five employees and two trucks, today it is a $1.8 billion building material distribution company with over 3,500 employees, more than 200 branches in 30 states, well over one million square feet of office and warehouse space, and an inventory of approximately 85,000 products, from residential roofing and siding to doors, windows, waterproofing, manufactured stone, interior products and commercial roofing systems. For more information see alliedbuilding.com.

About Andersen Racing:

Andersen Racing strives to provide the best and most comprehensive training possible for future open-wheel superstars while giving its marketing partners media exposure and hospitality opportunities at some of the most prestigious events in North America. It provides a unique, three-step program utilizing multiple entries in three different series: the F2000 Championship (webcast), Star Mazda (televised on SPEED) and the Indy Pro Series (televised on ESPN2). In 2008 it will field multiple entries in 42 races in 19 states and provinces at some of the best facilities on the continent, including the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Andersen Racing's principals, brother Dan and John Andersen, have extensive experience in series administration as well as team management. They've worked with many of today's top open-wheel stars, including several Indy 500 winners.

Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp. It is the official development team of Rahal Letterman Racing, which competes in the IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series. In addition, its F2000 team is also the official factory team of Van Diemen. The team is headquartered at Andersen RacePark, an 18-acre facility in Palmetto, Fla. that includes a 1-mile test track. For more information see andersenracingteam.com and andersenracepark.com.