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IPS: Prendeville honored in Indianapolis

Indianapolis Mayor Makes Prendeville An Honorary Citizen Due to His 'Racing Laps for Best Friends' Program INDIANAPOLIS, July 1 - Indy Pro Series driver Andrew Prendeville's efforts to raise money for animal welfare programs have not gone ...

Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 11:54 PM

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Indianapolis Mayor Makes Prendeville An Honorary Citizen Due to His 'Racing Laps for Best Friends' Program

INDIANAPOLIS, July 1 - Indy Pro Series driver Andrew Prendeville's efforts to raise money for animal welfare programs have not gone unnoticed by the mayor of the racing capital of the world, Indianapolis.

Prendeville, driver of the RLR/Andersen Racing Best Friends Animal Society No. 5 in the Indy Pro Series, received a special recognition from Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, who appointed Prendeville "an honorary citizen of the city of Indianapolis" recently.

"Few have earned more respect and gratitude from our citizens or have served our community more notably than Andrew Prendeville," the proclamation read.

Prendeville, 25, of Morristown, N.J., developed a program called "Racing Laps for Best Friends" that allows fans to make donations to Best Friends Animal Society through a Web site at racinglapsforbestfriends.com. Fans make monetary donations based on the number of laps Prendeville completes in his races. He competed in three races this year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 25, June 16 and June 17.

With headquarters in Kanab, Utah, Best Friends operates the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the United States. It is affiliated with animal shelters throughout the world, including Indianapolis Animal Care & Control, 2600 S. Harding St., Indianapolis.

As part of his promotional work prior to the Indy Pro Series doubleheader at IMS in June, Prendeville was Angela Ganote's guest on Indianapolis' FOX59 Morning News June 12. He arranged to have Pacer, a golden retriever mix being cared for at Indianapolis Animal Care & Control, to be on the show with him in the hopes of finding Pacer a new home.

"Our interim administrator, Steve Talley, and all of us really appreciated Andrew thinking of us, and we told the mayor about it," said Adam Garrett, Indianapolis Animal Care & Control's volunteer coordinator and public information officer. "It was great that Andrew was able to get Pacer on TV. He hasn't found a new home here yet, but he's been selected to be on our animal transport to Massachusetts this week.

"With their strong spay and neuter laws, some of the New England states don't have enough strays for their shelters sometimes, so they periodically take some of ours and try to find new homes for them up there," Garrett explained. "It's a partnership we have with them. We try to work together, just like Best Friends does.

"Pacer will leave for New England on Thursday, and hopefully he'll find a new home there," Garrett added.

When he was in Indianapolis in June Prendeville also visited the pediatrics ward of Methodist Hospital on behalf of Best Friends, the Think First National Injury Prevention Foundation, RLR/Andersen Racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Pro Series.

ESPN2 plans to air a feature on the Racing Laps for Best Friends program during its coverage of the Iowa Speedway race at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday.

Fans can learn more about the Racing Laps for Best Friends program, which is also currently offering a raffle for 2008 Indy 500 tickets, at racinglapsfor bestfriends.com. Prendeville's racing bio can be found on his team's Web site at andersenracingteam.com. The series' Web site is at indycar.com/pro.

Prendeville has eight more races this year. The next two are coming up Saturday and Sunday at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y. He races at Nashville Superspeedway July 14; the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio on July 22 and Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky. Aug. 11. A doubleheader at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Aug. 25-26 and the finale at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Sept. 9 completes his season.

-credit: restart communications

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