[h=2]Kart4Kids charity event opens St. Pete weekend[/h] Monday, 05 March 2018
By Marshall Pruett
Dale Coyne Racing's Sebastien Bourdais, reigning Pirelli World Challenge GT champion Patrick Long and Mazda Road To Indy owner/promoter Dan Andersen will open the IndyCar/PWC season at St. Petersburg on Wednesday with the seventh installment of their Kart4Kids charity event.
The pro-am kart race, which was hosted at Andersen RacePark for the first six installments, has been moved to Turn 1 at the site of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix where open-wheel and sports car stars will converge late Wednesday afternoon and raise money for the Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.
The 2017 event brought in $81,000 through donations and auctions for race-worn driving gear and memorabilia.
"This year's move of the event to the actual racetrack of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and the heart of downtown is amazing news," Bourdais said of his adopted hometown. "It would have never been possible without the Andersen organization and the Grand Prix, and I can't wait to see the response of the community."
A silent auction will make a variety of valuable items available to the public, including Bourdais' 2017 DCR IndyCar race suit, plus his entire Rolex 24 at Daytona race-winning suit, shoes and gloves from the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team, and more will be offered from the other drivers on hand.
"This is a massive leap forward for our seventh annual event!" said Long, who launched the Kart4Kids event in 2012 in honor of the late IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon. "As we see with IndyCar and sport scar racing, when you drop the racing culture and action into a major city center, the local response is electric. To be just a couple blocks down the road from Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital makes this story that much sweeter."
Additional details on the event can be found at
https://kart4kids.com/.