Rising Star Racing to promote worthy talent on IndyCar ladder

Josef Newgarden, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda

Photo by: Jay Alley

Rising Star Racing officials announced its inaugural class of drivers on Thursday at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indianapolis as Josef Newgarden, 22 of Hendersonville, Tenn., Neil Alberico, 21 of Los Gatos, Calif., and Spencer Pigot, 20, of Orlando, Fla., have been selected to represent Rising Star Racing beginning with the upcoming 2014 racing season.

The Rising Star Racing organization has an important mission in the world of motorsports – to help ensure that the most deserving drivers get the opportunities they have earned. Rising Star Racing subscribes to the ideal that world-class talent, hard work, dedication and desire should rise to the top in motorsports just as it does in other sports.

“It is fantastic news, because having driver development programs in place that offer opportunities to talented drivers is only going to benefit our sport," said Jason Penix, Director of Development Series for IndyCar and Andersen Promotions. “Having a pipeline of talented American drivers complements the international base of drivers that we have and will help to make sure that we have the best drivers in the world competing in IndyCar and in the Indianapolis 500. Having a grassroots program like this is key to the long term future of the sport and I’m very happy to see people take such an interest in the future of our sport."

2014 Rising Star Racing Drivers:

Neil Alberico: “I am really excited to join Rising Star Racing and I am really grateful for the opportunity," said Alberico. “We are already testing for next year and I know how important any seat time is, and this will give us the chance to run for the Winterfest Championship in February. That will be such a big way to go into the Pro Mazda season, with six races in the car already under my belt so it is really important to me to not only have a good season in the car but I also want to learn as much as I can out of it as well."

Spencer Pigot: “It kind of came out of the blue, really, and I was so excited to get the call," said Pigot about finding out he had been selected as part of the inaugural class. “Rising Star Racing is the kind of program we all dream about being involved with and I’m really looking forward to this season. Hopefully I can learn a lot to help me keep moving up in the sport. Pro Mazda will be very competitive again this year, and I’m just really happy to have the opportunity that I do."

Rising Star Racing has already attracted commercial support from cornerstone partners Oakley and Swiftwick, who have both been long-time supporters of young talent.

Rising Star Racing