Bell, Rice, Speed, and Smith to lead Tony Kart USA
Leading the charge will be 2006 event champion, 2004 Indy 500 winner, and 2009 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona winner Buddy Rice who is also a distributor for the Tony Kart brand in the Western half of the United States.
He will be joined by Team Red Bull NASCAR driver Scott Speed, who won the pole and finished 3rd in last year’s Karting All-Stars Classic event. The former Formula One driver is known to be able to get up to the pace instantly in a kart and can be considered an event favorite.
The IZOD IndyCar series is also represented in the Tony Kart lineup with Townsend Bell, who finished 4th in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 and karts regularly near his home in Southern California.
The drag racing world is also represented in the lineup by Matt Smith, a consistent race winner in the NHRA Pro Stock Bike category. Smith will trade in two-wheels for four for the second consecutive year at this event.
The Karter Division lineup for the Tony Kart – FA squad is equally strong. Gustavo Menezes, a regular contender in top-level karting in both the United States and Europe will make his debut for the Tony Kart brand in the event. The Coto de Caza, CA resident looks to establish his name firmly in the motorsports world with a strong run at the event.
Austin Dyne will run in a William Rast Racing supported entry in the event, the regular California contender in multiple TaG categories making his debut at the Karting All-Stars Classic as well.
Tony Kart USA’s supplementary brand of import, the FA Alonso Kart will also be represented in the Karter division by two of the United States’ most promising open wheel talents, Bobby Wilson and Conor Daly.
Wilson is a multiple time Indy Lights race winner eager to return to his karting roots and Conor Daly is coming off a stellar debut in the Star Mazda Series.
CKI Director of Operations Kevin Williams commented, “The level of talent from top to bottom that that Tony Kart – FA Kart team has assembled is amazing, a dream team of the past two decades of American karting. That is a very fun element that this event provides."
Andre Martin of Tony Kart USA agreed, “With our new home base in Orlando it is going to be very fun to showcase our Orlando Kart Center facility to all of these top-level drivers. We are going to the event with a goal of victory, and I know we have several driver s in each category with the ability to do so."
The PRI/CKI Karting All-Star Classic will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net affiliation of cable networks. Both the Karter and All-Star Divisions of the race will have their own dedicated half-hour broadcasts that will air in a minimum of 86 million households. Last year’s PRI event, with re-air dates, was viewed in more than 700,000 households helping bring karting to the mainstream media. The Karter division from the 2009 event will air on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 4:30pm local time while the All-Star division will be broadcast on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 4:30pm.
The 2009 PRI/CKI Karting All-Stars Classic will take place at the annual Performance Racing Industry trade show in Orlando, Florida. With the event taking place on the evening of Thursday, December 10th, Fox will be in attendance producing an hour long broadcast bringing karting to the mainstream medium of television early in 2010.