O'Gara to make Firestone Indy Lights debut at Freedom 100: Kyle O'Gara has had May 24 circled on the calendar for quite a while.
The 18-year-old native of Beech Grove, Ind., will graduate from Indianapolis' Roncalli High School on that day. He'll also take the next step of his racing career on the same day.
Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing announced that O'Gara, the team's development driver, will enter the Firestone Freedom 100 on Carb Day in a partnership with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
O'Gara will run the No. 67 entry, with the design of his helmet proudly displaying his school's colors.
"I'm very happy to be a part of this partnership," O'Gara said. "When they put an opportunity like that in front of you, you can't turn that down. That's something that I always wanted to do, and I'm looking forward to it."
One of O'Gara's sponsors for the race, SportEvents.com, is providing tickets to the race to each student at Roncalli High School. The team made the announcement at the school auditorium filled with his fellow students, and the news that they would all be attending to support him on was greeted with loud cheers.
Team owner Sarah Fisher, also O'Gara's sister-in-law, was also on hand to discuss the news.
"I've been watching Kyle and working with him since he was about eight-years-old," Fisher said. "So to take him to Indianapolis has been a very personal goal of mine and also of my husband Andy, Kyle's older brother.
"Andy has worked incredibly hard to put this together, and he's been with Kyle day in and day out during his whole career, and to see the two of them working together has been an amazing experience for myself."
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has won seven of the 10 Firestone Freedom 100s that have been run. In 2012, Esteban Guerrieri won the race from the back of the field. The day after the race, O'Gara will also run a USAC Midget Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway in the Night Before the 500.
O'Gara will test with the series at Auto Club Speedway in late April following the series' race at Long Beach, and also again at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May. He tested a Firestone Indy Lights car at Kentucky Speedway last year with Fan Force United.
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The 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season continues with the Honda Indy Grand Prix Alabama on April 7 at Barber Motorsports Park. The race will be televised live at 3 p.m. (ET) by the NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius andXM Channels 211 and
www.indycar.com. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Legacy Indy Lights 100 on April 7 at Barber Motorsport Park. The race will be broadcast by NBC Sports Network at 1 p.m. (ET) on April 7, immediately preceding the IZOD IndyCar Series race broadcast.
Media Contact: Amy Konrath, INDYCAR, 317-331-7437, akonrath@indycar.com
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