{"id":220,"date":"2008-02-05T07:58:55","date_gmt":"2008-02-05T07:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/?p=220"},"modified":"2008-02-05T07:58:55","modified_gmt":"2008-02-05T07:58:55","slug":"gladdis-and-andersen-to-work-together-for-2008-star-mazda-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/news\/gladdis-and-andersen-to-work-together-for-2008-star-mazda-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Gladdis and Andersen to Work Together For 2008 Star Mazda Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Media Release<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"andersonracing.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

PALMETTO, Fla., Feb. 4 – Race car drivers need to have fast reaction timesboth on the track and when opportunity knocks during their careers.
\nTeam owners like Dan and John Andersen of Andersen Racing have to be equally<\/p>\n

fast when presented with a rookie driver who performs like a veteran. Tom<\/p>\n

Gladdis did just that when the Palmetto, Fla.-based team tested him last week at<\/p>\n

Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Fla., and today Andersen Racing<\/p>\n

announced it has signed the 16-year-old British driver for a full season in the<\/p>\n

Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.
\nGladdis was born in the Isle of Wight, England, and resides in Gibraltar, a<\/p>\n

British territory. He’s sponsored by Marrache & Co., the international law firm<\/p>\n

of Gibraltar that has offices in London, Spain, Lisbon, Prague and Luxemburg.<\/p>\n


\nBoth Gladdis and Marrache will fit right in with the Star Mazda series, which<\/p>\n

is sanctioned by IMSA and often serves as a support event for IMSA’s American<\/p>\n

Le Mans Series with its tagline of world-class manufacturers, teams and<\/p>\n

drivers.
\nGladdis only has one year of racing under his belt, finishing sixth in the<\/p>\n

rookie standings in the tough Formula BMW UK series last year. He sat in a Star<\/p>\n

Mazda car for the first time over the Christmas holiday, but he was very fast<\/p>\n

at the Sebring test.
\nGladdis said he had planned to race in Asia this year, but he and Andersen<\/p>\n

Racing just clicked at the test.
\n“I loved working with everyone on the team,” he said. “Everyone at Andersen<\/p>\n

Racing made me feel welcome.\u00c2\u00a0 They all worked very hard and put as much effort<\/p>\n

in as they could.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the main reason I signed with the team. The car they<\/p>\n

prepare is very good and fast.”
\nDan Andersen originally planned to run three drivers in the Star Mazda series<\/p>\n

this year.\u00c2\u00a0 Juliana Gonzalez and Yannick Hofman are already on board and the<\/p>\n

signing of two more drivers is imminent, but he still agreed to add Gladdis to<\/p>\n

his stable.
\n“He is a very fine driver, and the whole team wants him,” Andersen said.\u00c2\u00a0 “We<\/p>\n

think he can win races, and possibly the championship.”
\nThe relationship developed very quickly.\u00c2\u00a0 “I read about Star Mazda at the<\/p>\n

back of an AutoSport magazine in England, and I knew we were coming to America<\/p>\n

over Christmas,” Gladdis disclosed.\u00c2\u00a0 “I said to my dad that I would really like<\/p>\n

to drive one of those cars, and that’s when he got me a test.\u00c2\u00a0 Things<\/p>\n

developed from there, we found Andersen Racing, and now I’m really anxious to get the<\/p>\n

season started in America.”
\nThe season opener is March 14 at Sebring, right before the Mobil 1 Twelve<\/p>\n

Hours of Sebring ALMS race the following day.
\nAndersen Racing is the official development team of Rahal Letterman Racing,<\/p>\n

which competes in both IndyCar and the ALMS.\u00c2\u00a0 The team is sponsored by Allied<\/p>\n

Building Products Corp.
\nIt addition to Star Mazda, Andersen Racing fields multiple entries in the<\/p>\n

F2000 Championship presented by Hoosier Racing Tire and the Indy Pro Series, the<\/p>\n

official development series of IndyCar. The team strives to provide the best<\/p>\n

training possible for future open-wheel superstars.
\nFor more information on Andersen Racing see andersenracingteam.com and<\/p>\n

andersenracepark.com.\u00c2\u00a0 For more information on the Star Mazda series see<\/p>\n

starmazda.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media Release PALMETTO, Fla., Feb. 4 – Race car drivers need to have fast reaction timesboth on the track and when opportunity knocks during their careers. Team owners like Dan and John Andersen of Andersen Racing have to be equally fast when presented with a rookie driver who performs like a veteran. Tom Gladdis did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realracinusa.com\/racelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}