USF2000 – Veach Joins the Marines! …sorta.

THE YOUNG MARINES YOUTH ORGANIZATION PARTNERS WITH ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT DRIVER ZACH VEACH

Veach To Carry The Young Marines Branding Throughout 2011 USF2000 Season

WASHINGTON, DC (June 14, 2011) – The Young Marines, a youth education and service program for boys and girls, age 8 through completion of high school, announced today a partnership with 16-year-old Andretti Autosport USF2000 race car driver Zach Veach. The partnership will include Veach carrying the Young Marines imagery on his No. 7 Zakosi Data Backup Mazda, the formation of “Zach’s Pack” and a host of speaking engagements on behalf of the organization.

“The Young Marines organization is very excited about the partnership with Zach ‘Ziggy’ Veach,” says Mike Kessler, National Executive Director/CEO, Young Marines National Headquarters, “Zach represents the kind of values that we instill in our Young Marines of Teamwork, Leadership, Discipline and living and promoting healthy, drug-free lifestyle. Zach is a polite, but no-nonsense kind of young man who believes that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. His healthy, drug-free view of life parallels our program’s mission.”

The Young Marines discovered Veach when he appeared on NBC’s Today Show, promoting his new book, 99 THINGS TEENS WISH THEY KNEW BEFORE TURNING 16. That appearance sparked an interest with the Young Marines program and they knew Veach would be a perfect fit to speak at their annual Adult Leader’s Conference (ALC) in May, 2011. Veach served as the keynote speaker at the leadership conference in Charlotte, NC, sharing his story with nearly 400 of the adult volunteers of the Young Marines program before taking the wheel of his USF2000 car in the “Night Before the 500” where he placed second.

“I’m honored to welcome The Young Marines to our family,” said Veach. “I had the opportunity of speaking at their leadership conference and was able to meet their staff and the members of their organization and was really impressed with the group they had. To have an organization such as this part of my racing program is very humbling and I’m excited to be working with them moving forward.”

The values of living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle are what Veach lives by and for which mirror the core values of the Young Marines. With that, Veach was awarded the title of an honorary Young Marine at a small ceremony at the Indy 500 in May 2011 by outgoing 2010 Young Marine of the Year, 17-year old Casey Scott (VA) and Kessler.

“We are happy to have Zach as a part of the Young Marines’ family,” continued Kessler. “This partnership takes our mentoring within our program to the next level and gives our youth the opportunity to relate to someone similar to them on a larger scale. I am excited for our Young Marines and look forward to mobilizing Zach’s Pack in his upcoming racing schedule.”

The Young Marines is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 that works to positively impact America’s future by providing quality youth development programs for boys and girls that nurtures and develops its members into responsible citizens who enjoy, and promote, a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The program focuses on character building through a combination of self-discipline, teamwork and leadership. Young Marine units are community-based programs run by dedicated adult volunteers in over 300 communities across the United States, and overseas.

Practice for Veach’s race at the Milwaukee Mile begins Thursday, June 16 as part of a promoter test day. Veach will also practice on Friday, June 17, qualify on Saturday and race on Sunday, June 19 at 10:00 a.m. central as a support series to the IZOD IndyCar Series headliner.

Sanctioned by INDYCAR, the USF2000 National Championship, presented by Cooper Racing Tires and powered by Mazda, is one of three series part of both INDYCAR’s “Mazda Road to Indy” ladder system and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver program.

To follow Veach’s progress on the asphalt oval in West Allis, WI., live timing and scoring is available on www.usf2000.com or for more information, please visit www.ZachVeach.com, www.AndrettiAutosport.com or www.YoungMarines.com.

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