Oct 17, 2005
\nRancho Santa Margarita, Calif. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c J.R. Hildebrand has been named winner of the prestigious Team USA Scholarship for 2005 and will follow in the illustrious footsteps of such former winners as Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, Jerry Nadeau, Tony Renna, Buddy Rice and A.J. Allmendinger.<\/p>\n
Hildebrand, 17, from Sausalito, Calif., has distinguished himself in his first season of professional racing, finishing second in a close-fought Pacific F2000 Championship and earning three podium finishes from just four starts in the East Coast-based Cooper Tires Championship Series for Formula Ford 2000 cars.<\/p>\n
Hildebrand\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prize will include entry in the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy series, which will comprise a total of six races run over two consecutive weekends next month at the famed Snetterton and Brands Hatch road courses in England.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an amazing opportunity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Hildebrand, who is still in high school and is the youngest driver to win a Team USA Scholarship since the program\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inception in 1990. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Obviously, to get the experience of racing in Europe and driving a car which has so much more power and huge tires, and to race on such great tracks, means an awful lot.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real history behind the program and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s produced so many great drivers. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s looked upon very highly by everybody in the sport, and being a part of it is almost unbelievable right now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
In common with so many of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s established stars, Hildebrand gained his first experience of competition in karting. Atypically, however, Hildebrand didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spend years honing his skills. Instead, a little more than 12 months after contesting his first race in the Jim Russell Racing School\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s low-key Arrive-and-Drive program at Infineon Raceway, Hildebrand was invited to the Russell School\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Graduate Run-Offs in 2003. His talent was immediately apparent. Despite his rookie status, Hildebrand scooped the top prize and repaid the faith that was shown in him by clinching the 2004 SCCA Formula Russell Championship on the strength of seven wins from 19 races.<\/p>\n
His first year of professional racing, in 2005, has been similarly impressive. Hildebrand guided a PR1 Motorsports Mygale to 12 consecutive top-five finishes from his first dozen races, then added a strong third-place finish recently at the challenging VIRginia International Raceway, driving one of P-1 Racing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Zetec-powered Van Diemens for the very first time.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It has been my privilege to watch many, many talented youngsters over the years, but I have to say I have been very impressed by what I have seen so far from J.R.,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Team USA Scholarship founder Jeremy Shaw, whose career as an auto racing writer and broadcaster has spanned over 30 years. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s young, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intelligent and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fast. Those are certainly good attributes to start out with in this sport!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The first Team USA Scholarship was awarded in 1990 to Jimmy Vasser, who, coincidentally, also was competing in FF2000 at the time. Vasser went on to win the 1996 Champ Car crown, earning the first of a record four consecutive titles for Target\/Chip Ganassi Racing. He is now the elder statesman of the Champ Car World Series, yet remains at the top of his game as part-owner and driver for PKV Racing and currently lies sixth in the points table.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I saw J.R. race at Cleveland in June and he did a very good job,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Vasser, who along with Champ Car and IRL race winner Herta, the 1991 scholarship winner, has remained a staunch supporter of the project which is aimed at promoting young American drivers on the world stage. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I still remember the opportunities that came to me as a result of winning the Team USA Scholarship and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m proud to be able to continue that legacy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Details of other Team USA Scholarship supporters will be announced soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oct 17, 2005 Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c J.R. Hildebrand has been named winner of the prestigious Team USA Scholarship for 2005 and will follow in the illustrious footsteps of such former winners as Jimmy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1452,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions\/1452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}