VEACH JOINS SHAQUILLE O’NEAL, APOLO OHNO AS RECIPIENT OF SUPERSTAR STATUS WITH THE CENTURY COUNCIL

courtesy of Zach Veach PR

Zach Veach Named A SuperStar Based On His Example Of Staying Healthy and Active, Excelling In Academics, and Helping Out In His Community

ARLINGTON, VA (Nov. 29, 2011) – The Century Council, a not-for-profit dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, today named “Mazda Road to Indy” Andretti Autosport race car driver Zach Veach a SuperStar alongside professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neil and Olympic Speed Skater Apolo Ohno.

“Superstars set great examples by staying healthy and active, excelling in academics, and/or helping out in their community,” said Ralph Blackman, The Century Council’s CEO and President. “Most importantly, Superstars say “yes” to a healthy lifestyle and “no” to underage drinking. The Ask, Listen, Learn team is proud to have Zach as part of such an influential group of individuals like that includes Apolo Anton Ohno and Tyson Gay, and we know he will inspire young people to make healthy choices and work hard to pursue their dreams!”

SuperStars set great examples for young people by staying healthy and active, excelling in academics, and/or helping out in their community. Most importantly, SuperStars say “yes” to a healthy lifestyle and “no” to underage drinking. Given Veach’s partnership with The Young Marines whom also focus on a healthy, drug-free lifestyle, Veach is honored to be keeping such great company.

“I’m so honored to be named a SuperStar by The Century Council,” said Veach, who is appearing at The Performance Racing Industry (PRI) tradeshow this week on behalf of sponsor Replay XD. “I thought only my mom thought of me as a superstar; but in all seriousness, I’m really excited to stand with such amazing other athletes like Shaq and Apolo. I actually got to meet Shaq a few weeks ago at a gala in NYC, which was really cool for me. Representing The Young Marines on the racetrack this past season has been a huge honor given their mission being so close to my heart and now this too just reinforces the fact that we must set a great example as athletes.”

A 16-year-old from Stockdale, Ohio, Veach was named by ESPN The Magazine as a NEXT athlete in the motorsports space and finished fourth in the 2011 Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda. He helped his team, Andretti Autosport, secure the team championship title for the second consecutive year with one win, five podiums and three pole positions. He also captured the inaugural Cooper Tires presents the USF2000 Winterfest Championship title earlier this year with two race wins. In 2010, Veach finished fifth in the overall USF2000 driver championship points, despite starting the season two races behind the rest of the field.

During the 2011 season, Veach also competed during the final two rounds of the Star Mazda Championship. He secured a third place podium finish at the final race of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Veach joins other previously awarded SuperStar athletes in addition to, O’Neil and Ohno including, Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres, Professional Snowboarders Gretchen Bleiler and Louie Vito, Professional Soccer Player Heather Mitts and Champion Sprinter Tyson Gay.

For more information on The Century Council, please visit, www.centurycouncil.org.

About Zach Veach:
Zach “Ziggy” Veach is a 16-year-old autoracing driver who competes in INDYCAR’s ‘Mazda Road to Indy’ USF2000 National Championship Series and Star Mazda Championship Series, important open-wheel stepping-stones to a career in the IZOD IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500. In 2011, Veach captured the USF2000 Cooper Tires Winterfest Championship, while also being named by ESPN The Magazine as a NEXT athlete in motorsports. In 2010, Michael Andretti signed Veach to his team, Andretti Autosport, while also being named one of CNN’s “Intriguing People” and being nominated for the Sports Illustrated “Sports Kid of the Year” award. In addition to his racing, Veach is an advocate for safer driving as the national spokesperson for FocusDriven, an advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving drivers using their cell phones and has campaigned for Oprah Winfrey’s “No Phone Zone.” Veach released his first published Android application through his phone-app building company, ZaAPP, releasing urTXT, in the Marketplace for Android to help consumers avoid dangerous text messaging while driving and helms his own safe driving program, Ziggy’s Safe Driving, which hits DMA markets across the country each year. Veach has been a guest or profiled on a variety of national platforms including NBC’s The Today Show, CNN’s Headline News, ESPN.com, FOXsports.com, ABCNews.com, Oprah Radio’s The Gayle King Show, The Los Angeles Times, AOL.com Fast Company magazine, Mashable.com and is a blogger for RACER and iPhone iLife magazines. The son of a national truck and tractor-pulling champion, Veach entered his junior year of high school this fall and released his first book, 99 THINGS TEENS WISH THEY KNEW BEFORE TURNING 16, in March 2011. For more information, please visit www.ZachVeach.com.