Skip Barber Racing School, LLC today announced that it is to receive a grant from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Motor Sport Safety Development Fund.  This grant will be used to teach race and street driving safety to more than 50 young drivers during the annual Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-out.

Now in its 12th year, the Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-out has been responsible for launching the auto racing careers of dozens of top line drivers including A.J. Allmendinger, Scott Speed, Patrick Long, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Michael Valiante, as well as numerous others who have gone on to post significant achievements in the world of racing. Two recent champions of the BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda – Jonathan Goring in 2006 and Joel Miller in 2007 – won scholarships at previous Shoot-outs.

“The project being carried out by the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety on behalf of the FIA Motor Sport Safety Development Fund presents a great opportunity to get the message out about road and track safety to a talented but inexperienced group of new drivers.” said Todd Snyder, Vice President of Competition for Skip Barber Racing
School. “For many drivers in the Karting Scholarship Shoot-out, this is their first opportunity behind the wheel of an automobile. These drivers can become not just stars on the racetrack but examples of good driving habits for others to follow.”

“We would like to thank the members of the FIA Motor Sport Safety Development Fund for their consideration as well as ACCUS President Nick Craw, and Mark Raffauf from Grand Am for helping get us in front of the right people.” noted George Ayres, President and COO of Skip Barber Racing School, LLC. “Auto accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19. Anything Skip Barber can do to help change this fact is a good thing. This grant will assist us in getting our new driver safety training message out to more drivers and parents.”

Over the next five years, Skip Barber will teach a minimum of 250 young drivers about road safety through classroom seminars and hands-on driver training. Skip Barber Racing School, LLC joins Indy Racing League, NASCAR, Sports Car Club of America, the National Hot Rod Association and the International Motor Racing
Research Center in receiving a grant from the FIA Motor Sport Safety Development Fund, and is the only racing school to share in this award.

The 2009-2010 Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-out is December 27-30 at Sebring International Raceway, Fla. For more information and to download an application, please visit www.skipbarber.com/kartingshootout, or contact Jim Altemus, Karting Relations Manager, at (860) 435-4119 or jaltemus@skipbarber.com.