Tire Rack Celebrates 10 Years As Title Sponsor Of The Tire Rack One Lap Of America

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SOUTH BEND, Ind., April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Tire Rack, America's largest independent tire tester and consumer-direct source for tires, wheels and performance accessories, celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year as the title sponsor of the Tire Rack One Lap of America (www.onelapofamerica.com), a charitable street-legal road rally race started by the legendary auto writer, Brock Yates, 29-years-ago.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120419/CL90946LOGO)

The 2012 Tire Rack One Lap of America begins May 5 at Tire Rack's state-of-the-art 11.7-acre test facility in South Bend, Indiana, and returns there for a final test eight days later on May 12.  During that week, drivers will race at tracks like the Autobahn Country Club in Illinois; the High Plains Raceway in Colorado; the road course and drag strip in Brainerd, Minnesota; and two days at the world-famous Road America in Wisconsin.  This year, more than 80 entrants will be covering over 3500 miles during the eight day competition.

"Tire Rack is proud to celebrate a decade long partnership with Brock Yates Sr. and Jr. as title sponsor of the Tire Rack One Lap of America," said Matt Edmonds, vice president, Tire Rack.  "With nearly 33 years of experience in the tire industry, we feel passionate about continuing to support and educate drivers from all experience levels about the capabilities of their tires and how proper maintenance, traction, safety and durability can be maximized on and off the track."

The Tire Rack One Lap of America is a high level driving competition lasting 24 hours each day and features a selection of the fastest street-legal cars run by all types of drivers from pros to rookies and everyone in-between, as long as they've had some racing experience (and/or two drivers' schools).  The event, as it always has been, is one of endurance and vehicle preparation.  No support crews are allowed and teams must manage their tires to finish on the same set on which they started.  That means frequent checks of air pressure, tread depth and wear and tear for damage.  At each scheduled race track, entrants are put through a series of timed lap trials including wet and dry skid pad challenges.  Even though scoring is based on performance at the race tracks, the vehicles and their drivers' bragging rights truly kick in when they survive the long distance of driving miles required throughout the competition.

Racing for a Good Cause    

Outside of its performance panache, Tire Rack One Lap of America also attracts people from around the country and all walks of life, driving cars as varied as their personalities, for a good cause.  The official charity of the Tire Rack One Lap of America is KaleidoLINKS, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization incorporated in Washington, DC, that believes to break out of the cycle of poverty, youth must be empowered not only through education, but through community organization and mentorships.  One of their programs, KL Racing, will once again be competing in the Tire Rack One Lap of America with a KaleidoLINKS '11 Chevy Camaro piloted by Andrew Stallworth from Bethesda, MD.   

Many charitable 'Lap Veterans' are beloved fixtures on the scene and have been participating for years like David and Fay Teal from Media, PA.  David and Fay founded Laps to Conquer MS in 1989 to increase multiple sclerosis (MS) awareness through motorsports, while raising funds for the National MS Society.  Throughout more than two decades of competition, David and Fay have driven over 195,000 interstate miles through 46 states and have raised more than $165,000 for the National MS Society.  Although Fay will not be participating this year, she'll be cheering on David from the sidelines in her wheelchair as she does year after year, pushing him towards a hopeful victory in their '11 Dodge Challenger.

For a complete list of competitors and the charities they are representing and a race location schedule, please visit www.onelapofamerica.com. 

About Tire Rack

Tire Rack, family-owned and headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, is America's largest independent tire tester and consumer-direct source for tires, wheels and performance accessories. Their team of over 100 test drivers (their sales team) tests tires from every major tire manufacturer on the company's state-of-the-art, 11.7-acre test facility. The findings are then posted on the company's website, www.tirerack.com, where consumers can make an educated decision on a tire, wheel or performance accessory purchase.

Tire Rack has also collected results from more than 150,000 consumer surveys representing over 2.7 billion miles of real-world tire data, the largest known cache of such information anywhere. In addition various testing and informational videos are available online in their Video Center at www.tirerack.com/videos. Since 1979, Tire Rack has grown from a single-point retail store in Indianapolis to encompass over 2 million square feet of space in six distribution centers across the country. A diverse and broad in-stock inventory from 18 major tire and 49 wheel brands can be delivered anywhere in the country in two days or less. A national network of more than 8,000 independent Recommended Installers are available to service customers.

SOURCE Tire Rack