Sign up a Team for Friday Go-Kart Race to Raise Awareness of Distracted Driving

A group of teens from Greenwich High School, Brunswick and King are hosting a fundraiser at Grand Prix in Mt. Kisco on Friday night, April 22.

The fundraiser, which features go-kart racing in teams of 2-5, benefits Project Yellow Light, a non-profit dedicated to increasing awareness of the dangers of distracted driving, which go far beyond texting.

New this year, for those who want to support the cause, the organizers have added bowling! The schedule is as follows:

7:00 registration
7:30 safety briefing
8:00 start of race
9:30 podium/trophy presentation

A $100 contribution covers the cost of a team of 2 to 5 drivers. Pizza, snacks and a t-shirt are included with the entry fee. Bowlers can arrive at 7:00pm and bowl in the VIP lanes for $25 per person.

Front seat passenger Will Jeffery, driver Quentin McDermott. In back seat Austen Albano and Maggie Montague. Credit: Leslie Yager

Maggie Montague, a GHS junior who is part of the team planning the fundraiser, explained the motivation of her team to raise awareness of distracted driving.

“It’s horrible around here,” Maggie said, gesturing to the glass corridor at Greenwich High school. “Kids are bumping into each other in the halls because they are walking and looking down at their phones.”

“If you can’t wait to look at your phone when you’re walking to class, you’re not going to wait to text when you’re driving,” said Austen Albano, whose older brothers Ben and Addison started the go-kart fundraiser three years ago.

“It’s so much more than texting. It’s anything that takes your eyes, your mind, your hands away from driving,” said Brunswick senior Will Jeffery, adding that a lot of Greenwich teens use Snapchat when they’re driving. (Snapchat is an app that lets you to send videos and pictures that will vanish after just a few seconds.) “Snapchat is not going anywhere soon. The problem is also that it distracts other people,” Will said.

Grand Prix New York in Mt. Kisco is a vast event complex which features go-kart racing. Grand Prix has hosted the teen go-kart race to benefit Project Yellow Light for three years.

The entry fee is fully tax-deductible, and all proceeds go directly to the Project Yellow Light Hunter Garner Scholarship, thanks to the generosity of local corporate sponsors, which include Teddy’s Transportation of Norwalk, Petro Home Services in Stamford, and Fresh Green Light in Greenwich.

Safety briefing before the go-kart race begins. April 2015 Credit: Leslie Yager

Paraco Gas, based in Rye Brook, NY, is the lead sponsor for the race and has supported this event for two consecutive years.

To sign up to race, or for more information, contact Austen Albano at [email protected], Will Jeffery at [email protected], Quentin McDermott at [email protected], or Maggie Montague at [email protected].

Project Yellow Light is a national scholarship competition that works with the Ad Council, Mazda, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Organizations for Youth Safety and U-Haul to bring about change. Applicants have a clear mission: Encourage peers to develop and embrace safe driving habits.

For both the high school and college contests, the first-place winners receive a scholarship in the amount of $5,000, second-place finishers receive $2,000, and third-place finishers receive $1,000. A new billboard scholarship contest was launched on March 1 to complement the video competition with designs due on May 1, 2016.

Project Yellow Light was founded in memory of Hunter Garner, a 16-year-old with a dry wit, wicked sense of humor, and interesting creative mind. Hunter loved music, running, and had lots of friends from all walks of life. Hunter died in a car crash on June 10, 2007 at the age of 16.

Grand Prix New York Racing is the only large indoor racing, social entertainment, and corporate event venue in the New York City-metro area. The 118,000-square-foot facility offers a quarter-mile-long, state-of-the-art racetrack for all ages; Spins Bowl, a 19-lane bowling center and special events space, the Art Garage, a visual arts studio for children, teens and adults; Fuel restaurant and bar, with award-winning catering; arcade, carnival room, banquet facility, conference rooms, and more.

For more information about GPNY, visit their website at www.gpny.com.