CART team fulfills promise to charity

In conjunction with Toyota Motorsports and Budweiser, the team is handing over $6,828 to US social services agencies Pleasant Run and Judson Center.

At the beginning of the season, the Champ Car team said it would donate one dollar for each lap that driver Richie Hearn completed in this year's CART series, with Budweiser and Toyota matching the funds.

Hearn completed 2,276 laps this year out of a possible 2,769 laps.

'This (charity effort) has been a personal undertaking for me,' Della Penna said.

'Like all CART teams, we receive numerous requests for charitable donations throughout the season, and while we still contribute to those efforts, I wanted to focus our efforts more.

'The services that Pleasant Run and Judson Center provide to children and their families touched my heart.

'While we have helped raise funds for these agencies through the laps completed program and by donating auction items to their various fundraising efforts, I hope we have also helped to raise the public's awareness of these programs and touch the children they benefit.'

Pleasant Run, based in Indianapolis, provides services to at-risk children and their families through therapeutic programs such as an Intensive Treatment Center, Group Homes, Foster Care and community based services.

The Michigan-based Judson Center is a human service agency that cares for over a thousand individuals daily.

The charity aims to help children, adults and families reach their fullest potential.