Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Grand Rapids, Michigan (June 15, 2015)
Meredith Pritchard will be making her debut into rally car racing at the Magnum Opus Rally next weekend, June 19th and 20th, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Originally from Kansas City, Kansas, Meredith has been active in the racing community for more than 20 years.
Beginning in the mid-80's Meredith served as crew for her father, Brian Haupt, at Midwest Division SCCA track events, where he raced a myriad of cars including small formula cars and several models of Alfa Romeo. Her mother was also involved in the SCCA, operating as the voice of "Control" at events, as well as serving in several administrative roles, most notably as the National Worker Coordinator for the United States' entire SCCA schedule.
From 1997 until 2000, Meredith volunteered at southeast division events as a corner worker and in 2001 she accepted the position as the Office and Events Manager at the Turn One Racing School at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC. The following year she obtained her track racing license and began racing Turn One's 350 horse power student stock cars which were prepped for road racing. In 2002, she drove a GTAmerica stock car at Daytona International Raceway, reaching a top speed of 172 mph around the oval and that same year she was presented with the Jim Fitzgerald award by the SCCA Southeast Division.
Wanting to continue her progression in road racing, Meredith commissioned her father, in 2003, to build an E-Production Mazda RX7 for SCCA competition. In 2004, she competed in the SCCA National Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and finished 16th in the 40+ car field, an especially respectable finish considering that this was her first running at Mid-Ohio. Meredith won her first national race at Gateway Motorsports Park in Illinois, in 2010 and in 2012, she sold her RX7 and began racing a Spec class Miata at Mid-Ohio, where she regularly finishes in the top 10, of the 40+ car field.
For several years, Meredith has run her husband Justin Pritchard's team at rally events. This spring she made the decision to sell her Miata and pursue rallying for herself. After efforts to obtain a front wheel drive rally car were unsuccessful, Meredith purchased a caged 2005 Subaru Impreza shell, which had previously been run by Pat Moro. Justin, along with rally friend Samir Kaltak and a handful of others, has prepped the car for the rally this weekend. Meredith will be joined in the car by her navigator, Rachelle Kaltak. Rachelle has been competing as a rally navigator for three years. Justin and Rachelle competed together last week, in Justin's rally car, at the Susquehanna Trail Performance Rally in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, where they won the regional event.
While it's clear that Meredith is no stranger to racing and has already made many friendships in the rally community, she is excited to finally get out onto the stages and compete.
###
FOR EDITORS:
Media Contact: Rachelle Kaltak/ rkaltak@mail.com / (616) 485-2338
*The event is part of the NASA Rally Sport 2015 Atlantic Rally Cup
