Published: July 20, 2009 10:22 pm         

Riley & Racin': West TH youngsters get up close and personal with IndyCar during Andretti race shop tour

INDIANAPOLIS — Eight-year-old brothers Creed and Christopher Fritz eyed a shiny, blue and white, open wheel IndyCar, then quickly turned around as the car’s famous driver stood between them Monday for a photograph.

Retired CART and Formula One driver Michael Andretti, now co-owner of Andretti Green Racing, opened his championship IndyCar race shop in Indianapolis to five past and current patients of Riley Hospital for Children.

The car, one of two in the lobby of Andretti Green Racing, was driven by Andretti to victory in the 2002 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Andretti’s last victory as a driver.

In addition, Andretti’s cousin, NASCAR driver John Andretti, walked through the facility with the youngsters. He is preparing for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard race on Sunday. The Andrettis teamed with Riley Children’s Foundation for the tour.

The Fritz boys, both of West Terre Haute, will be third-graders at West Vigo Elementary School. They were part of triplets, born 12 weeks prematurely in September 2000. The triplets, which included a girl, Rae-Ann, each weighed less than three pounds at birth. Rae-Ann died at 18 weeks from medical problems. All three were at the newborn intensive care unit at Riley Hospital.

The children’s parents are Lauri and Christopher M. Fritz of West Terre Haute.

The Fritz boys seem to love all types of race cars. Since age 5, the two have raced quarter midget cars, primarily in Linton and in Charleston, Ill. Their cars even have Riley’s “R” and red wagon emblem on the side, as the cars are often used to help raise money for the hospital.

Creed, while the oldest of the two by a minute, is smaller than Christopher. However, Creed “is the best driver,” said his grandfather, Bill Selvia. The boy’s grandmother, Diana Selvia, stood close by in the lobby.

“Creed is aggressive and runs harder. A hole has to be pretty big for Christopher to go through, but Creed will bump and grind,” the grandfather said. “Now that is dirt racing, which of course is different than Indy cars.”

The boys had Indy cars on their mind Monday as they began a tour of the race shop.

Andretti Green Racing has 112 employees, of which 82 are on a traveling team, said J-F Thormann, executive vice president, who led a tour of the facility. The Indianapolis facility has four engineers and four assistant engineers who work on aerodynamics, simulations and mechanical design to increase the speed of the race cars, Thormann said.

“About 25 to 30 percent of our staff are from other countries, such as Australia, Great Britain or France,” Thormann said.

The facility is home to four IndyCar drivers — Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti and Hideki Mutoh — and their race cars. Each car has five mechanics, Thormann said. The facility also has a machine shop, a repair shop that handles carbon fiber repairs, a paint shop and a practice pit area.

It also houses large RVs used during races, one of which hauls a kitchen trailer for the team’s full-time chef. Other trailers, which are fully equipped with tools, transport the race cars.

The facility also houses a graphic artist and business offices, including Michael Andretti’s office.

“I can’t get over how clean everything is, even when they are working on the engines,” Lauri Fritz said. Creed Fritz eyed a wooden tabletop made from the wood floor of an old bowling alley.

“I liked the painting shop,” Christopher Fritz said after the tour. A worker in the paint shop had been painting a spoiler that had been damaged and repaired from a previous race. “I liked the workshop,” his brother, Creed, said.

Christopher added he now likes Indy cars.

“I like the way they are designed. They don’t have bars on the top of them,” he said.

Asked if they would like to be race car drivers when they grow up, Christopher was quick to respond. “We already are race car drivers,” he said.

“This was wonderful,” Lauri Fritz said after the tour. “I know they were watching everyone working on the cars. They love racing and this [tour of Andretti Green Racing] is something I am thinking and hoping they will always remember.”

John Andretti had previously met the Fritz boys during a different event. Andretti has a long association with Riley Hospital. On Wednesday, he will participate in the 13th annual Kroger Race for Riley presented by Cheerios. Andretti races the bracket winners in a go-cart race.

The event has raised more than $1.4 million for Riley Hospital and Andretti hopes to raise $200,000 in the event at New Castle Motorsports Park.

“Last year I started looking at some of the facts of Riley Hospital. They see over 200,000 kids in a year. Our goal is to raise $200,000 in this event and that is only $1 per child. You think $200,000 makes a difference, but we are only contributing in a small way,” he said.

“We are trying to bring awareness of Riley and what they do. If you understand what the hospital does and how many people it does touch, then you are more likely to give if you get something in the mail or see something about the hospital,” John Andretti said.

Andretti said he got involved with Riley Hospital from experience with his family.

“I have an older brother [Mark] and an older sister [Carolyn] who both went to Riley as patients. One, believe it or not, was a go-cart racing accident. It took my brother’s heel off and they had to reconstruct his heel. My sister was in a car accident and was taken to Riley,” John Andretti said.

“And, just a few weeks ago my nephew’s twin daughters had to go to Riley because they were born at 30 weeks,” he said. “Riley touches people in many ways.”

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.