PPI Motorsports and McDonald’s Racing have named Anthony Lazzaro as the driver for the McDonald’s NASCAR Busch Series Team, which will begin competing on a full-time basis next season. The selection was made from more than 20 candidates after an extensive evaluation process, which culminated with on-track test sessions at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway last Thursday(July 29). Lazzaro, 32, of Acworth, Ga. (suburb of Atlanta), currently drives a Formula Atlantic car for PPI. He is leading the points chase for the 1999 KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship and earned his third win of the season this past weekend (Aug. 1) in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. Lazzaro’s first NASCAR assignment will be to attend Friday’s (Aug. 6) Busch Series Kroger 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The plan is to run a few BGN races later in the year to prepare for the next year’s opener in Daytona. Born in Charleston, S.C. and raised in Georgia, Lazzaro started racing go-karts at the age of 11. He accepted a job as a mechanic after high school to finance his competition efforts, working through ten years of karting championships, Formula Ford wins and sports car victories, including a class win (GT3) at this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona. He began racing full time in 1995 and joined PPI as a Formula Atlantic driver in 1998(McDonald’s PR), here is a link to a Lazzaro’s Profile(8-3-1999)
