CART: Andretti, Fittipaldi featured on Disney Channel's 'The Jersey'

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

DETROIT- Michael Andretti, the winningest driver in CART FedEx Championship Series history, and Christian Fittipaldi, winner of the final CART race in 2000, appear on the top-rated Disney Channel series, "The Jersey" Thursday, March 8. The episode airs at 5 p.m. ET/PT and 4 p.m. CT.

The Disney Channel is broadcast to approximately 62 million homes in the United States, and is also available internationally.

"The Jersey" chronicles the adventures of 15-year-old Nick Lighter, his cousin, Nick, and his Monday Night Football Club friends. Nick inherits a football jersey from his deceased grandfather, which is a magic portal into the world of professional sports.

The scenes featuring Andretti, who will begin his 17th full season of Champ Car competition this weekend with Team Motorola at the CART season opener in Monterrey, Mexico, were shot on October 25, 2000 at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway, when both drivers were members of Newman/Haas Racing. Just a few days after shooting the scenes, Fittipaldi collected his second career Champ Car victory and the $1 million payday for winning The 500 Presented by Toyota at California Speedway to close out the 2000 FedEx Championship Series campaign.

"We filmed this episode a few days before our last race of the season and I won, so I hope the show brings me the same luck at the first race of this season in Mexico since it airs right before the race," Fittipaldi said. "I definitely have no acting aspirations like (my boss) Paul (Newman), but being a part of a different world for the shoot was interesting.

"I saw a tape of the show and I think it turned out well. It's important for our series to reach out to kids and turn them into race fans early. This is the No. 1 show on The Disney Channel so I can't think of a better way to reach them."

In Thursday's episode, entitled "Three Boys and a Nephew," Nick Lighter desperately wants to make the starting lineup on his football team, and in an effort to do so, agrees to babysit his coach's eight-year-old nephew. However, the jersey transports him to the cockpit of Andretti's race car while he races with Fittipaldi and the other stars of the Champ Car racing at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour.

Andretti and Fittipaldi join an impressive roster of previous guest stars on "The Jersey" including, NFL stars Steve Young, Kurt Warner, Peyton Manning, Marshall Faulk, Terrell Davis Doug Flutie; Basketball icons Lisa Leslie and David Robinson; NHL stars Jeremy Roenick and Sergei Federov; Major League Baseball All-Stars Nomar Garciaparra and Gary Sheffield; figure skater Michelle Kwan, U.S. Women's Soccer star Brandi Chastain; skateboard legend Tony Hawk; track and field star Michael Johnson; and gold medal-winning gymnast Dominique Dawes.

Text Provided By Nate Siebens

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.