St. Petersburg, Fla. (April 1, 2007) -- He’s American, and although he has been racing since the age of 8, he has never raced professionally in America. Well, at 26 years old, that changed this weekend. Richard Antinucci drove his first race in America, making his debut at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in the Indy Pro Series.

The results, a 19th place finish in Saturday’s race and a 15th place finish in Sunday’s race, don’t truly reflect the excitement of the weekend for Cheever Racing driver Antinucci.

It was a tumultuous weekend starting with a pit lane electrical fire during practice on Friday. Then in the first race, Antinucci climbed 11 positions to 12th place in the first 20 laps of the race only to be taken out of the race on lap 22 when another car made contact with his. Sunday started better, when Antinucci was fastest by four-tenths of a second in the warm-up session. In the race he again charged through the field from 19th to sixth place, only to be sent back when the Indy Pro Series officials penalized him with a black flag for weaving.

Antinucci said: “It was a tough, up and down weekend. We suffered from several inconveniences. A fire in the first test, lack of track knowledge and a limited amount of testing. We had a good charge in the first race then we had contact. We had another great charge from 19th to sixth but we had different views with the stewards of the race. The potential of the team is great. We showed that in the final practice when we finally got some clear laps and turned a lap almost four-tenths quicker on a tight, little, twisty circuit. I am happy my travels finally led to a race in America. I look forward to racing with Cheever Racing in the future.”