The 100th running of the Indy 500 takes place on May 29th and veteran racecar driver, Townsend Bell, was in New York this week to celebrate two of the California brands behind his Indy car.  Bell, a California native, made an appearance at the California Pizza Kitchen in Manhattan to discuss the restaurant’s first time sponsorship of his car.  They are joining California based apparel company, Robert Graham, a cosponsor of Bell’s cars for the past three years.

Robert Graham limited edition shirt

To commemorate the Indy 500’s big birthday, Robert Graham has created a special, limited edition hat and shirt, the latter features images of vintage newspaper articles about the race on the back and custom detailing on the collar and cuffs.  Naomi Holland, Robert Graham’s Vice President of Marketing, commented on their ongoing involvement with the race, “ It’s a very natural partnership because many of our customers are car spectators, car enthusiasts, car collectors, so we’ve got a lot of mutual audiences; and then the connection is very organic, you know, Townsend’s fire suit is very creatively designed with all of the Robert Graham details.”

Townsend Bell pizza Photo: Rhonda Erb

Bell’s other sponsor, California Pizza Kitchen (CPK), worked with him to come up with a recipe for; you guessed it, a Townsend Bell pizza. CPK’s Vice President of Public Relations, Kathleen Bush, said that Bell was intimately involved in creating his namesake pizza: hand tossed dough topped with white truffle oil and cream, oregano, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, fresh basil and fennel sausage.  Judging from the reactions of those sampling Bell’s creation in New York, the resulting pizza is a winner.

Townsend Bell Photo: Rhonda Erb

Of course on Sunday, with all of the pre race hoopla behind him, Bell will be focusing all of his attention on winning.  “ It becomes a game of chicken, basically, between you and the track to see what you can get away with, says Bell…not only am I competing against the track, I’m competing against 32 other guys that are trying to do the same thing, and who’s going to be the bravest and have the best finesse and make the best adjustments in the car.”

Watch the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 race, Sunday, May 29th on ABC (check your local listings).  To purchase the limited edition Robert Graham shirt and hat go to:

 http://www.robertgraham.us/

-Rhonda Erb
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