Arie Luyendyk, Jr. Enters Childrens Dream Fund 50 at Citrus County

Arie Luyendyk Jr. is the latest ‘Childrens Dream Fund 50 ‘entrant. Luyendyk confirmed today his plans to compete in the March 2, 2024, event at Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, Florida. The event is a co-sanctioned race between the Must See Racing Sprint Series Presented by Perfit and the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series that will pay $10,000 to win.

This will be only his second sprint car race. He competed in the inaugural Davey Hamilton Jr’s Open Wheel Showdown in Las Vegas last December. What started out as a bucket list item to drive a sprint car has now turned into a full-scale project. Luyendyk has purchased a sprint car and plans to compete in a few other races in Florida in the month of March. He then plans to head north to tackle the Must See Racing Sprint Series full-time this summer.

“Obviously I had a great time at the Open Wheel Showdown. It was an awesome event and Davey (Hamilton Jr.) did a great job of promoting it” explained Luyendyk. For me I just saw the competition and was impressed with all of the drivers there and the speed. Over the course of my career, I jumped into a few different things, and I’ve been able to win pretty quickly. Now I’ve got the bug and wanna go out and be good and win some races.

“I’ve put out a limited schedule this year. I’ll do three races in Florida in March. After that I plan to do the Must See Racing deal and the Open Wheel Showdown in November. The idea is to go to Florida beginning with the ‘Children's Dream Fund 50’ to get warmed up for that. It’s pretty tough in the Midwest and I wanna make sure we’re dialed. The race in Las Vegas was really my first time in the car. I wanna change some things with the seating position to get me more comfortable. We can do some things like that since it’s mine” laughed Luyendyk Jr.

The 42-year-old Luyendyk Jr. is the son of two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk, Sr. He has run a variety of series in his career up to this point including SCCA Formula Ford Series, Skip Barber Formula Dodge Series, SCCA Formula Continental, Traxxas TORC Series, Stadium Super Truck Series, A-1 Grand Prix, and Indy Lights. In addition, he finished 28^th in the 2006 Indianapolis 500.

Luyendyk gained additional fame by participating in several reality television shows including “The Bachelor” in 2017. He gained a huge social media following from the show that continues today

Although he only has one sprint car race under his belt, he feels he is surrounded by the right people and can get up to speed quickly once he gets onto the Citrus County Speedway asphalt. He admitted he hasn’t done any research on Citrus County Speedway and doesn’t intend to.

“I have not done my research on the track as of yet, and I typically don’t. For me it is what it is. For me in the past I haven’t learned too much by studying tape or watching other on-boards. I just go in there with an open mindset. I don’t wanna go in there with any preconceived notion of what my line should be. It could all be different the day of.

“I do have a great coach in Davey Hamilton Jr. helping me along. I definitely wanna have fun in the Florida racing swing of my season, but it’s really just to get me prepared for the Midwest. I still know it’s gonna be a challenge in Florida. But it’s gonna play a big part getting me ready to compete with those guys up there. I have some guys in my court including Davey Hamilton Sr. and Kirk Morgan who will also help me get up to speed. I can’t wait to get to Florida” concluded Luyendyk Jr.

-Must See Racing Release
-Photo credit: David Sink