Pippa Mann Excited to Pilot No. 39 Driven2SaveLives Clauson-Marshall Racing Chevrolet in the Indy 500
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For IndyCar driver, Pippa Mann, racing in the Indianapolis 500 is much more than some glorious endeavor. Every driver races to win, but for Mann, there is a deeper connection to her team and her sponsors.
Clauson-Marshall Racing, the United States Auto Club National sprint car champion team, announced back in February that they are partnering with the Indiana Donor Network and their Driven2SaveLives campaign to field an entry for the 2019 Indianapolis 500 on May 26. Mann will pilot that No. 39
Driven2SaveLives Clauson-Marshall Racing Chevrolet com race day.
“I am so thankful for this opportunity to join Clauson-Marshall Racing for their first Indianapolis 500,” Mann says. “This is more than just a car entry to me, and the journey has been an emotional one. Carrying the No. 39 and the Driven2SaveLives campaign on my Chevy entry is an honor that I don’t take lightly, and I’m grateful to Tim Clauson and Richard Marshall for believing in me.”
This is the first year Clauson-Marshall Racing will participate in the Indianapolis 500. The team was founded in 2016 in memory of beloved IndyCar driver and USAC champion Bryan Clauson by his father, Tim Clauson, and Richard Marshall. Bryan died in 2016 in a racing accident and, as a registered organ and tissue donor, he saved five lives and healed countless others.
“In 2012, it was a privilege to come to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a dad to a driver who was competing in his first Indy 500. Now, we are honored to have an entry in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. We are especially honored to partner with Driven2SaveLives, after organ and tissue donation became an important part of our lives in 2016,” says Tim Clauson, co-owner of Clauson-Marshall Racing. “Merging our dirt programs with the Indy 500 program is very important to our future, and we are fortunate to have Pippa Mann behind the wheel. After watching the way she handled the circumstances of last year with such grace, we were sure that if we could help her return to the speedway, we would.”
The road to this point hasn’t been smooth for Mann. Last year, she just missed qualifying for the Indy 500 and fell victim to Bump Day. According to Mann, to be back in the car for this year means the world to her and isn’t something she is taking for granted.
“It is incredible to be back,” she says. “I didn’t know after last May if I was going to be able to call myself an IndyCar driver again. To be back here with Clauson-Marshall Racing is incredibly special to me. Bryan and I never got to be teammates again, but I hope he would be smiling that his dad is giving me the No. 39 to drive. I’m very excited.”
Driven2SaveLives is an Indiana Donor Network campaign to raise awareness around the need for organ, tissue and eye donation and transplantation. Nationwide, more than 114,000 men, women and children are currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. Tragically, 20 patients die each day because the organ they needed did not become available in time.
One donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and heal up to 75 people through tissue and cornea donation. Registering as a donor takes less than 30 seconds at the BMV or at RegisterMe.org.
“Over the past four years, Driven2SaveLives has become a beacon of hope for patients waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant,” says Kellie Hanner, Indiana Donor Network president and chief executive officer.
“We are excited to partner with Clauson-Marshall Racing this year to spread the donation message far and wide.”
“We’re pleased to see Indiana Donor Network continue its involvement in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, especially after our successful partnership last year in the inaugural Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink at the dirt track,” adds IMS President J. Douglas Boles. “It’s even more gratifying to see Indiana Donor Network’s relationship with Clauson-Marshall Racing grow into support that is helping one of USAC’s best race teams climb to the Indy 500 and continue the legacy of Bryan Clauson both on short tracks and at the Speedway.”
