You might have noticed there are a whole bunch of young New Zealanders taking on the world right now. Lorde, Lydia Ko and Eleanor Catton are all cleaning up in their respective fields at the moment. There’s also Steven Adams, who’s playing in the NBA this year, and now Hayden Pedersen is joining him to beat the Americans in their own games during his second NASCAR season.
19 year old Pedersen has been racing since he was 14, beginning in Go Karting, and working his way up through Formula First, the V8s, and now the NASCAR Late Models series. In 2013, he came 4th out of 24 cars after some late-season vehicle issues. This year he is ready to nail it.
His dream is to be the first Kiwi Sprint Car Champion, putting New Zealand firmly on the NASCAR map.
Having spent much of the Kiwi Summer fundraising for the 2014 season, Pedersen is still short of the full amount he needs. So he has launched a crowdfunding campaign on GiveALittle, asking his family, friends, and fans for $6,000 to fund one race of his 13 race season. Between car maintenance, pit crew costs and entry fees, racing is not a cheap sport! But it is Hayden’s life, and he has big plans to take it all the way.
In return for backing him, Hayden is offering exclusive updates and race reports so backers can follow his season. On successful funding, he will thank all donors in the report for the race they help fund.
To find out more, or to back him on his journey, you can check out his GiveALittle page here.
Related media
Kiwi Pedersen chasing NASCAR dream (3News, 14 March 2014)
From School Desk to Racing Track (Rotorua Review, 26 March 2014)
Burning up the track means burning up the cash for Pedersen (The Waikato Times, 29 March 2014)
