Verizon IndyCar Series driver Sebastien Bourdais has made St. Petersburg, Florida, his home for more than a decade. The native Frenchman and Dale Coyne Racing driver is helping give back by serving as co-host of the Kart 4 Kids pro-am karting race tonight at Andersen Racepark in nearby Palmetto.
The fun event also includes a charity auction. Fans, whether attending the event or not, can bid on auction items including on the helmet Bourdais will wear in this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the firesuit Scott Dixon wore last year while driving the Ford GT for Chip Ganassi Racing’s sports car team, a Tony Kanaan 2016 firesuit and more. Proceeds from the auction and event benefit Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
Bourdais and Pirelli World Challenge driver Patrick Long are the featured co-hosts of the event, but fellow Verizon IndyCar Series drivers Dixon, Kanaan and Spencer Pigot are expected to participate in the pro-am kart race as well.
Bidding has already begun on the eBay charity auction items (click here to be directed to the website), which also include the helmet Long will wear this weekend in his competition and a Lucas Oil School of Racing two-day experience. Bidding in person and online for the auction items concludes at approximately 9 p.m. ET today.
Items available in the live auction on site include a private tour of the Chip Ganassi Racing compound at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, two three-day reserved grandstand seats for the St. Pete weekend, four tickets to the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 18 at Sebring International Raceway and more. Anyone wishing to bid on items not listed on the eBay site may call David Herndon at (727) 804-1439 or David White at (727) 709-0822 after 7 p.m. today.
See Bourdais' tweet below for the complete list of on-site auction items: