by John Manzi, for the NAADA

Monticello, NY — The 2010 World Cup of Amateur Racing will be held in France on the dates of July 19 through July 25 and once again the North American Amateur Drivers Association will be represented in the prestigious international driving competition.

Alan Schwartz

According to Joe Faraldo, the president of the North American Amateur Drivers Association, Alan Schwartz will be wearing the red, white and blue colors representing the United States as he has done twice before.

“Schwartz has been selected to represent us (United States) because he is the only active amateur driver with more than 300 career wins,” Faraldo explained.

In fact his 377 wins is second only to Austria’s Christian Mayr, who currently has over 400 victories.

The United States hosted the last World Cup in 2008 with competitions at various racetracks from Chicago to New York City. The U.S. representative that year was David Siegel.

“Siegel finished third in the competition which was the best showing we ever had in the World Cup,” Faraldo said. “He was the point leader going into the final rounds but when his trotters made breaks he lost ground but still ended up in third place, only a few points from the top.”

Siegel, who’ll be watching closely the results of the races in the World Cup this year, had some good words about Alan Schwartz, this year’s rep.

“Alan is a super driver, a great supporter of the game and shares a love for horses on and off the track. He and his wife Alicia are wonderful ambassadors and will represent well the hundreds of amateur drivers that reside in America,” Siegel said about this year’s American representative.

This year’s World Cup will be contested at racetracks in and around Paris, France with 13 nations involved in the competition. Besides the U.S., other counties participating include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, Spain, Holland, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Russia and France.