ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – TJ Fischer kicked off the 2017 Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires season with his best career finishes on the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system to date. The 23-year-old from Vacaville, Calif. placed third in both races on the streets of St Petersburg during the Verizon IndyCar Series season opener. 

“What a solid weekend for us,” Commented Fischer, who competes for Team Pelfrey. “We’ve made so much progress during the off-season, and it’s great to get validation of the steps we’ve taken with two podiums. This gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season and I appreciate Team Pelfrey’s efforts in getting us to this point.”
 
Fischer, who currently resides in Los Angeles, Calif., qualified third for race one, a position he held for the entirety of the race on Saturday. For race two, he qualified fourth, but was able to vault back up to third place in the latter part of the race to complete the double-header weekend with consecutive podium finishes.
 
The Pro Mazda season now has a two-month break until another double-header weekend takes place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 11-13. There will be little rest, however, for the racer who also runs and operates Project O2, a not-for-profit organization aimed at informing, inspiring and innovating a new path to asthma awareness.
 
“I was diagnosed with asthma at a very young age,” Commented Fischer. “I wanted to remove the stigma that, you can only do so much with asthma. So we created Project O2 and we have a nationwide campaign called #Race2TheRescue where we work with asthma organizations across the country to increase awareness and information about asthma.”
 
Fischer attended the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology’s (AAAAI) annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga. last weekend, and was the Grand Marshal for the AAAAI 5K Run/Walk put on to raise money for lung research. On April 8, he will be the team captain for #Race2TheRescue at the Fight for Air Climb Los Angeles. Fans and supporters of Fischer and his cause can sign up for the race or donate to the American Lung Association (http://bit.ly/Race2TheRescue).
 
“I love working with the folks at AAAAI and I am so passionate about our collective cause. This year we’ll be doing events with them, the American Lung Association, the Indiana State Department of Health as well as the Indiana Joint Asthma Coalition. So even though we won’t be racing for a couple of months, we’ll be staying busy.” Ended Fischer.