From Jayski's...
Lauren Wallace..."I'm a hundred miles away, son, ready to strike": I get asked about 'Lauren Wallace', often, saw this article and figured I'd post it for folks to check out: The toughest, coolest, most ruthlessly ambitious driver in motorsports was born in Richmond, resides in Chicago, doesn't have a driver's license and is more familiar with the nuances of Hamlet than those of Denny Hamlin. Meet Lauren Wallace, the fictitious pre-adolescent pepperpot whose quest to replace distant cousin Mike Wallace behind the wheel of the No.7 GEICO Racing Camry is the premise for a series of popular and wickedly funny television commercials created for GEICO by the Richmond-based Martin Agency. Many believe Lauren to be a flesh-and-blood prodigy who one day will shove opponents out of his way on the high banks at Daytona. That perception is a tribute to the work of Eddie Heffernan, a 14-year-old actor who has breathed honest-to-goodness life into Lauren's voice, mannerisms and ill-concealed contempt for his adult cousin. "As an actor, I can sort of relate to [Lauren the driver]," said Heffernan, who will not appear at Richmond International Raceway this weekend. "I'm probably not as ****y as Lauren is, but I understand his passion. Believe me, when I need to be, I can be pretty competitive." Nor is that the only similarity. Lauren is a take-no-prisoners go-kart driver. Heffernan, a freshman at a Chicago-area public high school, says laps at a go-kart track near Nags Head, N.C., have long been personal highlights of his family's vacation trips to the Outer Banks. "Every Christmas, I used to ask my parents for a go-kart," he said. "One year, I actually got one. I drove it until it broke down." See full story Richmond Times Dispatch link on my Article Links page.(5-1-2008)
Lauren Wallace..."I'm a hundred miles away, son, ready to strike": I get asked about 'Lauren Wallace', often, saw this article and figured I'd post it for folks to check out: The toughest, coolest, most ruthlessly ambitious driver in motorsports was born in Richmond, resides in Chicago, doesn't have a driver's license and is more familiar with the nuances of Hamlet than those of Denny Hamlin. Meet Lauren Wallace, the fictitious pre-adolescent pepperpot whose quest to replace distant cousin Mike Wallace behind the wheel of the No.7 GEICO Racing Camry is the premise for a series of popular and wickedly funny television commercials created for GEICO by the Richmond-based Martin Agency. Many believe Lauren to be a flesh-and-blood prodigy who one day will shove opponents out of his way on the high banks at Daytona. That perception is a tribute to the work of Eddie Heffernan, a 14-year-old actor who has breathed honest-to-goodness life into Lauren's voice, mannerisms and ill-concealed contempt for his adult cousin. "As an actor, I can sort of relate to [Lauren the driver]," said Heffernan, who will not appear at Richmond International Raceway this weekend. "I'm probably not as ****y as Lauren is, but I understand his passion. Believe me, when I need to be, I can be pretty competitive." Nor is that the only similarity. Lauren is a take-no-prisoners go-kart driver. Heffernan, a freshman at a Chicago-area public high school, says laps at a go-kart track near Nags Head, N.C., have long been personal highlights of his family's vacation trips to the Outer Banks. "Every Christmas, I used to ask my parents for a go-kart," he said. "One year, I actually got one. I drove it until it broke down." See full story Richmond Times Dispatch link on my Article Links page.(5-1-2008)
