While most pastors stood behind their pulpits on Sunday morning, Rev. Will Marotti was on the racetrack in Speedway, Indiana.

Marotti, the lead pastor of New Life Church in Wallingford, Connecticut, fell in love with racing growing up, and, just over a year ago, he gathered up the necessary resources to form a team to enter the Indianapolis 500. Sure enough, on May 29, Marotti led the first-ever Christian team to a 12th place finish at the 100th running of what is known as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Although one of his goals was to establish the brand of Marotti Racing, he also had a bigger goal in mind:

“There has never been an Indy racing team led by a minister,” Marotti said in a press release preceding the race. “It may seem unusual that a pastor would lead a racing team, but I have been a racing fan since I was a young boy and it’s a prime missionary field…Now, as a pastor, I see the race as a place to reach out with the Gospel as well – and that is what my team is praying we can do!”

To read the original press release announcing Marotti’s entrance in the race, click HERE. To read the February 13 article on Marotti from The Christian Post, click HERE. To read CNN’s story, ‘No pastor faster,’ on Marotti, click HERE.