NASCAR Honors National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Upcoming Race Weekend Features Multiple Industry Initiatives

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 12, 2011) — In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, NASCAR is "going pink" with concentrated efforts during this weekend’s activities at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway to build awareness and raise funds for breast cancer-aimed charitable organizations.

NASCAR will add pink accents to its NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series vehicles during the upcoming race weekend – which includes Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Bank of America 500 and Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage; and Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Smith’s 350.

Included among the many race weekend initiatives are:

·       Race cars and trucks will carry a NASCAR Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon logo on A-posts
·       NASCAR officials will wear pink lanyards and gloves in the garage area throughout the weekend
·       NASCAR officials’ fire suits will carry NASCAR Breast Cancer Awareness patches
·       NASCAR partner Mechanix Wear will provide pink gloves that will later be signed by drivers to auction off on the NASCAR Unites website (NASCAR.COM/Unites)

Coinciding with the at-track elements, the NASCAR Unites website (NASCAR.COM/Unites) will feature a number of opportunities for NASCAR fans to unite in support of kids who have been affected in some way by breast cancer through initiatives like the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® College Scholarship program. Each year, Susan G. Komen provides scholarships for up to $100,000 a year for four years to college-bound students who have lost a loved one to breast cancer or have been diagnosed themselves under the age of 25.

In 2008, The NASCAR Foundation funded a Komen college scholarship awarded to Neal Simon, who lost his mother – a single parent – when he was 11. Neal attended the University of Texas where his numerous community service achievements led to him being nominated by Komen for the inaugural Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award.

"Breast Cancer Awareness month is one of those unique opportunities in which the NASCAR industry and NASCAR fans rally together for such a special and important cause," said Sandy Marshall, executive director of The NASCAR Foundation. "Each year the program gets bigger, which means that awareness is growing across the board."

Industry efforts take center-stage during Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage race, which has a pink theme. Fans attending the race are encouraged to participate in a "pink out" – wearing pink to show their support of breast cancer awareness.

Dollar General 300 event tickets, the frontstretch grass, the start/finish line, and the official Toyota Camry pace car will all incorporate the pink motif for Friday’s race. To celebrate survival in the fight against breast cancer, dignitaries for the race will be Dollar General employees affected by the disease and serving as Honorary Race Director is 101-year-old Nanny Sue Neal, of Waxhaw, N.C., the oldest living survivor in North Carolina. In addition, a group of 300 survivors will be recognized in a special "ring of survivors" as part of pre-race ceremonies.

Ticket packages are also on sale by Charlotte Motor Speedway that include a frontstretch ticket, a pink event t-shirt and a donation to Komen and Speedway Children’s Charities.

A number of NASCAR Nationwide Series race teams will sport pink paint schemes and accents on cars, including the Turner Motorsports’ No. 32 Dollar General Chevrolet driven by Brian Vickers, the Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 2 Chevrolet driven by Elliott Sadler, and the MacDonald Motorsports No. 81 Daystar.com Dodge driven by Blake Koch.  Both Sadler’s and Koch’s mothers are survivors of breast cancer.

Several NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are also planning to run special pink paint schemes or accents during Saturday night’s race, including the Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driven by David Reutimann, which will feature a full pink color scheme.

Support for Breast Cancer Awareness has been a month-long initiative across the industry. Among those raising awareness was the Richard Childress Racing’s No. 29 Rheem Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick, which featured a special pink Rheem "Chasing the Cure" paint scheme at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway on Oct. 2. Chevrolet has also featured several pink pace cars leading up to the month of October to drive awareness and fund-raising in advance.