Brumos 250 Race Report

Bill Brooks is Chairman of the Foundation's Racing4Research Steering Committee. In this excerpt he recaps his recent weekend at Daytona International Speedway supporting the R4R program. To read Bill's full report, visit www.ctf.org.

This past weekend we attended the Daytona International Speedway for the NASCAR Subway Jalapeno 250 Nationwide Series race, the Brumos Porsche 250 Grand-Am Rolex Series race and the NASCAR Coke Zero 400. The event was a huge success for the Racing4Research program and the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

On Friday, we had a wonderful meet and greet with the Farnbacher Loles team around the car. The drivers - Ron Yarab, a physician who treats NF patients and Daniel Graeff, a gourmet Italian foods company entrepreneur, crew chief Frank Rescinti, and pit crew were all so gracious in spending valuable time with our CTF families- Jim, Shelley and Sam Couillard of Ocala, FL and my family, including Lilly Ann [Bill's daughter and NF Hero]. It was touching to watch Lilly Ann and Sam interact with the team, and especially to watch Daniel and Ron both spend so much time down on their knees at the kids’ level, talking to them, showing them the car, putting them in it, helping them steer and to walk alongside them to the car inspection. Both told the kids “you are our inspiration”. Wow, that one still gets me.

Then we were lucky to also have a meet and greet with NASCAR Nationwide driver Ken Butler III of Butler Brothers Racing and members of the Aaron’s team. Ken, a rookie in the series, is an avid supporter of the Foundation stemming from the ongoing struggles of his childhood family friend Drew Leathers who is bravely battling schwannomatosis, the rarest form of NF. He too was great with the CTF kids and families, and stayed around to sign autographs on his driver card and distribute Aaron’s hats.

The words, “thank you” are terribly insufficient to express my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who made this happen this past weekend. It was a great diversion from the daily challenges that NF families endure and I know the kids had an exciting time.

Until we succeed in finding a cure and putting our Foundation “out of business”, we’ll keep working hard every day for our children to have a brighter hope for a treatment or a cure to this devastating disease. We are making meaningful progress each year through our research grants and Drug Discovery Initiative! When the cure does come someday, we will want to come back to Daytona and go back on Sprint Vision to thank you in front of all of your fans at the track.