Cancer is a disease that affects the lives of thousands of Americans, and Racing for Cancer’s founder Tom Vossman is helping raise awareness of their fight by embarking on a 28-day, 28,000-mile coast-to-coast trip that included a stop Tuesday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Vossman departed from Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 25 and will continue to his final destination of St. Petersburg, Fla., with a target date of March 27 that is in conjunction with the IndyCar Series season-opening event in that city.
Vossman also is riding to help raise funds for its newest program, Cancer Fighter of the Race, which provides children and their families battling cancer with the opportunity to enjoy a VIP experience at IndyCar Series events. Racing for Cancer is asking that fans donate one penny for every mile, which translate to $28. Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage, a cancer survivor, answered the call by presenting a check for $28 to Vossman before the two hit the track for a ceremonial lap around the 1.5-mile speedway.
“This is the best one-and-a-half miles I’ve done so far," Vossman said following his lap. “We started the charity in July of 2010, so we’re about eight months old. This idea came up in January and to try and really kick start the 2011 season, we decided to go on this ride. At any given point in time there’s 28 million people fighting cancer, so it just happened that Long Beach to St. Pete, if you Google it, it’s about 28 hundred miles, and so the idea kind of formed because of that.”
Racing for Cancer has a direct tie to the IndyCar Series because it was founded following the death of Lydia Hunter-Reay, mother of series driver Ryan Hunter-Reay. Its mission is to help unite race fans around the world to help build awareness in the global fight against cancer.
Fans wanting to make a donation to Racing for Cancer can do so by visiting www.racingforcancer.org.