Labonte Donates: Bobby Labonte honorary chairman of the Cody Unser First Step Foundation, has sent some valuable racing memorabilia to be auctioned Aug. 6 at the 5-star Hyatt Tamaya Resort and Spa in the high desert north of Albuquerque. Labonte sent an original uniform and a helmet, each autographed, from his championship season in the Winston Cup series to the Fiesta auction. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the First Step Foundation’s programs to generate public awareness, medical cooperation and research for Transverse Myelitis, also know as TM. Cody Unser, 14 and going into her freshman year of high school in Albuquerque, became paralyzed from the chest down in February 1999 when the rare condition TM attacked and disabled part of her spinal cord leaving her in a wheel chair. Since forming her foundation in the fall of 1999 with money donated by Labonte, Cody has become a nationally recognized figure in TM and other issues relating to paralysis with her Cody Unser First Step Foundation. Labonte, who filled in for Cody’s father Al Unser Jr., in the 1999 International Race of Champions series, sent his $60,000 IROC winnings to help Cody. Labonte has been the foundation’s honorary chairman since it began. The Cody Unser Celebrity Golf Fiesta is Monday, Aug. 6, and Tuesday, Aug. 7, at the new championship caliber Twin Warriors Golf Course at the recently completed Hyatt Tamaya, located on the Santa Ana Pueblo reservation between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. For more Golf Fiesta information, see CodysFirstStep.org(Camp and Assoc PR)(7-29-2001)
