One young man wants to tell the entire NASCAR community that hes fired up to find a cure for type 1 diabetes ‘Â and he plans on using the paint scheme on the #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion running this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway to get the point across to millions of fans nationwide. Carson Luther, an eight-year-old resident of Wildwood, MO, was selected as the winning designer of the Ford Customer Service Divisions (FCSD) NASCAR Design Contest to Support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). His design, entitled ‘JDRF ‘Â Fired Up for A Cure’Â was officially unveiled for the first time today at the Wood Brothers Racing shop today, with Luther and his family on hand. ‘I wanted fire and flames on my car, and thought the blue would make the flames stand out,’Â said Carson Luther. ‘I want a cure for diabetes more than anything, even all the LEGOs in the world.’Â For the past two years JDRF children have helped design the paint scheme featured on the NHRA Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang Nitro Funny Car, driven by Bob Tasca III. This year, in honor of the Wood Brothers celebrating 60 years of racing Ford products in NASCAR, FCSD has decided to bring the successful contest over to the legendary race team. The Luther family, along with Wood Brothers Racing, Bill Elliott, driver of the #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion and representatives from FCSD, were on hand for the unveiling today, Carson and his family will attend their first NASCAR race weekend and watch the JDRF-themed race car qualify for the Bank of America 500. ‘This is my first NASCAR race,’Â said Luther. ‘My Mom, Grandma, Uncle and sisters are here with me in Charlotte and were really excited to see my design on the race car this weekend.’Â Luther raised $5,341 for JDRF with his design. That number, added to the money raised by the designs that were submitted, brought the total for the contest to $33,391 for research for Type 1 diabetes, and nearly $150,000 in donations the past three years.
Each design was featured on www.jdrf.org/ford from July 6 to September 3, a total of 60 days in honor of Wood Brothers Racings 60-year anniversary of racing Ford products in NASCAR. During that time, the public was invited to vote for their favorite car design by making a monetary donation to JDRF. The top five donation-earning designs were narrowed down to one by a panel of judges from Ford Motor Company. Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has awarded more than $1.3 billion to worldwide diabetes research, including more than $107 million last year. For more information, call 1-800-533-CURE (1-800-533-2873) or visit www.jdrf.org.(Wood Brothers Racing), see images of the scheme on my #21 Team Schemes page.(10-13-2010)
