The “Desi9n to Drive” program from the Chase Elliott Basis is again for its eighth yr and will probably be highlighted at Atlanta Motor Speedway subsequent month.
Elliott will put on a firesuit and drive a NAPA No. 9 automotive designed by 11-year-old Gavyn Giansiracusa and 13-year-old Logano Lee, sufferers on the Youngsters’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Giansiracusa was identified with a mind tumor in 2022. His portion of the design is on the automotive and Elliott’s sneakers and exhibits his curiosity for music, fireworks and cake, in addition to a fighter jet as a shared ardour with Elliott for flying.
Lee was identified with Leukemia in 2023 and is now most cancers free. His portion of the design – on Elliott’s firesuit and helmet – options music, fireworks and cake in a crimson, white and blue theme.
Following the September 8 race, components of Elliott’s uniform will probably be supplied to race followers in a web-based sweepstakes fundraiser. A VIP race day meet and greet with Elliott will even be supplied. A few of the donations will profit Aflac Most cancers and Blood Issues Heart (of Youngsters’s Healthcare of Atlanta).
“The enjoyment for me has been having these children and their households out on the racetrack,” Elliott instructed RACER. “To convey half-hour or an hour of pleasure [to them] is an effective factor, and I’ve loved being part of that with them.”
Giansiracusa and Lee will probably be honorary members of Elliott’s staff at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“Yearly is slightly totally different,” Elliott mentioned of the expertise on the racetrack. “We’ve had children up to now that both they or their households adopted racing. The age vary has different, so it depends upon what their pursuits are on the time. However they’ve at all times genuinely actually loved the expertise, and we’ve tried to make that particular for them every year, and attempt to do it higher every year, too.”
NAPA could have its title on Elliott’s automotive for the Atlanta race however provides up its paint scheme for this system. Elliott is concerned within the course of, choosing the design winners after the submissions have been narrowed down.
“It’s so laborious as a result of they’re all good and it doesn’t matter what it appears to be like like, it’s all going to look cool on the automotive,” Ellott mentioned. “However Gavyn and Logano this yr did a superb job, and centered this yr’s theme round celebration for one attempting to beat a tumor and the opposite most cancers. It’s simply enjoyable to be part of and see their imaginations come to life and see it on a automotive. They’ve been by so much and hopefully are nearing the tip of that highway.”
During the last seven years, this system has raised over $400,000 for Youngsters’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The marketing campaign not solely coincides with Childhood Most cancers and Sickle Cell Illness Consciousness month (September), however the opening of a brand new state-of-the-art pediatric hospital in Atlanta that will probably be one of many largest youngsters’s hospitals within the nation.
“We’ve had loads of nice fan engagement that has contributed, loads of partnership matching that has gone between our companions and my private associates,” Elliott mentioned. “We need to maintain that rising and we now have each intention to take action, and hopefully this yr will probably be as large as we’ve ever finished it. We’re doing gadgets slightly totally different this yr with the web sweepstakes and all the things will probably be up for grabs. So, mainly all the things I’m carrying other than the automotive.
“The automotive has come again in items so much. It looks like each time we do that, I crash. With Atlanta being a superspeedway, I’d say the percentages are excessive of that once more, too. So, we’ll see. However actually, the remainder of it folks can become involved with by my web site.”
