Cheerios and RCR Unveil USO Paint Scheme – In an afternoon press conference held in the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Center, officials from General Mills and Richard Childress Racing unveiled a special new paint scheme featuring Cheerios brand cereal and the United Service Organizations (USO). The new car will race at the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Phoenix. It will honor the USO and give race fans the opportunity to send messages of support to the families of U.S. servicemen and women through the Cheer Campaign.
“We are honored to be a part of this with the USO,” said Erin Pisca, integrated communications manager for Cheerios. “We will have Cheer Cards for fans to fill out. We are honored to be a part of this with Clint Bowyer and Richard Childress Racing. We at Cheerios think it is really important to send support to the families of our military and those serving our nation. We want to thank the USO for allowing us to partner with them to do this.”
“We would like to thank Cheerios and Richard Childress and Clint [Bowyer] for doing this,” said Frank Thorp, senior vice president of communications and marketing for the USO. “We are proud to be partnering with them. There are more than 1.4 million people serving in the Armed Forces, and that affects about 2.4 million family members. They serve just like their family members do. Now fans have the opportunity to send a Cheer Card to family members, and that is invaluable to them. To have an American icon like Cheerios do that – and through Richard Childress Racing – is great.”
“I think this is very cool,” said Childress. “Anytime you can do anything for our military…They are the reason we get to do what we do. And for General Mills, Cheerios and the USO to put this program together, our race fans are probably the most patriotic fans in any form of sport. For us to have this car and send these postcards out to families, I’m proud to be a part of it.”
“I just echo everything that Richard said,” said Bowyer. “To be a part of this and get the opportunity is exciting. This is something where everybody jumped on board. This is a neat way for Cheerios to help our servicemen.”
Race fans can send a Cheer Card during this weekend’s activities at Charlotte Motor Speedway by stopping by the Cheerios display in the speedway’s new Fan Zone. Cheerios will also be hosting 100 troops stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina and their families during Saturday night’s Bank of America 500. Cheerios will donate $1 from each card sent to the USO and to date the company has already donated $150,000.
Newman Tickled Pink – Ryan Newman, on how he feels about night racing: “Tickles me pink. No, really, I love night racing. The cars look faster, you can see the sparks, it’s not 120 degrees in the grandstands. I’ve never seen anybody who said, ‘Man, I hate night racing.’”
Speaking of Pink – Fans are encouraged to wear pink for the Friday night Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage at Charlotte Motor Speedway as the speedway tries to “pink out” the night in honor of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Several ticket packages are available for fans in conjunction with the breast cancer awareness program and a portion of the proceeds from each will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Speedway Children’s Charities.
Brian Vickers’ No. 32 Dollar General machine – typically bathed in bright yellow – will be wrapped in pink for the Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage.
Additionally, 300 people will be recognized in a special “ring of [breast cancer] survivors” during pre-race ceremonies.
Piecing it all Together – Jeremy Clements Racing took a grassroots approach to sponsorship for this weekend’s Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Well, grassroots, but with a techie-modern edge.
The race team, a low-budget group based in Spartanburg, S.C., turned to its website, Facebook and Twitter to raise money for this weekend’s “Charlotte Fan Car.” Fans could donate $5 to $300; the bigger the donation, the bigger name on the hood. The team raised more than $2,300 from 100 fans for this weekend’s effort and is still looking for sponsors for the rest of the season.
PRN Live Stream – Performance Racing Network (PRN) will live stream action on www.goprn.com from tonight’s Bojangles’ Pole Night qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500. Qualifying begins at 7:10 p.m.
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