NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (NGROTS) driver Codie Rohrbaugh is asking the NASCAR community to show their support for an eight-year-old West Virginia native recovering from a near-fatal kayak accident five weeks ago.
On May 17, 2020, eight-year-old Joshua Shirk was kayaking with family in rural West Virginia.
While on the water, the kayak capsized and Shirk became trapped under the water in debris.
When family was finally able to pull him to safety, the young boy had no pulse. Quick work by medical workers at a local hospital were able to revive him but he remained in critical condition.
Since then, Shirk was transported to WVU hospital in Morganton, West Virginia where he has made vast improvements but still needs the love, prayer and support of many.
Within the past week, Shirk has been able to come off a breathing machine and has started intense physical rehabilitations.
Rohrbaugh’s primary partner Grant County Mulch has given up their space for Saturday afternoon’s Pocono Organics 150 to place pictures of Shirk asking those to join the CR7 Motorsports team in strength and the power of prayer.
“This is really important to me,” said Rohrbaugh. “I’ve been heartbroken for a couple weeks now and even though Joshua is making strides, he still has a long road to recovery. I am asking the NASCAR community to support him by offering their thoughts and prayers to his family. It really means a lot to me.”
Shirk’s family and friends have created a Facebook page (Facebook.com/FightingandBelieving) and slogan, “He’s Fighting, We’re Believing!”
Rohrbaugh will make his NGROTS debut at the 2.5-mile triangle on Saturday and he is fired up to race hard and bring national exposure to his mission.
“I have a young son, so as a parent I am absolutely gutted for Joshua’s parents. However, they have remained strong and upbeat and have done so because of the love and prayers shown to them from family, friends and strangers. I want the NASCAR community and race fans from across the country to do the same.
“Hopefully, we can have a good run on Saturday and give them some national television exposure too.”
After five races, Rohrbaugh is 17th in the championship standings, 47 points from 10th.
Following Pocono, the Statesville, N.C.-based team plans to return to NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series competition at Kentucky Speedway on Sat., Jul. 11, 2020.
CR7 Motorsports has 15 NGOTS starts to their credit with a career-best finish of third at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (February 2020). Additionally, the team owns another top-10 finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in October 2019. An 11th place qualifying effort at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (Oct. 2019) is the team’s best time trials effort to date.
In 20 career ARCA starts, Rohrbaugh has a best finish of seventh twice at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (July 2018 and Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (February 2019). He has qualified a career-best fourth on four different occasions most recently at Kansas Speedway (Oct. 2018).
Marketing partnership(s) opportunities are available for the No. 97 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet and No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet for the 2020 ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series seasons and beyond. Interested inquiries are encouraged to contact at [email protected] or 304.257.8783.
The Pocono Organics 150 (60 laps| 150 miles) is the sixth of 23 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 40-truck field will take the green flag shortly after 12:30 p.m. with live coverage on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).
CR7 Motorsports PR
