An Extreme Bus Makeover is in the near future for Michigan International Speedway race fan Bill Brown, but only because of his girlfriend’s flower shop in his town of Cassopolis, Mich.
Brown was bidding on the bus makeover before his home computer went down just days before the auction was over. He was the leading bidder at that point.
“A friend was monitoring the auction the day it was over and said someone had outbid me. I immediately went to my girlfriends flower shop and made a couple of more bids at the end, which turned out to be winning one,” Brown said. “Thanks goodness she had the computer at her shop because I wanted to win this bus makeover really bad!”
The $1,600 winning bid by Brown will benefit the speedway’s non-profit arm, MIS Cares. MIS Cares has donated over $50,000 over the past two years to various charity and non-profit organizations.
“We appreciate Mr. Brown’s $1,600 bid to win the Extreme Bus Makeover and in turn support MIS Cares,” MIS Director of Government and Community Affairs Alisha Cottrell said. “We have had a lot of fun with these bus makeovers in the past two years and the money raised from this will be given to good causes during our annual MIS Cares Christmas holiday luncheon in December.”
Brown, an MIS infield camper for the past 10 years, saw the previous bus makeovers the MIS maintenance department did over the past two years for Maurice “Moe” Clark (2009) and Tom “Woolfy” Wolfram and Mike Smith (2010).
His bus, a 1999 International Diesel, still has its yellow school bus look after he purchased it a few years ago from a retiree in South Bend, Ind. After adding a deck, bunkbeds and bathroom since he purchased it, the bus is now in need of a makeover to the outside of it.
“It still has the original school bus yellow on the outside, which isn’t all that pretty to look at,” Brown said. “We have many people that attend the June and August races with us who are all excited that we are getting this makeover done. A big reason why we participated in the auction is that the money goes to a good cause like MIS Cares and we will proudly drive the bus into the infield next June with a new and improved look.”
Brown will meet with MIS staff in January 2012 to mutually agree upon a design that will be a fabulous transition. The bus will be delivered to MIS at that time and will be stored, made over and unveiled to Brown by April 15, 2012.
“I can’t wait to see what it looks like. If the previous two makeovers are any indication of what it will be, I can’t wait for April to get here!” Brown said.
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