and Host Special Guests at 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona
Team Leverages Partnerships with eBay Motors and Quicken Loans to Raise Awareness and Funds for Children’s Tumor Foundation
This weekend’s 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona is a milestone race that will be used for a very worthwhile cause by the No. 4 eBay Motors/Children’s Tumor Foundation/Racing4Research Porsche GT3 team that will host more than 250 guests from the Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) while raising awareness and funding for the fight against neurofibromatosis (NF).
The No. 4 eBay Motors/Children's Tumor Foundation/Racing4Research Porsche is piloted by an all-star driver lineup that includes road racing ace Ryan Eversley, sports car champion and broadcast personality Justin Bell, and CTF/Racing4Research program founding drivers Daniel Graeff and Ron Yarab. The foursome returns to the track for the 50th Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 26 – 29, with the double support of leading online companies eBay Motors and Quicken Loans Inc. The Rolex 24 Racing4Research program has become the annual kickoff event for CTF fundraising each year and donations can be made at www.racing4research.org.
“Competing and winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona is like climbing Mount Everest, except there are 50 guys behind you who will gladly push you off the next ledge for that slight advantage,” Yarab said. “To be able to participate in the iconic 50th Anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona is an honor. To be on track and compete with the world’s greatest road racers is mind-boggling, and to win it would be legendary.”
Graeff surveyed the competition during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test earlier this month. Setting some of his personal best laps, Graeff recognizes the company he is keeping during this weekend’s golden anniversary race. The No. 4 eBay Motors/Racing4Research car is being prepared by top Porsche entrants Magnus Racing.
“I’ve never seen a field like this,” Graeff said. “The field is blanketed with the best sports car drivers in the world, the best race car drivers in the world, guys from Formula 1, NASCAR, sports cars in every country in the world. This is it. You want to match wits and abilities with the best, this is the moment.”
The No. 4 eBay Motors/Racing4Research campaign will also be featured later this year in a second season episode of The World’s Fastest Car Show Hosted by Justin Bell, a unique web, mobile and app-accessible show available only at eBay Motors and on eBay Mobile. Bell will also be giving live reports during SPEED’s broadcast of the Rolex 24 from inside the No. 4 Porsche during his driving stints.
Part of the attraction for both eBay Motors and Quicken Loans to the No. 4 eBay/Racing4Research team is a live pitside webcast that Magnus Racing will conduct during the entire Rolex 24 race and available through the eBay World’s Fastest Car Show website, and the eBay Motors mobile app, which can be downloaded at http://mobile.ebay.com. Viewers can watch and listen to the challenges that the teams go through during the twice-around-the-clock classic and get on-the-scene reports from Bell and the other team drivers.
“I’m looking forward to everything at the race from the driving, to reporting and seeing the kids,” Bell said. “I like entertaining. I like racing, it’s very pure. The charity element is going to be emotionally overwhelming. When we have all the children here for the race, it’s going to be extraordinary, a very powerful thing and they do raise a lot of money.”
Eversley, now in his second year with CTF, sees the race as an opportunity to use his passion of racing to create a memorable experience for the team’s guests this weekend.
“I love representing CTF and all the kids and families, I can’t wait to see them,” Eversley said. “When I started working with CTF it was eye-opening and rewarding. To be able to give these kids a weekend of a good time, or give lasting memories that they’ll always carry with them is something that you can’t put a price on, so that’s why we’re doing it.”The Rolex 24 At Daytona weekend begins tomorrow with opening practice and qualifying. Friday features final practice before Saturday’s race start at 3:30 p.m. local time.
NoteworthyAmong the 250 Children’s Tumor Foundation/Racing4Research guests this weekend is Nick Gilbert, the 2012 Children’s Tumor Foundation Ambassador. “I am excited to be this year’s Children’s Tumor Foundation Ambassador,” Gilbert said. “I am proud that I can contribute and help the fight to develop a cure for NF. I hope my positive attitude can be an example for other kids who were born with this condition. Attitude is more than just a good thing to walk around with every day. I believe that having a great outlook actually helps fight off some of the problems that NF can cause kids like me.”
About the Children's Tumor Foundation and Racing4ResearchDeveloped by the Children’s Tumor Foundation, the Racing4Research (R4R) program utilizes competitive, professional auto racing as a vehicle to increase awareness of neurofibromatosis and raise funds for research through corporate sponsorship, personal donations, and individual fundraising by NF Heroes: children and adults from around the country who live with neurofibromatosis. NF affects one in every 3,000 children, more than cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Huntington’s disease combined, and can lead to a wide variety of complications, including blindness, bone abnormalities, cancer, deafness, disfigurement, learning disabilities and excruciating and disabling pain. The Racing4Research program offers children and families living with the disorder a uniquely empowering weekend, and has raised over $1.5 million dollars since its inception five years ago. Donations can be made at www.racing4research.org.
