Welcome to RacingAwareness.com

RacingAwareness.com Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the lives of children and their families coping with the illness or injury of the child. RA strives to achieve this through the unique niche centered around auto racing. RA engages families in visits to the race track, meet and greets with drivers, and the opportunity to divert their attention from the health care process to share time together and experience their favorite sport or possibly a brand new experience.

RA and its team of volunteers will again join forces with the STAR 105.7 FM radiothon, in Grand Rapids, in support of the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. RacingAwareness.com will join Meijer and Wendy’s as a day sponsor of the three day fundraiser scheduled for December 14, 15 and 16. RA will host the final day, Friday the 16th. Co-founder Norm Jelsma said “This is a natural fit for us. This is where it all started two years ago.” RA will be presenting a check to morning show hosts Tommy and Brook on behalf of HDVCH. RA donated $35,000 to HDVCH in 2010. More details to come including how you can be involved on our facebook page – search racingawareness.com supporting Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. Please plan to support HDVCH by contacting an RA volunteer manning the phone banks on the 16th. Be sure to listen to the holiday music, right now on STAR 105.7 FM.

November 4, 2011
RacingAwareness.com (a Michigan based 501 C3 nonprofit organization) is proud to announce a charitable donation of $35,000 to the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital of West Michigan. The 2011 donation matches that of 2010 bringing the two-year total to $70,000. RA would like to thank all of our great partners and loyal supporters. RacingAwareness.com was launched in April 2010 in an effort to help sick and injured children. Currently our sights are set on 2012 with exciting announcements to come.

Racing Awareness and RacingAwareness.com, a successful year in review:

After donating $35,000 to the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in 2010 thus completing its first full year of operation as a Michigan based non-profit organization, RacingAwareness.com (501 C3) and Racing Awareness quickly turned their attention to a new two-car race team that would compete at the Berlin Raceway in Marne Michigan. Racing Awareness’ intent was to continue to promote RacingAwareness.com and provide an ongoing, interactive and social diversion for the sick and injured children served by HDVCH. While the snow continued to fly in west Michigan, the team named veteran short-track driver Dave Lake as the team’s Modified Driver, then added NASCAR driver and hometown favorite Johnny Benson Jr. to wheel the team’s new Super Late.

By April the cars had already made strong showings, with Lake scoring a win in a class he never competed in prior. In May, JB made a stop at HDVCH to visit with the kids and families of the new facility. RA distributed race tickets to young patients as well for the first of three scheduled HDVCH nights at Berlin.

As summer time rolled around, so did the mid-week Rowdy 251, named for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch, who was in town to race against the best Super Late drivers in the mid-west. Kyle would claim the victory but he did so by just a couple of car lengths over Benson who finished runner-up.

More kids from HDVCH were in attendance during the second children’s hospital night in mid July. The great RA partners would also see the track together on a special night when Brian Campbell, subbing for Benson, would score RA’s first Super Late win. Immediately upon driving into Victory Lane, Brian climbed from the car and dedicated the first Super Late trophy to a dad whose daughter was to have been a special guest of the team that night but was unable to attend due to her battle with Leukemia.

The dog days of summer saw things really heat up on the race track. Johnny Benson Jr. got his first win in the red and white 21L Super Late at the Kalamazoo Speedway. The familiar paint scheme was a throwback design as the car was in 1993, when JB won the American Speed Association (ASA) championship. Dave was also winning in 97L. Lake began a string of feature wins and slowly began to pull away from the field in the points standing.

The end of August saw the final HDVCH night at the track. Giant inflatable bounce toys greeted the kids as they arrived. RA, as they had done previously, donated two children’s bikes to kids in attendance. The RA volunteers conducted 50/50 raffles and sold the RA team apparel. The cars were winning, and the team was making money for the hospital.

As the 2011 season came to a close, it did so making history. Dave Lake won the Modified championship and in doing so became the first driver to ever win three championships in three different divisions at a track that celebrated its 61st anniversary earlier this year. Benson was also having success again scoring another runner-up finish in his final event for 2011 in the 21L.

Off the track, NFL All-Pro, and former Detroit Lion Lomas Brown served as the special guest at the 2nd Annual RA Charity Golf Outing. The event was a complete sellout for the second year in a row with more than 100 players taking part. Canadian Tour Pro Andy Matthews of Grand Rapids was also on hand to assist in the activities. The third annual RA charity golf outing is scheduled for Monday September 17, 2012, again at Thousand Oaks Golf Club.

The year long success can be credited to the numerous volunteers that make it all possible. The drivers and the crews are not paid professionals. The volunteers that work away from the cars donate their time as well. Everyone associated with Racing Awareness and RacingAwareness.com participates with passion due to their love of the kids at HDVCH. Without the selfless support of the race teams and the volunteers, RA would be just a name. But thanks to them and the thousands of supporting fans in the West Michigan area, RA is so much more.

The 2011 on-track performance equated to 9-total feature wins between the two cars and a history making Modified championship for Dave Lake. Today, RA is closing in on $100,000 in donations to the hospital during its first two years. More than 4,000 race day tickets have been distributed to families, staff and patients of HDVCH providing all with a break from the challenges they face. For all of this … we are grateful.

Breaking news and updates on Facebook – search racingawareness.com supporting Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.

December 16, 2010
One full year after the idea of giving back originated; the Racingawareness.com Foundation presented a check to the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital for $35,000.00. Lexi Derosha, Logan Breuker and Logan Muyskens, the three kids that have been the inspiration behind the idea presented the check to STAR 105.7 morning show hosts Tommy and Brook as they hosted their 11th annual Think Outside Yourself Radiothon benefiting HDVCH.