Austin Hatcher Foundation Schedules Full Slate of Activities During Rolex 24 At DAYTONA Week
- Slate Begins With Diversionary Therapy Visit to Speediatrics Children’s Unit
- Spirit of Daytona Sports Car Drivers to Participate in Hospital Visit
- Five Fundraising Auctions During Event Weekend
- Austin Hatcher Foundation 2017 Humanitarian Award to be Announced Saturday
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Jan. 23, 2018) – Another motorsports season means a fast start to a new year for the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer, with Daytona International Speedway – “The World Center of Racing” – as a high-profile backdrop amid the excitement of the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona sports car endurance classic.
The Rolex 24 is the first race of 2018 for the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), North America’s premier sports car sanctioning body. The Austin Hatcher Foundation is an official “Proud Charity” of IMSA.
The foundation has scheduled a number of activities for this week, with the goals of raising funds and increasing awareness about its mission to erase the effects of pediatric cancer on patients and their family members.
“There’s no better way to start our 2018 efforts than with a variety of events around the Rolex 24 At DAYTONA,” said Austin Hatcher Foundation President Amy Jo Osborn.
First up on the full state is a Wednesday morning visit by the foundation to the Speediatrics children’s unit at Halifax Health Medical Center. Joining foundation staff will be Spirit of Daytona drivers Eddie Cheever III and Tristan Vautier. Speediatrics is a racing-themed unit, a perfect fit for the foundation’s afternoon of “Diversionary Therapy” that will include Cheever and Vautier preparing and racing miniature Pinewood Derby race cars with young patients. IMSA drivers regularly join the foundation for Diversionary Therapy visits throughout the United States, in IMSA race markets. Diversionary Therapy is designed to give children and families a respite from the day-to-day challenges of the battle against cancer, with a day of motorsports-themed fun.
The foundation also is partnering this week with Cadillac, BMW, Porsche, Spirit of Daytona and Audi – plus acclaimed motorsports artists Bill Patterson and Roger Warrick, two longtime supporters of foundation efforts – for fundraising auctions. Here’s the rundown of those auctions:
- Friday night, during a Cadillac event at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (located in the speedway’s Ticket and Tours building), a Patterson painting will be auctioned.
- Patterson works will also be auctioned at two Saturday events – 11:15 a.m. at the Porsche Corral and 5:30 p.m. at the Audi Corral.
- Also Saturday, at 11:45, the Spirit of Daytona team will host an auction of car parts and other racing memorabilia at the team transporter.
- Lastly Saturday at the BMW Hospitality area, Warrick will prepare a work to be auctioned at 5:30 p.m.
The busy week also will include a Saturday announcement of the 2017 Austin Hatcher Foundation Humanitarian Award winner.
Austin Hatcher Foundation at The Rolex 24
“Support from our partners will truly be on display this week,” Osborn said, “in the process putting the foundation on display, at one of the world’s biggest motorsports happenings. We could not ask for a better ‘jump start’ to 2018.”
