Special Motorsports Events - Ten Days Left To Vote In Trevor Bayne Paint Scheme Contest For JDRF

DEARBORN, Mich., June 21, 2011 – There are now only 10 days left to vote in the fourth-annual “JDRF Race Car Design Contest,” hosted by the Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

Voters from around the country are casting their ballots in the form of donations for their favorite design, while the young artists wait in the hopes they’ll see their work on NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie Trevor Bayne’s Ford Fusion as it races around Michigan International Speedway in August.

Fans are invited to vote at www.jdrf.org/ford, where designs from JDRF chapters have been posted for contention until voting ends at 5 p.m. ET on June 30, 2011. The public is invited to vote for their favorite car design by making a monetary donation to JDRF. The top five donation-earning designs will advance to the finals, when the winning design will be chosen by Bayne, the Wood Brothers, and FCSD representatives.

“I’m hoping we can get some kind of cool flames going on, or something cool going on,” Bayne said. “I know somebody’s got it in them. I know there’s a couple weeks left to vote. I’m going to have to go in there and vote on one that I like, too, to try to help us out a little bit.”

In four years, the contest, hosted by both NASCAR Sprint Cup and NHRA Full Throttle Series teams sponsored by FCSD, has raised nearly $200,000 for research toward better treatments and eventually a cure for type 1 diabetes.

The winning child and their parents will be invited to Dearborn, Mich. for the official unveiling of their paint scheme at Ford Motor Company World Headquarters with FCSD, Wood Brothers Racing and Bayne, before watching their car at MIS.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that strikes 15,000 children and 15,000 adults every year. There is currently no cure, and people with the disease must routinely monitor their blood sugar and take insulin to stay alive.

‘Fired Up for a Cure’ was the theme chosen by last year’s winner, eight-year-old Carson Luther of Wildwood, Mo. Luther raised more than $5,000 of the nearly $40,000 pledged in last year’s Design Your Own Race Car event. Luther and his family were special guests of FCSD and the Wood Brothers in Charlotte for the unveiling and watched their winning paint scheme race in the October NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Diabetes affects more Ford families than any other disease. Ford Motor Company has raised more than $35 million for JDRF since the grassroots campaign started in 1998.