SCCA: Racing heightens awareness and reunites daughter with father

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

July 21, 2001

ENGLEWOOD, Colo-Tori Wollingur was reunited with her father yesterday, less than a month after her picture was displayed on the dashboard of the No. 08 Grand Sport Racing Corvette C5 driven by Don Sak in the SCCA Pro Racing Speedvision World Challenge GT Championship. The race, held at Detroit, June 17, allowed Don's racecar to receive the attention of many local and national media outlets. Publicity from the World Challenge event resulted in new leads, which ultimately brought Tori to her father.

Don Sak Motorsports, in conjunction with Valvoline, initiated the program with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by featuring the photographs of missing children on all their racing vehicles for the remainder of the 2001 season.

Don's son Bobby, a series rookie in the Speedvision World Challenge GT Championship, joined his father's effort by featuring a missing child on the No. 04 Grand Sport Racing Corvette C5. Both drivers decided to donate the hood and dashboard space, considered the most prime sponsorship positioning on a racecar, in order to assist law enforcement officials and child abduction search and return organizations.

"We couldn't be happier," said Bobby Sak. "We had high hopes that this program would help these children, but to achieve real results in such a short time is better than anyone could have imagined. It is such a good feeling to know that were not just showcasing cars, going fast and having fun. Were making a difference and that makes it all worthwhile."

Don, now a grandfather, can appreciate the program's results and realizes the importance of family.

"You really don't know how important the issue is until you personalize it," said Don Sak. "I wasn't aware of the missing children issue until one day I began to think about my grandchild and what I would do if he ever came up missing."

At this weekend's Speedvision World Challenge Round Six event at Sears Point Raceway, the Saks will feature yet another child in hopes that they will be reunited with their family. Amber Jean Swartz-Garcia has been missing since June 3, 1988. Amber's image will blanket Don's SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup Camaro and Bobby's World Challenge Corvette.

Text provided by Kelby C. Krauss

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.