NASCAR WCUP: Dale Jr. Donates to Help Children

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

September 22, 2001

JR. Motorsports, a company owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr, driver of the Budweiser No. 8 Winston Cup car, will donate $100 for every lap that he completes in Sunday's MBNA 400 race at Dover Downs Speedway in Dover, Delaware. With a race length of 400 laps, the per-lap donation could reach $40,000 for the Speedway Children's Charities. The money will then be directed to help the children of those killed or injured in the recent terrorist attacks in the United States.

Earnhardt Jr. will donate an additional $10,000 to the charity if his Budweiser team is able to complete a pit stop in less than 14 seconds during Sunday's race, which brings the total donation to a potential $50,000. Earnhardt Jr. will start the race from the third position, a career-best Winston Cup start at Dover.

"My sister Kelley [who now manages JR. Motorsports] and I wanted to do something," said Earnhardt Jr. "You feel helpless watching all of the disaster coverage on television, so we decided the best thing we could do was donate to a cause that could really help the children that were impacted by the terrorist attacks. It's not much, but we wanted to do something that would do some good."

Anheuser-Busch Also Helps Relief Effort

Anheuser-Busch, brewer of Budweiser for 125 years, has also been very active in helping the recovery efforts from last week’s terrorist attacks. Here are a few of the relief-related programs in place at A-B:

--- The Anheuser-Busch Foundation has donated $1 million to the American Red Cross in Greater New York for relief efforts to aid victims in the NY metropolitan area.

--- Donated almost 10,000 cases of canned water to aid the victims and rescue workers in New York City (the Salvation Army and American Red Cross are distributing the water);

--- Anheuser-Busch has encouraged employees to donate blood at Red Cross facilities across the country;

--- Also, Anheuser-Busch is currently involved in efforts to generate millions of dollars through company and wholesaler contributions to assist with the rescue efforts. 

Text provided by Jade Gurss

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