As the father of an under two-year old child who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, this story hits home for me. Alex Bowman will be raising awareness for CF research when he straps into his No. 88 Axalta/CARSTAR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Watkins Glen International on August 4th.
A special contest will be held for people afflicted by the disease or family members or friends who are affected by all that CF brings. The contest was created by CARSTAR, which according to a press release has been a supporter of Cystic Fibrosis for more than 20 years, after working with numerous Cystic Fibrosis chapters across the United States and Canada.
The contest has been named the “Accelerate the Cure” helmet contest.
“It’s really neat, because it says the drawing should highlight what accelerating a cure for cystic fibrosis would mean to you,” Bowman said. “A lot of them, they’re just kids, and they want to live a normal life. It just says ‘normal life’ in a trophy. It seems like that’s all he wants. That’s really special and hopefully we can do our part to try to make that happen.”
The contest will be live through July 5th and the winner will be selected by Hendrick Motorsports, Axalta, CARSTAR, Cystic Fibrosis Canada and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
“What CARSTAR is doing by building awareness in the need for a cystic fibrosis cure is amazing,” Bowman said. “I’m excited to see the winning design of the ‘Accelerate the Cure’ contest and will be honored to wear that helmet at Watkins Glen.”
In addition to having their design protect Bowman’s head during the race, the winner of the contest will also get the VIP treatment for the Watkins Glen race as well.
To enter the contest, click here.
Bowman and his team also participated in a car wash to raise awareness for Cystic Fibrosis after the announcement of the helmet design contest.
The Arizona native drives one of the most iconic cars in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, as it is the car that the sport’s Most Popular Driver — Dale Earnhardt Jr. — drove from 2008 until his retirement at the end of the 2017 season. Bowman has not won a race in his young NASCAR Cup Series career yet, but he did score three-consecutive second place finishes earlier this season.
This is a huge stage to bring awareness for Cystic Fibrosis, and it gives parents of Cystic Fibrosis kids — like my wife and I — hope that someday there will be a cure found.
