Ford Motor Company’s relationship with JDRF – the leading global funder of T1D research – spans three decades. In 2008, the Ford Customer Service Division and its Motorcraft and Quick Lane Tire and Auto Centers brands joined the effort with the Race Car Design Contest.

Wood Brothers Racing, in its 65th year of NASCAR completion and owners of the iconic No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion stock car driven by up-and-coming first-year driver Ryan Blaney, are again participating in the JDRF Race Car Design Contest. Team co-owner Eddie Wood looks forward to JDRF weekend at the famous Indiana racing oval.

“We couldn’t be more delighted to once again be part of Motorcraft and Quick Lane’s Race Car Design Contest for JDRF,” Wood said. “JDRF is helping these kids deal with having type 1 diabetes and at the same time are trying to find a cure. We’re happy to be doing our part.”

In seven years, the race car design contest has raised more than $400,000 to fund JDRF research, the only organization with a strategic plan to end T1D.

“JDRF is extremely grateful for the generous support from Ford Motor Company,” said Derek Rapp, JDRF president and CEO. “We are excited about the eighth-consecutive Motorcraft and Quick Lane’s Race Car Design contest that brings such awareness for type 1diabetes. JDRF’s relationship with Ford spans three decades and we are inspired by the commitment and dedication of all those involved to help raise funds for this disease.”

Children ages 5-18 with T1D are eligible to participate. Visit Fordracecar.jdrf.org to download entry forms and official rules. Entrants will be matched to a JDRF chapter local to their area to help in the process.

Every child who enters raises money for JDRF by inviting their friends and family to “vote” through donations toward research that will help create a world without T1D.
“We are proud to use our motorsports platform to increase awareness of T1D and to help raise funds for its eventual cure,” said Mary Lou Quesnell, Marketing Director, FCSD.

In 2014, Carson Magee, 11, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, raised $3,735 in the contest that gave him the racing experience of a lifetime. Magee, a very active advocate for JDRF, was diagnosed with T1D at age 7.

T1D is a disease in which the body’s pancreas stops producing enough insulin, a hormone that is needed to turn food into energy. People with T1D must monitor their blood sugar levels and administer insulin via shots or an insulin pump, multiple times every day. Even vigilant management does not ward against T1D complications such as heart attack, stroke, blindness and amputation. JDRF is the largest charitable funder of T1D research, focused on supporting key therapies that hold significant promise in turning Type One into Type None.

-- Press release courtesy of the Wood Brothers