Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow will serve as the grand marshal of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst on Sunday, May 1 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
Tebow played quarterback for the University of Florida from 2006-09, winning the Heisman as the best player in the country in 2007. He also was part of two national championship-winning teams for the Gators before the Denver Broncos selected him in the first round, 25th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft.
After his NFL career ended, Tebow became an on-air analyst for ESPN. He also is a New York Times best-selling author and a philanthropist through his work with the Tim Tebow Foundation.
Tebow will give the command to start engines for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on the natural terrain road course at Barber. Live coverage of the race starts at 12:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, May 1 on NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Johnson, Carvana to help charities: Jimmie Johnson and his primary sponsor, Carvana, are teaming up to raise funds for three charities during Johnson’s second season with Chip Ganassi Racing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
The Driven to Give Back initiative will collaborate with three charity organizations – TechForce Foundation, The American Legion and Athena Racing – to co-design the livery of Johnson’s No. 48 Honda at selected races.
Fans can sign up at carvana.com/driven to be the first to see the new paint scheme before it’s on track. When a fan visits the site to see the livery, Carvana will donate $1 to the focus charity of that event. Each charity partner also will be at the Carvana Racing Fan Zone during their selected race to educate racing fans about their mission.”
TechForce Foundation champions students in the transportation technician industry steering them through technical education and careers with scholarships, mentorship and workforce development opportunities. The Carvana new livery design will be showcased at Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 10.
The American Legion is the nation’s largest veterans service organization aimed at providing life-changing assistance and guidance for veterans, military personnel, their families and communities. The Carvana new livery design will be showcased at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on July 3.
Athena Racing trains girls in middle school and high school with the essential skills and career development to put them in the driver’s seat of their future STEM career – in engineering, design, fabrication and business – related to the automotive, motorsports and transportation industries. The Carvana new livery design will be showcased at the Grand Prix of Portland on Sept. 4.
Andretti Foundation expands colonoscopy initiative: More than two years after beloved INDYCAR SERIES veteran John Andretti passed away from colon cancer, the CheckIt4Andretti Charitable Foundation is expanding its efforts to promote early detection of colorectal cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.
The foundation signed a new partnership with Northeast Digestive Health Center in Concord, North Carolina, providing colonoscopies free of charge to select low-income patients from a local free and charitable clinic that serves people with no health insurance and limited access to health care.
“The potential to save lives through early detection of colorectal cancer is enormous,” said Nancy Andretti, John Andretti’s wife and founder and president of CheckIt4Andretti. “We are grateful to Northeast Digestive Health Center for helping CheckIt4Andretti fulfill our mission of making these screenings available to those who need but can’t afford them.”
Nancy Andretti forged the partnership with Northeast Digestive Health Center through her relationship with Dr. Vinay Patel, her gastroenterologist at the center. The foundation is working to secure additional partnerships in North Carolina and Indiana, where John and Nancy’s son, Jarett Andretti, lives and where the family’s racing heritage has deep roots through John’s career in the NASCAR Cup Series.
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. More than 50,000 Americans are expected to die this year from colorectal cancer, which trails only lung cancer as the deadliest form of cancer.
John Andretti won races in open-wheel, sports car and stock car series in a career that spanned 25 years, including 12 starts in the Indianapolis 500. Andretti didn’t receive his first colonoscopy until the age of 52, when his cancer was diagnosed. He died in January 2020.
“I hope my father will be remembered for using his own diagnosis to shine a spotlight on the importance of early detection,” Jarett Andretti said. “And I hope other providers will follow the compassionate lead of Dr. Patel and his team at Northeast Digestive Health Center to help us expand access to potentially life-saving cancer checks.”