Racing For Kids® gets back on track with two special kick off events, part of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete – the season opening race of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR Series. First up on Thursday, March 7, Racing For Kids will bring AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb to Johns […]
Since 1990, The Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Long Beach has been a longtime favorite stop for Racing For Kids®. Thursday’s (October 12) program proved that point again by including five prominent Red Bull Global Rallycross Series (Red Bull GRC) racers.
For more than two hours, the racers engaged and entertained dozens of Miller Children’s patients outside of the hospital, in playrooms and then in bed-to-bed visits.
The drivers – Steve Arpin of Loenbro Motorsports, Alejo Fernandez of AF Racing, Christian Brooks of Dreyer Reinbold Racing, and Conner Martell and James Rimmer of DirtFish Motorsports – put on quite a show talking about their individual paths to racing prominence, posing for pictures, signing autographs, and handing out their colorful “Hero Cards.”
The visit featured a couple of special events.
Fernandez’s team brought his actual #126 red, white, and blue race car to Miller Hospital, giving youngsters an opportunity to sit behind the wheel of the small, but high-powered vehicle. This excitement produced a welcome din of laughter as a backdrop to the outdoor activity.
Also outdoors, the driver quintet presented Miller Children’s Hospital with a Racing For Kids® “Fregin’s Flyer” red wagon. This Radio Flyer wagon has been specially equipped with an IV pole to help bed-ridden youngsters with cumbersome medical equipment to move freely around the hospital for special events, important treatments, and doctor appointments.
This year-long Racing For Kids ® program of wagon donations is sponsored by Canadian philanthropist and amateur racer, Doug Fregin. Rita Goshert, Miller Children’s Clinical Operations Manager, accepted the wagon for the hospital.
As is often the case, the parents and caregivers seemed to enjoy the whole atmosphere of racing excitement as much the kids.
Once inside the hospital, the drivers found a host of new fans. One teenager, a dirt biker himself, told Fernandez, Martell, and Brooks he plays video games which feature their style of racecars. He was very interested when the drivers told him that new video games will feature their cars. He quickly took down the numbers of their cars to follow each personally in the new video games and on the race track
Before leaving Miller Children’s, the drivers and Red Bull GRC representatives left 100 tickets to Saturday’s Finals for patients and their families. “Oh thank you, they will love these,” said Miller’s Goshert.
The season’s finale for the Red Bull GRC takes place Saturday (October 14) at the Los Angeles Port. The finals will be telecast live on NBC TV at 4:30 pm EDT.
