By Jacob Seelman
HOLLY, Mich. – While racing series around the country wait to be able to take the green flag, Must See Racing officials have announced a new award for when the season is able to get underway.
Series pit official Tony Roberts has partnered with Must See Racing to offer a $5,000 winner-take-all award as part of the Steadfast for Veterans Challenge, bringing awareness to Steadfast for Veterans and the Homes for Veterans non-profit that he helped to found four years ago.
The Steadfast for Veterans Challenge program will feature the Driving for Dollars Hard Charger Award, a season-long initiative that will see competitors accumulate points based on improving positions throughout their heat races, B-main and feature appearances.
Drivers will receive one point toward the hard-charger standings for every position improved, plus one point for their initial starting position, every time they hit the track. A negative net gain, however, will award no points toward their season-long Driving for Dollars Hard Charger Award total.
At the end of the season, the driver with the most accumulated hard-charger points across all races will receive a $5,000 payout and the title of 2020 Driving for Dollars Hard Charger.
Drivers must attend at least three-quarters of the completed Must See Racing events during the season to be eligible for the payout, and in the event of a tie the purse will be split evenly among those drivers.
Steadfast for Veterans is a non-profit initiative in Indiana committed to raising awareness of and creating housing for homeless veterans in the Indianapolis area.
Phase one of the project, which began in 2016, focuses on Southwest Indianapolis and will feature 16 small, single-occupancy permanent homes of 475 square feet for veterans that will no longer be forgotten upon its completion.
It’s a program that Roberts has worked to bring awareness to since its founding, and his appreciation for the support of Must See Racing toward that goal is clear.
“I founded Steadfast in 2016 after an encounter with a homeless veteran who was living in the back of what was once his mother’s home. The city of Indianapolis owned it at the time. Through that process, I was able to buy the house from the city, rehab it, and in 90 days I gave the house to that veteran,” Roberts recalled. “The others who were helping me with that project, ultimately were the ones who helped me start the Steadfast non-profit out of that situation, from a belief that we could do a lot of good for other veterans through this program. It’s been a process over the last two and a half years to put in place how we can best serve the veteran homeless community, but we’re on our way.
“Seeing the reach and exposure that Must See Racing gets with its television and media packages, the work that Jim and Nancy Hanks have done with the series as a whole and the support for the military and veterans that the racing industry as a whole has shown across the board, it became a very logical way for me to go to get the word out about Steadfast and I look forward to seeing it continue to grow.”
Must See Racing President Jim Hanks is equally excited to help spread Steadfast’s initiative through the series’ platform.
“We are delighted, not just to debut the season-long Driving for Dollars Hard Charger Award, but also to bring awareness and spread the word about the Steadfast for Veterans program through Must See Racing’s platform,” said Hanks. “The veterans in this country that fought to deliver all of us the freedom we enjoy are an integral part of the fabric of the United States and to see many that have nowhere to go is, in a word, heartbreaking. The opportunity to bring shine a light on what Steadfast for Veterans is working to do to help those veterans in need was one that made perfect sense for our series and we look forward to seeing the program play out through the season.”
For more information on Steadfast for Veterans, visit www.steadfastveterans.com.
For more information on Must See Racing, visit www.mustseeracing.com.