By Richie Murray
Speedway, Indiana (May 21, 2020)………Leader Card Racers and the Wilke Family have a long history of success on the racetrack, winning three Indianapolis 500 victories in 1959 and 1962 with driver Rodger Ward and in 1968 with driver Bobby Unser, to go along with 136 career USAC National victories spanning seven decades.
The same foundation continues to this day with the Wilke family’s Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Leader Paper Products being a leader in a grassroots movement to personally thank COVID-19 frontline workers.
The campaign, called “A Million Thanks,” includes an envelopes of a set of four “Thank You” cards in which individuals and businesses can collect and then distribute throughout the community to the frontline working, essential individuals of their choice during this worldwide pandemic as a way of saying “Thank You.”
USAC too wants to say thank you to all the individuals on the frontlines and will have the Thank You cards at its Speedway, Indiana headquarters, and also at its USAC National racing events at the official merchandise trailer, beginning on Tuesday, May 26. There, you will be able to collect the free cards and personally distribute them on your own to say, “thank you.” to the essential workers.
The idea was presented to USAC by USAC’s own Nikki Klepper, great granddaughter of Leader Card Racers’ Bob Wilke, granddaughter of Ralph Wilke and daughter of Greg Wilke.
“I am excited to expand my family’s efforts into Indiana and, most importantly, to our racing family,” Klepper said. “Such a small gesture can mean so much to someone who has been working the frontlines. With the joint effort of USAC, I am confident we will reach our goal of one million thank you cards, if not more!”
Leader Paper Products’ goal is to print and distribute 250,000 free sets of cards, which come in sets of four, to ultimately thank a million people nationwide and worldwide. For more information, or to request thank you cards, please visit www.LeaderPaper.com.
For any questions on the A Million Thanks campaign, and how you can get involved, please feel free to email USAC’s Nikki Klepper at nikki@usacnation.com.