Don Schumacher Racing’s Matco Tools Top Fuel Dragster team and Antron Brown will once again race to raise awareness and funds for a cause that affects everyone—breast cancer.
To-date, Matco Tools ‘Tools for the Cause’ program has raised more than $425,000 for Susan G. Komen, helping to fund breast cancer research and community programs nationwide. This year, Matco will build on last year’s success by launching the ‘I Drive For’ and #IDriveFor social media campaign from Aug. 25–Sept. 15.
Brown’s Matco Tools dragster will feature a special pink paint scheme at the Reading, Pa., and Las Vegas races during the month of October, but with a unique twist. Matco Tools is encouraging those who have fought or are fighting breast cancer to share their first name and last initial on its Facebook page. All names will then be added to Brown’s 320-mph dragster and featured at the October races.
Brown will drive for his mother-in-law, Linda Matranga, a breast cancer survivor, as ‘I Drive For … Linda’ will adorn his firesuit and the side of his race car. Matco will accept name submissions on Facebook through Sept. 15, 2014.
“October is a very important month to our series because it’s right in the middle of our countdown to the championship playoffs, but October means even more to our Matco Tools team here at DSR,” Brown said. “My wife’s mother is a breast cancer survivor and this disease has affected our family as it has many others.”
The Tools for the Cause campaign’s main goal is to raise money to aid in the fight against breast cancer. When Matco customers purchase limited-edition pink tools, Matco donates 15 percent of the sale to Komen with a guaranteed minimum donation of $100,000.
“I’m excited for the ‘I Drive For’ campaign to drive for Linda and to drive for all those touched by this disease. I hope we receive thousands of names that will ride on our pink Matco Tools dragster and we can continue to drive awareness for such a great cause.”
“This is a partnership that everyone in our company is very proud of and has strongly supported from the very beginning,” said Matco Tools President Tim Gilmore. “This year, we want to honor those who have fought, or are currently fighting breast cancer, in a special way by including their names on our Top Fuel Dragster. They are truly the inspiration behind the Tools for the Cause campaign.”
Brown and the Matco Tools Top Fuel team first adorned the pink Komen colors during the month of October 2012 when he set the NHRA elapsed time national record at 3.701 seconds at Maple Grove Raceway. The record lap helped vault Brown to the 2012 NHRA Top Fuel World Championship. Last October, Brown put his Matco ‘Tools for the Cause’ dragster in the winner’s circle at the fall Las Vegas race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
