Racing for a Reason at Speedway

“Dad, I only remember going to the hospital and having cancer. I don’t remember anything I ever did before being sick.” These were the words of young Reed Luepke once told his father, Brad Luepke. Brad, and his wife, Lori, have been the driving force behind Racing For A Reason night at the Shawano Speedway since their son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2009. As a father myself, I remember being moved to tears as I read Brad’s posts on Facebook early on in Reed’s battle with cancer. Reed has since defeated cancer as of late 2012, but the desire to help others affected by cancer is stronger than ever. The racing community came out strong in support of Reed and numerous drivers still carry the “Team Reed” logo. The photo of former late model racer Mark Mitchell giving Reed a fist bump as he strapped in before a race is very moving. Racing truly is a community and when one of their own is in need of support racers will join together to help out. Racers like Jason Jach, Joe Reuter, Brett Swedberg, Eddie Muenster, Dan Michonski, Mike Schmidt, Cody Hudson, Jason Czarapata, Joey Taycher, Jordan Barkholz, Jordan Bartz, Tracy Wassenberg, Nick Anvelink and more have put a lot of time and effort into supporting this great cause. 2011 IMCA Stock Car track champion Nate Michonski, a cancer survivor himself, has been one of the biggest supporters of “Team Reed.” Michonski will be wheeling an IMCA Sport Modified this Saturday for only the second time. Among this year’s items up for grabs are Milwaukee Brewers tickets, Milwaukee Bucks tickets, Green Bay Gamblers tickets, a Nick Perry autographed football, racing die casts, many other racing items, a mini grandfather clock, a cooler of meat, a Harley-Davidson jacket, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s and women’s basketball tickets and many more items. This year’s recipients of the money raised are Child Life Services of St. Vincent’s in Green Bay and Heal Art of Red River. The goal this year is to raise more than $10,000 for these deserving charities. This Saturday night will be the third addition of Racing For A Reason, a tradition that will hopefully continue to help those in need.