Austin Hatcher Foundation Heads to VIRginia International for Sports Car Racing and Fundraising
· At-Track Fundraising Auctions Set for Saturday and Sunday with Famed Motorsport Artist Bill Patterson
· Hixon Motor Sports to Race in New Car Design Representing the Austin Hatcher Foundation
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Aug. 22, 2022) – The Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer continues full steam ahead with its busy road racing summer by traveling this week to the VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Virginia, site of the Michelin GT Challenge.
The weekend event features the production-based GT cars competing in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Austin Hatcher Foundation is an official “Proud Charity of IMSA,” a status that enables a season-long series of opportunities for the foundation to raise both funds and awareness at well-attended motorsport events held at iconic racing facilities. These opportunities are typically fundraising auctions to benefit the foundation, hosted in fan enthusiast areas.
Such is the case at VIR, with multiple fan auctions both Saturday and Sunday– highlighted by the bidding on “live” paintings by noted “Motionsports” artist Bill Patterson. Patterson will be busy this weekend with four total live painting auctions benefitting the Austin Hatcher Foundation. There will be two paintings Saturday, the first beginning at 9 a.m in the BMW Corral and then again at 3 p.m. at the Corvette Corral. Sunday, Patterson will be in the Porsche PCA Corral beginning at 12 p.m., and then will head to the Victory Circle to paint the winner of the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR live.
“We are so thankful for Bill Patterson,” said Austin Hatcher Foundation President and CEO Amy Jo Osborn. “Not only is he a wonderful artist, but he is an incredible supporter for our cause of erasing the effects of pediatric cancer, and he has been for years of IMSA seasons. This weekend will be a great place to showcase his work, and for our foundation to continue to share our mission.”
Mazda MX-5 Cup team Hixon Motor Sports (HMS), supporters and 2022 partners of the foundation, will also be in attendance this weekend, showcasing a new racecar design representing the Austin Hatcher Foundation. The HMS #87 Austin Hatcher Racecar is manned by Cuban-American driver Selin Rollan, who is sitting at 4th Overall in Championship Points amongst 35 drivers in the MX-5 Cup. HMS is currently ranked first out of nine teams in their cup heading into this weekend.
Austin Hatcher Foundation families, donors and community are invited to meet the HMS team, sit in and pose with the Austin Hatcher race car, take photos with Selin Rollan and visit the HMS paddock. Selin Rollan and the HMS team will be competing in the Mazda MX-5 Cup races, which can be found with the rest of the weekend’s schedule at www.imsa.com/events/2022-michelin-gt-challenge-at-vir/.
“We are excited to see Hixon Motor Sport’s new car design this weekend… it brings us so much joy to see our foundation represented out on the track,” said Osborn. “As a foundation who has been involved with racing from our nonprofit’s beginning in 2006, we are honored and humbled to be part of such an incredible setting this week as we work to share our foundation’s mission of providing solutions to help erase the effects of pediatric cancer.”
A portion of the proceeds from Patterson’s paintings will go directly to supporting pediatric cancer families through the Austin Hatcher Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to erase the effects of pediatric cancer and optimize quality of life through essential specialized intervention beginning at the time of a child’s diagnosis and continuing through survivorship. Families of the foundation are provided with services such as Mental and Behavioral Health Therapy, Occupational Therapy, NeuroPsych Testing, Family Programs and more at absolutely no cost to them.
Continuing with the connection to racing, another one of the foundation’s services is Industrial Arts Therapy, which features fabrication of objects in wood or metal using a variety of tools, engine repair and automobile maintenance programs. These “shop” skills serve a variety of functions, improving coordination, behavioral, memory and learning deficits that can result from chemotherapy, radiation, and other side effects of cancer.
To learn more about the Austin Hatcher Foundation, visit https://www.hatcherfoundation.org/.
