2011 Race Updates

2011 Racing Updates

October 5, 2011

The Prize Has Finally Arrived!

The Racing Lyme Disease Awareness Car placed first in the "Most Votes" category, and made it into the Final Top 10. The prize was a custom designed NASCAR helmet. To see pictures of the helmet, click here.

This year's theme was "Get it Right, Treat the Bite". You can access the website by clicking on this link.

www.TreatTheBite.com

The classy Simpson helmet looks rather heavy, but actually only weighs about 5 pounds. It is about as big around as a basketball and the metallic paint makes it sparkle in the sun light. It has a nice padded interior, but that doesn't mean we would want to keep it on our head for any length of time. The tinted sun visor is perfect for keeping down the glare, but does pose a problem when trying to eat or drink with it pulled down over your face.

The custom paint was applied by experts and matches the original Racing Lyme Disease Awareness car design. A NASCAR helmet must be built to withstand high impact crashes, flying debris and it must protect the driver in the event of a fire. As an added bonus, this helmet was specially designed to protect people from the IDSA 2006 Lyme Disease Guidelines. ~smile~

After making the publicity rounds, the helmet (valued at $1,200.00) will be shipped to the office of Dr. Charles Ray Jones in Connecticut for a visit with the many children coming to him for treatment of their Lyme and tick borne diseases. Please remember Dr. Jones, his kids and his wonderful staff year round. If you can assist them in any way, please do.

A special thanks to JG and the LN Pit Crew, and to all who promoted and voted for the 2011 Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car that rolled off the assembly line in time for our annual May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month activities.

@/@/@/@/

WE MADE THE TOP 10 FINALIST LIST!

http://www.sponsafier.com/#/gallery/view/46869

May 21, 2011

THE WINNER IS ANNOUNCED! Congratulations to Chelsea's Hope, the official grand prize winner of the Toyota Sponsafier Contest! The Chelsea's Hope race car was designed to raise awareness for Lafora disease. The winners of the grand prize were provided an opportunity to meet NASCAR race car driver Denny Hamlin (#11) in North Carolina and have their car design on display over the weekend. For information about Lafora disease, that affects mostly teenagers, please click here. To see photos of Chelsea's Hope Race Car and the happy winners at the All-Star Race, click here.

Your 2011 Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car efforts were incredible! Over 18 MILLION viewers clicked on the Toyota Sponsafier website where our car was displayed. Over 4,000 visits were tallied on the website dedicated to Dr. Charles R. Jones (www.DrJonesKids.org) during the contest. If you Googled "race car Lyme", three full pages of participating websites were on display that were directly related to your efforts in Racing Lyme Disease Awareness. The free publicity you generated was "priceless". You deserve a big thank you and congratulations too!

In the near future we hope to see the official race car helmet we won for being a Top Ten Finalist, with our design displayed on it. Once it arrives we will let you know and, of course, put photos of it on display everywhere to keep the awareness efforts going throughout the year. The helmet will then be on loan to Dr. Jones office in New Haven, CT for his (our) children and their parents to enjoy.

Thanks again for making the contribution to help Race Lyme Disease Awareness!

To see the race car Finalists, click here http://www.sponsafier.com/share/46869 Click on Back to Gallery, then the Finalists.

For future updates, click here https://sites.google.com/site/drjoneskids/racing-awareness/2011-race-updates

May 10, 2011

Update on our NASCAR Racing Lyme Disease Awareness Car- We were contacted today to find out what size we would like to have for our custom designed helmet. The hemet is the prize for our car making it as a Top Ten Finalist in the Toyota Sponsafier contest (out of a field of over 40,000 cars). From a mother's point of view, we will probably order an XXL size so when kids at Dr. Jones office are playing with it we won't have any heads getting stuck. No word yet as to who the grand prize winner will be. It is scheduled to be announced during the upcoming All-Star Race Week. Stay tuned....

May 3, 2011

To see the Race Car Photos, check the menu to your left

April 7, 2011

Update- Congratulations and thanks!

The voting is over! We are still in 1st place for the Most Votes category! Now we wait to see who the judges pick for their Top 10 list, so keep those engines idling and be ready (IF we are in the Top 10) to start voting one more time. Thanks to all for helping to Race Lyme Disease Awareness!

March 25, 2011

Final Lap Report

On our last lap we barreled past the finish line with a record number of votes! The results are absolutely amazing!

Over 34,000 cars were entered in the race and we are currently in 1st place for the most number of votes!

Thank you for voting to help Race Lyme Disease Awareness! Hope you had a little fun too! Please share this with your contacts and thank them for helping us.

Total numbers

Total number of votes - 14,234

Total votes for current second place car (subject to change as cars advance in the field) - 6,891

Total number of people (rounded off) that clicked on the Race Lyme Disease Awareness car to see it close up - 18,600

Total number of times (rounded off) our car was selected to be "shared" with others - 14,000

Number of new visitors that went to the website dedicated to Dr. Jones, his wonderful staff and their kids during the 15 days of voting - 2,015

Points- for bragging rights only (Rookie is 0-999, then we advanced to Mechanic, Pit Crewman, Crew Chief, and finally got the top ranking, "Driver", for which you must have 40,000 points or above.) Our total- 2,483,440

We are the number one featured car out of a total of 34,605 entries!!!

After the word got out about the contest, thanks to you we had approximately 2,000 (+) people voting each day!

To celebrate our success and to thank you for participating in this project, 2 additional cars were designed and entered to be shown to you at the end of our race. No need to vote - these are simply to enjoy and to help carry forward our message. Please take a minute to see them.

"Lyme Disease Thanks"- Special Tribute to Dr. Jones

(Click on 3-D and look closely at the trunk and rear of the car)

http://www.sponsafier.com/share/57170

"Lyme United" - Thanks to Everyone for Voting and Supporting the Racing Lyme Disease Awareness effort!

(Click on 3-D and look closely at the rear view of the car)

http://www.sponsafier.com/share/58328

Future Actions

Voting for all cars that still have time remaining, ends on April 6, 2011. Then the judges select the top 10 cars based on specific design factors.

IF by some miracle we happen to make the top 10 when the judging is completed, we will need to start voting again on April 22, 2011.

At that point we only have TEN days to vote! Each voter is allowed to vote for only ONE car, and they can only vote ONE time per day.

The winning car design will be featured on a real race car at the NASCAR All-Star race, details below, and the winning car designer will have a chance to meet with a NASCAR driver.

The runners-up from the Top 10 will receive a helmet with their design painted on it.

All- Star Race Weekend Events

Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 1 PM on SPEED channel you can watch the All-Star race and watch for the commercials about this contest on TV.

It may also be mentioned on some of the pre-race shows and/or in other media outlets, as well as remain on the website to be seen by millions.

Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, NC

05/20/11 Truck Series N.C. Education Lottery 200

05/21/11 CUP Showdown

05/21/11 CUP All-Star Race

http://www.nascar.com/promos/allstar/2011/index.html

Thanks again for voting to Race Lyme Disease Awareness and congratulations for getting so many votes!

You are "totally awesome"!

~smile~

If anyone would like to continue voting for a few more days, a Lyme patient (PaulMall) was inspired to design some additional Lyme-related cars that people are also voting on.

Human Race Car (11 days left to vote) http://www.sponsafier.com/#/gallery/view/60288

Cure Late-Stage Lyme (7 days left to vote) http://www.sponsafier.com/#/gallery/view/56859

PaulMall not only designed these nice cars, he was very supportive of the community's efforts.

March 22, 2011

Breaking Records

This is an excellent effort by the community! Votes are coming in at a rate of more than one per minute now! And we have had almost 13,000 close up views.

And you can keep voting and spreading the word- three more days left!

To vote click here

http://www.sponsafier.com/share/46869

Thank you for working together to Race Lyme Disease Awareness!

***

March 21, 2011

Update- As you may know, we've recently moved to the 1st place position for highest number of votes for the Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car.

I just heard from someone tracking the numbers that votes for our car are coming in at more than 100 per hour right now. Fantastic!

Last year our total number of votes didn't quite make it to 8,000 by the end of the race.

This year, with 5 days left to vote, we already have 8,554 votes, obviously surpassing last years total!

Keep voting and spreading the word to Race Lyme Disease Awareness!

Thank you!

Help Raise Lyme Disease Awareness. Vote for the Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car. Free, easy and no registration required.

To vote click here

http://www.sponsafier.com/share/46869

For more information, see "Racing Awareness" page

www.DrJonesKids.com

***

March 21,2011

CONGRATULATIONS!

Your efforts made the Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car move into 1st place for the most number of votes on Sunday evening! Our car is also now featured on the "Most Votes" page for everyone to see!

Thank you for voting and for spreading the word to help "race" Lyme disease awareness! (Don't quit voting now, please read on!)

Number of votes currently- 7,522 (voting open 5 more days)

2nd place car, number of votes- 6,891 (voting closed)

Number of times someone clicked on the Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car to get a close up view- 9,600 (+)

Approximate number of visitors to the website where our car is located (since we entered the contest)- 3,000,000 (Yes! 3 MILLION)

In 10 days over 1,500 people visited the website dedicated to Dr. Jones and the children with Lyme, due to the Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car efforts. That is wonderful!

IT IS IMPORTANT to keep voting each day!

To vote, click here- http://www.sponsafier.com/share/46869

More Details- (I am explaining as much as I can here/now because I won't be available to answer questions this week- sorry.)

Currently there are over 32,000 cars entered in the race. The dead line to enter a new car will have passed by the time you get this notice (midnight Sunday, March 20, 2011).

We currently have 5 more days left to vote on our race car (15 days alloted originally). We need to try to bring up the number of votes as high as possible. It is important to keep voting each day because there are a number of cars with 1- 15 days left to get votes. Some of the race cars are closing on us quickly and could pass us once our voting period ends.

I will send a notice when the voting closes for our car with the results. At that time we will need to wait until April 6, 2011, when voting is closed for all cars, to see how we did in the final vote. Hopefully few, if any, cars will get more votes than we have and pass us by.

More Details & Quotes From Official Rules

Then the official judging begins. The number of votes we have at the end of our 15 days counts toward 20% of the overall judging.

The number of votes a Design gains during the Public Voting I Phase will go towards that Design's score in the Public Appeal category of the Judging Criteria as part of the Finalist Selection Phase, as listed below in Section 6(i).

The other 80% of the judging process examines the actual design and is based on other factors. Needless to say, I am under a bit of pressure here now. Keep in mind I am not a professional race car designer, not even an amateur, but I did try to design our Racing Lyme Disease Awareness Car with the following categories in mind.

Finalist Selection: During the Finalist Selection Phase, qualified judges selected by Sponsor in its sole discretion (the "Qualified Judges") will review and judge all Designs according to the following criteria (the "Judging Criteria"):

• Originality of the Design when compared to other Designs (20%);
• Feasibility of the Design to be applied to a two-seater NASCAR show car (20%);
• Creativity demonstrated by the application of user-uploaded images and/or pre-loaded Sponsafier graphics to the Design to the Design (20%);
• Ability of the Design to inspire consumers (20%); and
• Public Appeal (20%). < YOUR votes

Subject to the entrant's compliance with these Official Rules, the ten (10) entrants with the highest-scoring Designs will be deemed potential Finalist Prize winners and will advance to the Public Voting II Phase.

While they are judging all of the cars, we wait. (April 7-14th)

IF we happen to be selected to move forward, we will need to vote again! That voting period is from April 22 to May 1 (Only 10 days). I will send you an update if we are selected to move forward and need to put the petal to the metal and vote, vote, vote!

Public Voting II: During the Public Voting II Phase, Finalist Designs will be posted for public voting on www.sponsafier.com. Voters will be invited to vote for the Design that they believe has the most public appeal. The number of votes a Design gains during the Public Voting II Phase will go towards that Design's score in the Public Appeal category of the Judging Criteria as part of the Winner Determination Phase, as listed below in Section 6(iv). Limit: Each Voter may vote for only one (1) Design one (1) time per day during this time period.

The next phase is "Winner Determination". It is based on the car with the highest-scoring design.

Winner Determination: During the Winner Determination Phase, Qualified Judges will review and judge all Finalist Designs according to the Judging Criteria as listed above in Section 6(ii).

Subject to the entrant's compliance with these Official Rules, the entrant with the highest-scoring Design will be deemed the potential Grand Prize winner.

The top 10 entries receive prizes as follows.

ONE (1) GRAND PRIZE: The opportunity to have your design applied to a Toyota NASCAR Sprint Cup car; a NASCAR driver visit for the winner; and a prize pack consisting of Sponsor selected Toyota Racing Gear (size, type and style of gear selected by Sponsor in its sole discretion).

For the NASCAR driver experience: Details and schedule are to be mutually agreed upon by winner and Sponsor. NASCAR driver experience must be scheduled and agreed upon between Sponsor and winner by December 31, 2011 or will be forfeited in its entirety. Specific NASCAR driver based on winner's preference from those drivers featured on thewww.sponsafier.com site but determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion.

For Car Design: All terms set forth in Section 5 and Section 7 of these Official Rules apply to the winning Design. Sponsor, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to modify the winner's Design. Design will be featured at the 2011 NASCAR Sprint® All-Star Race. Sponsor is not responsible if race is delayed, postponed or cancelled, in which event Sponsor may not feature the winner's Design. Approximate Retail Value ("ARV"): $10,000.

TEN (10) FINALIST PRIZES: A customized helmet featuring the Finalist's "Sponsafied" car graphics. Size of helmet and design/layout of graphics selected by Sponsor in its sole discretion. ARV: $1,250.

Official time chart..

Thanks again for Racing Lyme Disease Awareness. Hope you are enjoying the experience!

***

March 19,2011

5,000 Votes!

Thanks to your efforts, our Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car now has over 5,000 votes!

By Saturday evening, if you keep voting and get more people to join in to help us race awareness, we should easily slide into 4th place!

If you can keep voting there is a reasonably good chance we can make it to 1st place next week (out of over 30,000 entries). Yes, 1st place!

But, to get ahead and stay ahead we need to keep the competition off our back bumper and those wild & crazy drivers from passing us by. So we'll need you to continue to rock the vote!

We are hearing encouraging comments from those who are enjoying the Racing Lyme Disease Awareness project! Hope you are having some fun with it too!

To vote click here

http://www.sponsafier.com/share/46869

For more information see "Racing Awareness" page

www.DrJonesKids.com

***

March 17, 2011

UPDATE- The Lyme Awareness Race Car was dedicated to Dr. Jones and his wonderful staff for all of their work with the children, and to celebrate Dr. Jones birthday on March 14, 2011. The website dedicated to him- where the Race Car information is located- has had over 1,000 new viewers in the past 5 days. This will hopefully help his situation.

In the past 24 hours we added about 1,000 more votes to our previous total.

In 24 hours we raced up from a respectable 9th place to 6th place! In the process we blew the doors off the state police car, the 911 dispatchers car and several others. (tee hee hee hee)

We need about 400 votes to move up to 5th place and be featured on the front page on the website!

The race car website gets approximately 300,000 hits per day, or about 1.2 million views every 4 days. (Free advertising for Lyme Disease Awareness.)

We have about one week to get to the #1 spot, and then we can only hope no one will race up behind us after our voting period ends and pass us. We need to pass everyone like they are standing still and establish a good lead if we want to get to and stay in the #1 spot.

If we can continue to get 1,000 votes per day (or more) for the last week of voting, as it stands now we will be in 1st place!!!

So please keep voting and spreading the word to all your Lyme and non-Lyme friends! Got kids? If so, put them to work sharing the Lyme Awareness Race Car information to help us with our efforts.

Happy Racing Lyme Disease Awareness! Vrrrrrrrooooooommmmm!

~smile~

Help Raise Lyme Disease Awareness. Vote for the Lyme Disease Awareness Race Car. Free, easy and no registration required.

To vote click here

http://www.sponsafier.com/share/46869

For more information see "Racing Awareness" page

www.DrJonesKids.com