I am still trying to wrap my mind around the last 2 months and especially this past weekend. So times it is just hard to find the right words.

Ryan Kline was injured in a racing incident in October. A group of 8 sat down together and decided to help. Norman and I are fortunate to be part of that group. When you put a group of 8 people together, some of which have never met, you would think it would be hard to agree on things. Looking back at each time we got together I just don’t remember us not agreeing on anything that really mattered. We shared a lot of laughs, a few tears and of course, Billy’s nachos! Friendships were formed that I think and hope will last a lifetime. We came together to help a friend. We came together to help a family member. In the beginning we started a group message on Facebook so we could share ideas, thoughts and concerns between meetings. We met once a week. The waitress knew our drink orders by the time this last weekend rolled around. We tossed ideas around…. We need decals. Yep, sure do. Calls were made, texts sent. 2 days later they were done and ready to sell. How about some bracelets? Yes, we do need these too. Ordered and arrived in no time at all. License plates? Why sure! Let’s have them! And lo and behold, they appeared! The suggestions was made that we needed Ryan Kline Racing shirts. Oh yeah! We were on a roll! From the order placed, to the design being worked on to the final product. Each one of these items were a labor of love all along the way. We sold them with pride. And the best part about each and every item? You all loved them! You wanted to support Ryan! You were as excited as we were to help!!! You all fed our creative side!

Forward to Thanksgiving weekend…Wow! We were a bit worried about it being Thanksgiving weekend. Obviously we shouldn’t have been. We had hoped for 30 or 40 bowlers. There were 90 bowlers! 90!!! And the ones who don’t bowl came out to show their support too. There wasn’t a dry eye when Ryan came in! I can’t tell you how excited we were by the end of the night. You all helped raise quite a bit of money. And were as excited as we were to do it! We got to say our first “Nailed it” thanks to each and every one of you.

Move on to Orange Leaf. Stood and talked to the manager for a while the first night. She said those who came in all talked about how much Ryan meant to them and what an amazing guy he is. She spent some time talking with Dave as well and thought he was pretty cool too! And you just wait and see what we have in the works for spring and warmer weather!

Now…on to last weekend. This is the hard part. How do you describe a day that totally blows you away? We wholeheartedly agreed on so many things this weekend. The main one being that you guys are awesome! We absolutely positively LOVE our racing family! We started with a little list of donations. The list grew every day. Seriously, every day. Donations came from everywhere! Not just our racing community but those who heard what was going and wanted to contribute. You could feel the excitement build with each Facebook post. The doors were scheduled to open at 6:00. People started to arrive at 4:30. Most to drop of donations and some just too excited to stay home any longer! People arrived in an assortment of colors but more left in Ryan Kline racing shirts! The room started to fill up. Smiles and laughter, hugs and knuckle bumps. New faces and old faces. New friends and old friends. As the room filled up people offered extra chairs at their tables to strangers. An amazing (and donated) dinner was served. Then it was on to the auctions! Sold a lot of stuff and made a lot of money! Thanks to the impromptu auctioneers helping out! Lots of great raffle and silent auction items too! Then the band kicked in followed by the DJ. There was something for everyone! My 2 favorite parts of the night…seeing the doors open and having Ryan come thorough and handing him the big fat check that you all made happen! Each and everyone one of you should be proud of this. You all did an amazing thing!

Early in the evening the announcement was made about the newly formed Indiana Racing Foundation. One thing we all talked about early in this endeavor was the fact we have a tendency to be reactive instead of proactive. We think this needs to change. Face it. We enjoy an extreme sport and know the dangers. Hardly a week goes by that we don’t see a safety issue. Be it a driver, team or track. We also know times are tough and budgets are stretched. As a group we want to help ease that burden a bit. We want to be able meet the immediate needs in case of an injury, be it gas cards or food card, etc. We want to be able to work with the family and help provide a longer term support as well. We want to work with the newer drivers to not only be more competitive but to be safer as well. We want to work with drivers to find the best safety equipment for their needs. Watch for our announcement of upcoming fundraising events. Help us help you! You can find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Was it a perfect event? Nope. In hindsight would we make a few changes? Yes. But for a newly formed Foundations first event...nailed it!

I really didn’t intend to go on this much. Just so hard to wrap our minds around this. I guess the long and short of it is that we all set aside our differences to support Ryan, a man we love and admire. We are one hell of a family. We stood strong. We are ‪#‎91Strong‬!!!

Amazing job!!! Everyone involved. Wish you the absolute best & hope to help more in the near future. 👍