The Beginning

The “Race Now for autism” concept began in early 2007, shortly after Holland, Mi residents, Marc & Jackie Miller’s son, Evan, was diagnosed with autism. Marc, a professional racecar driver (bio link) had entered his Mazda MX-5 Cup car in the MX-5 Cup Championship for the 2007 season as an owner and had the opportunity to place a charity on the car for a few races. What began as a suggestion from Jackie turned in to a non-stop mission to promote autism awareness through motorsports and racing.

During 2007, the Autism Speaks Mazda MX-5 Cup car competed in eight events, logging over 5,000 miles on the race track to promote autism awareness. At the pinnacle of the promotion were two featured race events where the car was piloted by actor and race car driver/enthusiast, Patrick Dempsey.

Feature story link – Racing For Autism

The Present

Heading into 2008, with Autism Speaks still on the Mazda MX-5 Cup car, the Miller’s were approached by a family friend, Tess Kotecki, who wanted to enter a local triathlon. Tess didn’t want to compete just for the sake of competing, she wanted to contribute something more. She suggested working together to promote autism awareness and perhaps raise some money for a charitable cause.

The premise stuck. Create a complete program that promoted racers willing to compete in the name of autism awareness. Runners, swimmers, bikers, race drivers or a myriad of other racing mediums – it didn’t matter – as long as they were RACING for autism awareness. Provide them with a medium to promote themselves and a fund-raising effort where the proceeds will go to benefit families affected by autism spectrum disorder. For Marc and his family, this means Marc's racecar woul now be in complete www.RACENOWforAUTISM.org livery in an effort to stimulate other racers from all disciplines to help join in on the fund raising effort.

The Future

The goal of “Race Now for autism” is to continue to grow, continually getting support from more racing participants and their fans, family & supporters that will cheer them on, promote and donate to their individual event goal. From there, donations will be dispersed to our beneficiaries that work tirelessly to provide programs and support to area families that are affected by autism spectrum disorder.