THUNDER BAY – On Sunday, Thunder Bay Auto Sport Club held its annual fundraiser for Northern Cancer Care at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
Gary Adomko, the club's president, said this is the 10th year of holding this fundraiser.
“Over that period of time we've raised roughly $74,000 for Northern Cancer Care.
“We bring in money in two different forms. There's a paper pledge system and then there was an online link that people could set up and send out to friends and family to donate electronically,” he said.
Adomko said seeing the amount of money they have raised really warms his heart.
“I lost my father to lung cancer many years ago. So, to do anything for Northern Cancer Care makes our club and myself extremely happy to be able to give back to the community and to try to end cancer.”
The money that is raised from the Thunder Bay Auto Sport Club is donated and the Thunder Bay Regional Heath Sciences Foundation works it into their plan, Adomko said.
“This sport auto cross, which has been around for many years, is the grassroots of road racing. We have people that are involved in our club from the age of 16 that just recently received their driver's license up to people that are in their sixties.
“We have professionals. We've had doctors involved. We've had people that are just into college. It's really a big mix of people that are coming to this, that are automotive enthusiasts,” he said.
Adomko said competitors come from all walks of life.
“Anybody that donates $100 or more to the fundraising campaign will get a ride out on the course with a competitor.
“If you've never done this sport, it gives you that view of what it's like to do performance driving on these courses that we set up.”
Adomko said auto cross is about educating competitors to be better drivers out on the roads on Ontario.
“They learn better braking skills and steering that will hopefully get them out of a situation where they might end up in an accident, not of their cause, but they know what to do.”
There were 20 cars registered in the auto cross on Sunday.
“It's really great that we have this kind of car count, but we're hoping to boost that count up next year and get it into the 30-car range. We know that the vehicles are out there,” he said.
There is another event being held by Thunder Bay Auto Sport Club on Sept. 8 in the WSIB parking lot, at 1113 Jade Ct.
