November 19, 2010
By Rebecca Gladden
It's been described as "Build-A-Bear" for boys -- a clever concept called RIDEMAKERZ, which offers kids the opportunity to design and build a realistic custom car that's about the size of a shoebox. Each car is equipped with a body, chassis, working headlights and taillights, custom decals and more, and even comes with a Certificate of Title for the new owner.
There are several RIDEMAKERZ locations around the county, including one in the Downtown Disney District, and one in my backyard, Glendale, Arizona.
RIDEMAKERZ made an appearance at Phoenix International Raceway to coincide with Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race, where the company announced a new partnership with PIR and debuted its NASCAR product line, including car bodies and decals representing Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Danica Patrick, Kyle Busch and more.
Photo credit: Mike Finnegan, TTPMotorsports.com
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L-R in the picture is me, Dave Blaney, Brittney Shipp from 3TV (Phx), and in the front is Dave's building partner in the competition
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The occasion was marked by a charity fundraiser held in PIR's Gatorade Victory Lane Sunday morning, during which four "celebrities" (I use the term loosely, since I was one of them), were teamed with four children to compete in a custom car build-off. Other participants in the event included NASCAR Cup Series Driver Dave Blaney and Phoenix TV weather forecaster Brittney Shipp.
The car building competition consisted of assembling a NASCAR vehicle by attaching the car body to a chassis using kid-friendly power tools and snapping on a set of wheels and tires. The winning team - the pair that completed their car first - would win $1000 for charity. I was partnered up with a boy named Bradley and we were representing Kyle Petty's Victory Junction Gang Camp, which provides fun and empowering camp experiences to children with serious illnesses and chronic medical conditions. The other charities represented in the competition were The NASCAR Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The morning of the event, I met Larry Andreini, CEO of RIDEMAKERZ, who told me that giving back to the community is one of his company's core beliefs. "We have five values that we call the Five C's. They are choice, creativity, collaboration, confidence, and community. We feel that, if you don't participate and give back to your community, you're really not doing your job. We love to participate in our community this way."
When the competition began, the kids did most of the building, with the grown-ups there to cheer them on and lend support as needed. In the end, all four teams were awarded $1000 for their charities, making the total donation from RIDEMAKERZ a generous $4000.
NASCAR Driver Dave Blaney, who teamed with his building partner Justin on behalf of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, told me, "It's very cool the way the cars are made, the way they snap together and the different choices you have. It was big fun. It's a nice idea and fun for the kids."
Blaney was pleased to raise money for Make-A-Wish, but noted he would have been just as happy to represent any of the organizations. "All the people of NASCAR support all these charities. Any time we can do it, we're happy to," he said.
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