Race fans and community members helped to save more than 100 lives during the NASCAR Foundation Blood and Marrow Drive at Infineon Raceway on Saturday, Sept. 15.
Nearly 50 people visited Infineon Raceway for the event, which generated 38 pints of blood. Each pint can be used to save as many as three lives. In addition, 25 people signed up for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Overall, the NASCAR Foundation Drive has collected 3,410 pints of blood and signed up 939 new registrants for the NMDP.
The drive helps serve a desperate need for blood and marrow donations – more than 38,000 blood donations are needed per day and over 6,000 people are searching for a marrow match on any given day. Donating blood saves more than four million American lives each year.
Infineon Raceway has generated more than 500 pints of blood for the American Red Cross with annual blood drives since 2001. The Red Cross is currently facing a serious shortage of blood, and has issued an appeal to donors.
“A blood shortage can be easily remedied if people donate blood,” said Jay Winkenbach, CEO of the American Red Cross Northern California Blood Services Region. “Any one of us or one of our loved ones may need blood and it’s the blood on the shelf that can help save lives.”
As a reward for their participation, everyone who came out to the drive was entered in a drawing for five one-of-a-kind Infineon Raceway prizes for the 2008 Big O Tires Racing Season, including tickets for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event and a VIP experience at the FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals.
“This is so cool,” said Napa’s Randi Handy, who won two weekend passes for the 2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350. “We’ve come out to this blood drive for the past few years, and it’s a great event.”
