Desert Dingo Racing teammates Richard Palasik and Jim Graham took the official World Diabetes Day Baja 1000 race car to the farming community of Watsonville (California, USA) on June 20 to support a diabetes health fair hosted by the Diabetes Health Center in Watsonville.

Hundreds of people turned out for the annual event in Watsonville's downtown plaza, which was held in conjunction with the local farmers market. Health Center staff distributed information on diabetes and conducted diabetes screening. Palasik and Graham distributed more than 100 boxes of World Diabetes Day crayons (which have the warning signs of diabetes printed on the back of the boxes), along with Desert Dingo Racing hero cards, WDD magnets and lapel pins. They also donated several hundred boxes of the crayons (which had been provided by the International Diabetes Federation) to the health center.

"It was a great event and a great opportunity to educate folks on diabetes issues," said Palasik, who has Type 2 diabetes. "We were positioned next to a climbing wall and had kids and families stopping by all day long."

The event took place while firefighters were battling a 640-acre wildfire a few miles up the road north of town. "You can see smoke from the fire in some of the photos and ash from the fire fell in the plaza," Graham said. "It was unfortunate that several structures were destroyed, but no one was hurt."

Short video of smoke viewed from the plaza.

Desert Dingo Racing is currently working on the car's suspension and is planning its next race for early August.

Posted on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 13:59