Team Seattle Daytona 24H fundraiser

MORE HEARTS THAN DRIVERS IN THE 2011 DAYTONA 24

Team Seattle driver Dane Cameron urges fans to support the team's 'Buy a Heart. Save a Life!' program b^0x0013 with 100% of all donations going to support the Seattle Children's Hospital

Dane Cameron Team Seattle driver Dane Cameron is determined to have more hearts than drivers on track in this year's Daytona 24. The team's 'Buy a Heart. Save a Life!' program offers fans -- and anyone with a heart -- the opportunity to really put their heart into the race by donating $50 or more to the program... with 100% of all donations going to Seattle Children's Hospital.

For a minimum donation of $50, a heart will be printed in your honor and placed on the Team Seattle, Dempsey Racing Mazda RX8 at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2011. The team has already sold more than 100 hearts and, collectively, your donation will make a big difference in the Hospital's ability to save a child's life.

The program is straight forward. Log on to the team's web site here and complete the form (which will take you to PayPal). Complete the PayPal transaction and a heart will be printed for you and placed on the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving & Salvage/Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GT Team for the 24 hours at Daytona. As an additional bonus to you and recognition for your contribution, Team Seattle will run a ticker of all participant names on the Charitable Tote Board during the race.

California road-racing talent Dane Cameron will partner with returning driver James Gu0x00e9 in the No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving & Salvage/Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GT in an all-out bid for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT Championship in 2011.

There are few endeavors more challenging, more exciting, or more dramatic than endurance sports car racing. It takes a tremendous amount of preparation and planning, and yet almost anything can happen. This intensity makes everyone's heart beat faster: whether they are a driver, an active team participant, an observer at the event, or a supporter back at home cheering the team on to victory. The similarity with the spectacular work done at the Heart Clinic is obvious; it's all about the team and victory. Team Seattle is a community organized around the Team Seattle Guild at Seattle Children's Hospital and the team's mission is to involve as many people as possible at all different levels of donation and/or participation.

"I am happy to be driving a car covered with hearts for in the 24 Hours of Daytona," Cameron said. "I think this is a strong team with a good chance of winning and to be able to help kids at the Seattle Children's Hospital at the same time makes our effort all the more important. I want to thank all our supporters and promise that we'll be doing our very best to take your hearts to victory circle."

Although he turned 22 just last month, Cameron brings extensive championship and race-winning experience to Dempsey Racing, including the 2005 Russell Series Championship, the 2006 Palmer Audi Winter Championship and 2007 Star Mazda Championship. He made his GRAND-AM debut with the powerhouse Chip Ganassi Racing Daytona Prototype team in 2007 and ran a full season of Rolex GT in 2009.

"Mazda has been a huge part of my career," said Cameron, who also raced Mazda-powered Atlantic Championship cars in 2008. "Mazda has helped me achieve some great things in my career and they have always stood behind me, so I am looking forward to helping Mazda try to repeat as the GT Manufacturers Champion in 2011."

One out of every 100 children is born with some form of cardiac irregularity making heart problems the number one birth defect in our country. When major surgery is performed on an infant or small child the impact on the patient's entire system can be traumatic. However, that impact can be greatly reduced by the use of systems and procedures pioneered at the pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Seattle Children's Hospital. Thanks to the efforts of Team Seattle supporters (and other generous donors) non-invasive surgery is now conducted on a regular basis at the Kami Rene Sutton Heart Center, named for long time Team Seattle fan and Seattle Children's patient, Kami Sutton. Because of these breakthroughs, the patients can recover more quickly and with less stress. The Team Seattle mission -- each and every year -- is to increase the more than $4,000,000 raised thus far for the Heart Clinic.

"Dempsey Racing continues to grow as a team and we made a big step in 2010 by expanding to two Mazda RX-8 GTs and getting our first professional race win," Dempsey said. "This season will be another year of progress as we continue the fundraising push for Seattle Children's Hospital on behalf of Team Seattle. Additionally we are grateful to John and Jeri Graham of Global Diving & Salvage for making it possible to support this cause while also allowing a Mazda ladder system graduate like Dane Cameron to race for the win."

The 49th running of the 24-hour endurance classic is set to take the green flag at 3:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, Jan. 29.

-source: team seattle