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Events raise $250K for Bowyer 79 Fund

By Bobbi Mlynar

Monday, August 31, 2009

Photo by Michael K. Dakota

Michael K. Dakota/Gazette Emporians and others packed on to the areana floor for a fundraiser featruing drive Clint Bowyer Saturday evening.

Photo by Michael K. Dakota

Michael K. Dakota/Gazette Clint Bowyer accepts a check from Cheerios for $20,000.00 for the Emporia Community Foundation.

Emporia’s homegrown NASCAR racer stopped in town for the weekend and left $250,000 behind for special projects to benefit children and others in the community.

Clint Bowyer, son of Chris and Jana Bowyer of Emporia, held his second annual golf tournament, dinner and auction to raise money for the 79 Fund he established with the Emporia Community Foundation.

Bowyer brought with him representatives of one of his sponsors, General Mills; his former sponsor, Jack Daniel’s; and others to take part in the tournament and related activities.

General Mills on Saturday night donated a check for $20,000 to the 79 Fund, and Bowyer presented a personal check for $100,000.

“He raised right around $250,000,” said Ray Toso, a board member of the 79 Fund. “It was, all in all, a very successful evening.”

Toso said the W.L. White Auditorium, where the dinner and auction were held, had been set for 350 people.

“And I’d say we were pretty full,” he said.

While in Emporia, Bowyer also donated $15,000 for the town’s clean-up project and $5,000 to the Emporia Arts Council building fund.

“He’s done a lot for this community and he continues to do a lot,” Toso said. “... (H)e just wants to build a better community.”

Toso said that the golf tournament Saturday also was a success, with a near-perfect day for the full slate of golfers.

“I thought they were crazy to schedule for the 29th of August,” Toso said, laughing. “... I said, ‘Do you realize how hot it’s going to be?’”

Instead of scorching heat, temperatures hovered in the low 70s.

“We had a beautiful day for it,” Toso said. “Maybe that’s a good omen for The Chase.”

For the past two years, Bowyer has been among the top 12 NASCAR drivers who compete in The Chase for the Sprint Cup. He also was the Nationwide race series champion last year.

Two races remain before the top 12 NASCAR drivers are determined. Bowyer now sits in 15th position, according to his Web site.

Comments

neighbor (anonymous) says...

That's great! Appreciate your efforts and gifts back to the community Clint. Now if we could talk you into building a modern race track here, be it dirt or asphalt I don't care which, and promote it to your driving buddies in Nascar(like Stewart did with ElDora). If they all came to race here, so would their fans and the media. That would be a realistic example of how you could attract tourism to Emporia instead of proposing building another dog park(visitor center).

August 31, 2009 at 3:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )