Mid-Ohio working with Graham Rahal Foundation and Columbus Zoo

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has part­nered with the Gra­ham Rahal Foun­da­tion and the Colum­bus Zoo and Aquar­ium for a fundrais­ing effort in con­junc­tion with the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Chal­lenge & Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 3–5.

Mid-Ohio will have spe­cial daily and week­end admis­sion tick­ets on sale at midohio.com/zoo imme­di­ately, with $5 of each Zoo Dona­tion ticket sold going to the Gra­ham Rahal Foun­da­tion. The first 1,000 of these tick­ets sold will come with a voucher for free admis­sion to the Colum­bus Zoo in 2012 and a Gra­ham Rahal auto­graphed hero card.

All fans that pur­chase these Zoo Dona­tion tick­ets will be entered to win a VIP expe­ri­ence at the Colum­bus Zoo and a meet and greet with Rahal dur­ing the August 3–5 week­end at Mid-Ohio.

Fans that have already pur­chased tick­ets to the event are invited to call 800-MID-OHIO (643‑6446) to donate $5 to the Foun­da­tion. Dur­ing the event week­end, fans also have the oppor­tu­nity to donate to the Gra­ham Rahal Foun­da­tion at most con­ces­sion and sou­venir stands.

“We are very happy that we were able to put this part­ner­ship together with these two ter­rific orga­ni­za­tions,” said Craig Rust, pres­i­dent of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. “The Gra­ham Rahal Foundation’s sup­port of the Colum­bus Zoo and Aquar­ium is very impor­tant and I know our fans will get behind this effort to raise these vital funds.”

Gra­ham Rahal, the youngest race win­ner in IZOD Indy­Car Series his­tory, will be rac­ing in the No. 38 Ser­vice Cen­tral Honda at Mid-Ohio wear­ing a zoo-themed hel­met and gloves. Fol­low­ing the race, Rahal’s hel­met and gloves will be auc­tioned off, with all pro­ceeds ben­e­fit­ting The Colum­bus Zoo and Aquarium.

“We are thank­ful for the oppor­tu­nity to col­lab­o­rate with Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to raise money for the Colum­bus Zoo and Aquar­ium,” said Rahal. “With the track’s help, we will be able to donate funds to the zoo for pro­grams that sup­port our foundation’s mission.”

These spe­cial week­end tick­ets for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Chal­lenge & The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio start at $90, with race day admis­sion begin­ning at $55. Tick­ets are avail­able at midohio.com/zoo or by call­ing 800-MID-OHIO (643‑6446) Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. — 5 p.m.

The Gra­ham Rahal Foun­da­tion was cre­ated to con­tinue the work started by Graham’s for­mer race team owner and friend, the late actor and phil­an­thropist Paul New­man – help­ing chil­dren with med­ical con­di­tions. The foun­da­tion has a close rela­tion­ship with the Colum­bus Zoo and Aquar­ium, Jack Hanna, Direc­tor Emer­i­tus of the Colum­bus Zoo and Aquar­ium, is Graham’s godfather.

Posted by Rob Hamilton on Jul 11 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.