DARLINGTON, S.C. – Austin Dillon’s sponsor in the Camping World Truck Series is Bass Pro Shops, an outdoor goods retailer that is well known for not only offering a great variety of hunting and fishing items, but also for doing a large amount of charitable work throughout the country. This weekend, Bass Pro Shops is working with the Outdoor Dream Foundation to make the Too Tough to Tame 200 a special event for two very special young men.
The Outdoor Dream Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to give back to children with terminal or life threatening illness through outdoor adventures. The Foundation was founded by former football coach Harold Jones and his friend “Radio,” the man who was the basis for the movie of the same name. The Foundation takes children on outdoor adventures to allow them hunting and fishing opportunities that would not normally be available to them.
The two young men that are at the track this weekend are Deric Hanna and Tyler Vickery. They are being treated to a day of fishing in Ramsey’s Pond, the famous minnow pond that is the reason for Darlington’s unique track shape. Bass Pro Shops donated fishing equipment for the two boys and their families so they could spend an hour fishing with Dillon between practice and qualifying for the race.
They are also going to tour the Darlington Raceway Museum and experience a pace car ride around the famed egg-shaped oval. They’ll finish their day spending some time with the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops team during the race.
Deric Hanna contracted a virus when he was nine years old that settled in his heart. He slipped into a coma for 44 days and received a new heart. During his coma he lost one of his legs below the knee and now gets around on a prosthesis. Deric is a huge race fan who drives his own truck in local mud events and tractor pulls. Deric’s outdoor dream was a hunting expedition in New Mexico where he harvested a huge bull elk.
Tyler Vickery received a heart transplant in June 2008. He was also treated for brain cancer prior to receiving the transplant. Tyler loves big loud trucks and is always working around trucks or taking ATVs apart. Tyler’s outdoor dream took him to Wagonhound Ranch near Douglas, Wyo. last fall where he harvested a great mule deer and an antelope.
Dillon is going to do his best to make the boys weekend extremely special by capitalizing on his strong truck to bring home a victory in the Too Tough to Tame 200 Saturday night (Aug. 14).
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.