NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2012 — The Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) is pleased to announce that world champion race car driver Justin Bell will host its Annual Benefit Gala on November 1, 2012 in New York City. Funds raised through the Children’s Tumor Foundation’s Benefit Gala will support research into neurofibromatosis (NF), a disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body and affects one in every 3,000 people.
Justin Bell has been racing internationally at a winning level for 25 years. Bell is also one of the most popular motorsports and automotive personalities in television today as both a host and in-race reporter for a variety of programming on the SPEED Channel, on the eBay Motors and eBay Mobile Internet series “The World’s Fastest Car Show with Justin Bell”, and as a member of the in-booth broadcast team for ABC Sports’ upcoming coverage of the Petit Le Mans endurance race from Atlanta, Georgia in October.
Bell first became involved with the Children’s Tumor Foundation earlier this year when he joined the driving team for CTF’s Racing4Research program, which partners with professional sports car racing to build funding for research and raise awareness of NF. Debuting in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Bell not only raced but performed his usual in-race reporter duties for SPEED. At Daytona, he drove the No. 4 Children’s Tumor Foundation/Racing4Research eBay Motors and eBay Mobile Porsche GT3, uniquely delivering the NF mission and message to thousands of new viewers around the world.
Bell currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children but grew up in England as the son of five-time Le Mans champion and 2012 Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee Derek Bell. Justin was quick to make his own mark in racing, however, and within his first decade of professional competition he won the 1997 FIA (Federation International Automobile) GT2 series at the wheel of a Dodge Viper, earning a World Championship title that few drivers ever achieve in a career.
The Children’s Tumor Foundation’s Annual Benefit Gala is the organization’s largest and most important fundraiser of the year. As many as five hundred of CTF’s friends, family, and supporters are expected to attend and the Foundation will honor three exceptional individuals. Mr. Richard Horvitz and Dr. Kaleb Yohay will receive the Children’s Humanitarian Award, the highest honor given by the Foundation, and Mr. Drew Leathers, who has courageously battled schwannomatosis, the rarest form of NF, for most of his 25 years will be named this year’s Children’s Tumor Foundation Ambassador. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.ctf.org/benefitgala.
Media Contact:
Simon Vukelj
Director of Communications, Children’s Tumor Foundation
T: 212-344-7568
E: svukelj@ctf.org
