Racing to End Alzheimer’s will join a new racing series this weekend, as Christian Weir and TechSport Racing will carry the now familiar orange and purple colors in the Toyota GR Cup series.
Racing to End Alzheimer’s mission is to bring awareness about Alzheimer’s to tracks all over North America, helping friends and family honor loved ones who have suffered from the disease. Entering an entirely new racing series – and joining an entirely new paddock – furthers that cause dramatically.
Weir, 18, and his family have personal experience in the toll the disease takes – Weir’s grandfather Thomas was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s more than 10 years ago, though recent breakthrough medication treatments have helped keep the worst of the disease at bay. Racing to End Alzheimer’s founder Phil Frengs met the Weirs several years ago and gave them a decal to put on Christian’s junior formula car. Keeping in touch since then, the partnership was formalized this season, with Weir now bringing the iconic “names” livery to the Toyota GR Cup series.
Working with the Weir family highlights the primary goal of Racing to End Alzheimer’s: to “fund the care and find the cure.” As new Alzheimer's drugs – like those being tested by one of Racing to End Alzheimer’s two beneficiaries, the Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist – have been approved, patients like Thomas Weir have seen the disease’s pace dramatically slowed.
"Thomas was on a combination of Memantine ER and Donepezil HCl but once Namzaric was approved, he started that and has been taking it ever since,” said Tami Weir, Christian’s mother. “His disease has progressed very slowly compared to others thanks to the medications, so we all consider ourselves fortunate and blessed when we consider how bad it could be."
Racing to End Alzheimer’s gives families the chance to honor loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. For a $250 donation, the family member’s name and hometown is now placed on both Weir’s No. 71 Toyota GR Cup car and on the No. 19 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge car.
About Racing to End Alzheimer's: (Website)
In 2013, Phil Frengs’s late wife Mimi was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Their experience with the disease led Frengs to a seminal moment: his company, Legistics, had long sponsored a team in IMSA sports car racing and he realized an opportunity to raise money and awareness for the fight against the disease. In 2017, he formed Racing to End Alzheimer's, giving fans the opportunity to honor loved ones by putting their names on the race car via donation – with Legistics matching each donation. 100% of those donations go to the two organizations the team supports:
The Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist is exploring cutting edge strategies in therapy, care and research to find a cure for these dementias. NNAC was founded by longtime CBS Sports broadcaster Jim Nantz and his family in honor of his father, Jim, Jr., who passed away after a 13-year battle with Alzheimer’s.
The UCLA Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program is a nationally-recognized grant-funded program designed to help patients and their families with the complex medical, behavioral and social needs associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.