Dogecoin and Reddit Partner with Phil Parsons Racing for Talladega:
In a partnership effort between Dogecoin and Reddit, the #98 Ford Fusion of Phil Parsons Racing will have a new look at Talladega. Earlier this year, Reddit user and tech fan Denis Pavel noticed a plain black car with a driver he felt ‘raced the wheels off the car’ during a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. The lack of sponsorship caused Pavel to think of some of the significant fundraisers that he’s witnessed on the Reddit platform.
“I didn’t really know much about Dogecoin or Reddit when Denis Pavel initially reached out to us about the race at Talladega Superspeedway,” commented Parsons. “He watched a race on television and was excited about what he saw from Josh Wise and our team. We were able to connect on Twitter and everything took off from there-it’s amazing how social media allows sports fans to actually connect to us, and that it would allow something like this to come together. As far as I know, this is the first online effort like this that’s been able to fund sponsorship for a NASCAR team, so it’s pretty cool to be a part of it.”
“I knew that Dogecoin had done some significant fundraisers, like sending the Jamaican bobsled team to the Olympics,” Pavel said. “I was thinking what kind of response I would get if I did ask the (Reddit) community about sponsoring a Sprint Cup car. They were all with it.”
Familiar with the digital currency Dogecoin, the 16-year-old Pavel from Niles, Ill., decided to utilize the currency to raise sponsorship funds for driver Josh Wise and the #98 Ford Fusion team. Exceeding their initial goal by 10% within the opening week, Dogecoin and Reddit were able to partner with Phil Parsons Racing for the Sprint Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway.
“We are all about fun and goofiness,” commented Ben Doernberg, board member at the Dogecoin Foundation. “At the same time, we want to make sure that digital currency is really giving back to the world. We do feel like this is a technology that can make the world a better place, and we want to put that into practice by doing fundraisers.”
To date, this marks the first fundraising effort through Dogecoin and Reddit to sponsor a NASCAR race team. In addition to raising funds online, the team also took to the internet allowing Reddit users to vote on a paint scheme for Sunday’s event. “The more we’ve walked through this fundraising effort, it has really been special to us,” commented Wise. “People are noticing our effort. We’re a tiny little team with seven or eight employees. The amount of support we’re getting from the Reddit community ... we’re just trying to do the best job we can.”(Phil Parsons Racing), see images of the scheme/car on the #98 Team Schemes page.(5-1-2014)
Earnhardt Jr. voted first quarter Driver of the Year:
Two-time Daytona 500 winner, #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., was named winner of the first quarter Driver of the Year Award 2014. NASCAR’s perennial fan favorite won title in the voting by an elite panel of American broadcasters and journalists Ending an almost two-year winless drought Earnhardt took the checkered flag in the season opening, and rain-delayed, Daytona 500. In the first quarter, which ended with race in Darlington, he added three second-place and one third-place finishes. In the voting Earnhardt, who drives the #88 National Guard Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports, had seven first-place ballots and totaled 88 points according to the Driver of the Year points system.
Kevin Harvick, who drives the #4 Budweiser Chevy in NASCAR, and Australia’s Will Power who drives the #12 Verizon Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske tied for second place with 80 points. Harvick had five first-place votes and Australia’s Power had three. Chase Elliott burst into the limelight scoring 37 points, one first-place vote and finished fourth, in the ballot driving for Earnhardt’s JRM Nationwide Series team. And Kyle Busch also garnered one first-place vote A total of 20 drivers scored points in the first quarter voting. In its’ 48th year, the Driver of the Year title is unique. The panel of 17 leading journalists and broadcasters from across the U.S. determines the winner. In quarterly voting, points are awarded on a declining 9, 6, 4,3,2,1 basis. Earnhardt will receive a trophy and a Tissot wristwatch to be presented at a race weekend at to be determined.(DOTY)(5-1-2014)