NASCAR

LJFF Meets NASCAR

Posted on 08/10/2022

he LeBron James Family Foundation’s signature green and gold colors glowed as the No. 17 car raced down the Michigan International Speedway. The words I PROMISE and We Are Family flew by so many times, people couldn’t stop but notice the phrases that serve as our guiding philosophies. On top of the car, ‘est. Akron’ let the NASCAR and national audience know where we’re from. But Sunday’s incredible race started many years ago with a promise.

6^th grade I PROMISE School student James Bromsey III shared a promise with his late father, who had a dream his son would one day compete in the famous Akron Soap Box Derby. This June, as James sailed down the city streets in his soap box adorned with the IPS and LJFF logos, a dream was fulfilled and a promise kept.

By seeing themselves represented on NASCAR’s biggest stage, we hope this activation shows our kids from Akron they can do and be anything they can dream.

Following this special moment for one of our students, our partners at Fenway were working on something even bigger to fuel James’s and his family’s love of racing.

Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing jumped right in – not only wrapping driving Chris Buesher’s No. 17 car from front to back in LJFF branding – but rolling out the red carpet for James in a once-in-a-lifetime experience at the NASCAR race.

The kid from Akron received an LJFF sendoff with smiles and Swenson’s as his family was driven to Michigan for the night, where they stayed with our friends at Graduate Hotels in Ann Arbor. On race day, James and his family received their VIP passes that opened all access to incredible opportunities including a meet and greet with all the NASCAR drivers and a tour of the NASCAR Cup Series garage on Pit Road. They also got to attend the pre-race driver’s meeting and spend time and take photos with our driver Chris Buesher. James even got to drive in a pace car on the speedway. As the family watched the race live, every lap by the No. 17 car representing him and the kids from Akron was another dream come true.

By seeing themselves represented on NASCAR’s biggest stage, we hope this activation shows our kids from Akron they can do and be anything they can dream. With our family from RFK Racing, a whole new world of possibilities has been opened for them.

We are so thankful to our partners at Fenway for making this experience possible and can’t wait for more to come!

WE ARE FAMILY