The Nationwide Series heads to Texas this coming weekend. It has been really tough for Mike Harmon to get everything race ready for Texas following the theft of all his hauler equipment last month in Vegas. But he had quite a bit of help lining up some sponsors for this weekends event from a big Harmon fan and supporter, Jerry Rubly.
Rubly, is a big time NASCAR fan and a tank electrician who works for the Department Of Defense. He met Harmon last year at Texas Motor Speedway, “On luck,” as he described it. “He just happens to be one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He’s a genuine racer, someone who wants to race. Some people introduced me to him and after talking to him over the last year I can guarantee there is nobody in the Nationwide Series that puts in as many hours a week as he puts in his car. He doesn’t have the budget of Hendrick or Roush or a 40 man crew work working on the car. It’s just Mike and maybe one or two other guys. I talked to him at 10:30 last night and he was headed back to the shop to work on the car some more. That’s the way he gets it all done.”
“I try to help Mike with some sponsorship just because once you get to know him you can see the genuine part of wanting to race. He is the old school, hard core racer. He’s the one that works on his own car and then hauls it to the track. You don’t see that anymore. And with all of his equipment being stolen, it’s even harder for him than before, but, he’s making it work. That’s what he does.”
“He doesn’t just want to start and park, to go out there to make a little money and go home. If you get to know the man he is 100% racer. With Mike being an owner/driver, he appreciates any amount sponsors offer. It all helps and he genuinely appreciates them. He personally acknowledges them and treats them well, the way he feels they should be treated.”
Rubly has been instrumental in getting 2 great sponsors on board for Saturday’s race, those being the Texas Hippie Coalition, a native Texas hard rock band, and Shawn Gibson Logging and Trucking of Oklahoma who has been a great help to Mike. In dealing with the sponsors and Harmon, Jerry has arranged to raffle off some amazing items with 100% of the proceeds going to assist two amazing charities that help children in need.
The first is a charity that is very near and dear to Jerry. 2 years ago Bikers Against Child Abuse, also known as BACA, assisted 2 very young family members of his, who had been sexually molested. This organization was so instrumental in offering constant emotional support and physical presence to these children and their families both before and throughout the trial and, according to Jerry, “stayed with them all the way up until the guy was sentenced to 7 consecutive life sentences.”
Texas Hippie Coalition is so excited to have the band on the hood this weekend and to be a part of this effort. None of the band members have ever attended a race so they are in for a treat, being in the garage and behind the scenes with Harmon! I spoke with Randy Cooper, lead guitarist of THC about this effort.
“Man, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m really looking forward to meeting Mike. When this all came together we were excited, just blown away. I’m really looking forward to it.” We discussed Mike and the hardships of an independent owner/driver and he said those struggles in many ways parallel those of THC. “It’s hard out there,” he continued. “Anything (money) that comes to this band has to go right back in it to keep us out here doing what we do. Man, it’s been tough. There are plenty of times if we get 3 meals a day we’re lucky. But things are looking up. It’s official, so I can let this out. We just got a deal from Sony Records. We had several offers, but, Sony got it right and we have everything we wanted. We’re really excited about it. ”
“We’ve all had this dream and at this age, being 40 years old, we’re all pinching ourselves. We just never gave up, but, the bottom line is we’re a praying band. Once the whole band started praying things have fallen in to place. When we discussed all of this yesterday, we all dropped to our knees and gave the glory to God and thanked him for this deal. There are all these kids that don’t get to come to our shows, high school kids who aren’t really playing yet but have their own little deals going and I get to coach these kids from the internet. And I think if I can tell them anything, have any advice for them, it is to pray and believe in your dreams. They can come true. And also I will tell them don’t fry your brains on drugs, because you’re going to need it. You can’t be jacked up on something when you’re working for this and to remember that all things are possible through Christ, just as the bible says. That’s what we do, so we’re going to do this NASCAR deal this weekend and then we’re heading to the recording studio.”
THC is involved in helping a variety of charities. Little Kids Rock is their choice for this particular alliance. They have been working with this organization for the last 4 years. This organization works to assist schools in purchasing instruments for their music programs. It’s a great way to expose these children to the world of music, something they may never experience otherwise. Little Kids Rock is a non profit organization which offers the largest free instrumental music program for public school children in the US today reaching over 42,000 low income children in 10 different states and 20 different cities.
The donated raffle items include the hood of Mike’s Texas car, autographed by the band and as many drivers, NASCAR personnel, etc as would like to do so. Additional items include a new 110 dirt bike, an autographed 1/24 scale gold Mark Martin ARMY car, a helmet with Truck driver’s, Nationwide driver’s and Cup driver’s autographs including Joey Logano and Dale, Jr, and a TNA firesuit that belonged to and is autographed by Hermie Sadler. Addition items will be added and announced as they are donated. Raffle tickets are being sold now. The longer the tickets are on sale, the more money will be available to help these worthwhile charities. More details will be forthcoming.
If you are interested in purchasing raffle tickets for these items, email Jerry for details at [email protected] or [email protected]
The raffle tickets are on sale now. THC will be selling them during their concerts in to February. The plan is to have the drawing at Daytona in February (exact date to be announced soon) where all items will be given away.
Mike is very excited about this weekend. He didn’t have a lot of time to talk because they were still getting the car ready, but he did offer this. “I really want to thank Jerry for his help in putting this all together. He’s been a lot of help to us and he’s a good guy. And I appreciate THC and Shawn Gibson Logging and Trucking for helping us get back to the track. It’s been tough after all our equipment was stolen.”
“And these two charity organizations give so much help to kids. These kids are our future. Some of these kids just don’t have much in life. And some of them are not raised to care much about the good things life has to offer. BACA and Little Kids Rock are helping our children in very important ways. I’m proud to support them.”
These truly are excellent organizations who are devoted to assisting children. They rely on donations and 100% of all money raised from these raffles will certainly be put to good use by them. If any nonprofit organization is interested in appearing on Harmon’s hood, be sure to contact Jerry Rubly at [email protected] There are several ways to do this and he looks forward to hearing from you.
Please check out these websites. www.bacausa.com and www.littlekidsrock.org
You can follow THC on MySpace.com And be sure to tune in to ESPN2 at 12 noon ET for the O’Reilly Challenge.
