A Racing Dream Comes True!

To my surprise, I was asked to find a recipient for several gift certificates from the famous Bondurant Racing School near Phoenix.  The certificates were of substantial value and could be used to cover the cost of a high-performance driving class. 

As GAC’s expertise is cars and racing, and we are flush with contacts who love cars, I wasn’t sure why they needed me to do this. I later learned that Dan, our company owner, wanted to find a true fan of racing who might never otherwise be able to attend a school like Bondurant.

We worked with Steve Skroch, who directs the automotive technology department at Mesa Community College in Mesa, AZ, to find the best possible candidates.  Steve is as passionate about teaching as he is about cars and really helped out with the selection process.

While there are lots of people who like cars, we wanted to find someone who was a car enthusiast of epic proportions - someone who truly dreamed of racing, and for whom the gift certificates would be really meaningful. Additionally, we wanted the recipient to be someone with good character and a strong work ethic who would really deserve the gift. To help us with this task, working with Steve, we asked each candidate to write an essay telling us about his love for cars, and why taking a class at Bondurant would be a dream come true. 

After looking at many essays and much consideration, we selected Elias Vasquez, a graduating senior at Metro Tech High School in Phoenix, AZ.   Elias was also a participant in the Legacy Program, which provides career development for promising, at-risk teens. Steve volunteers with the program and he connected us with the Legacy Program and Elias.

Needless to say, Elias was very surprised and excited to receive the award, which was presented to him at his Legacy Program graduation!  As part of GAC, it’s great to be able to give a deserving young man the perhaps once-in-a-lifetime experience of driving a high-performance vehicle on a racetrack.  It’s also great to be working for a company that makes social responsibility a priority.