Emergency Service Personnel Form Charity to Help Injured Kids

Since 1992, Firefighter Brian Blaise and his race team made up of family, friends, and fellow firefighters, including Mike Hoehn, have been involved in racing at the Thompson Speedway in Thompson, CT. The team has had numerous top ten finishes and several heat race wins throughout the years and in 2006 took a 1st place victory!

In 2002, they became aware of a charity called the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation that operates the Children’s Burn Camp every summer.
Learn more about The Camp…

The camp accepts severely burned children from all over the East Coast and even some kids from other parts of the world for a week of camping and fun. An idea was born: they could combine a passion for racing, their expertise as firefighters and the ability to support a great cause. Since 2002, all of the proceeds from racing and sponsorships have been donated to the Children’s Burn Camp.

Since the 2003 season, Bob Holdsworth and Tim Pelton and their consulting firm, Holdsworth Pelton, has supported the mission through sponsorship of the racecar.

In late 2004, Brian and Mike enlisted Bob and Tim to help improve the marketing for the 2005 season so that the mission could gain recognition and they could potentially raise more money for the kids.

The group decided to establish an organization with a mission that could be spread through the unique networks of the fire and emergency service agencies, the medical profession, the business community, and NASCAR that would eventually be something larger than just the efforts of Brian’s racecar alone.

The result was Laps of Hope, Inc. which was founded in April, 2005 by the four Connecticut emergency service professionals. Through their connections with other firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, medical professionals, business leaders, and you, the organization plans to grow into a well-known national charity with chapters in multiple states, spanning multiple sports.

501(c) 3 tax-exempt, charitable organization status was granted to Laps of Hope in April 2006.

Here in Connecticut, car #51 is driven at the Thompson International Speedway by founder and President Brian Blaise.

Over time, we envision that Laps of Hope will encompass many other competitive racing sports and will enjoy expanded visibility through the creation of new chapters in other states.

Please join us by supporting the mission with a financial contribution and by spreading the word.