Diesel Fitness will host the Sled Drive Push For A Cure awareness and fundraising event beginning at 10 a.m. on Feb. 7 at the elite training facility located on 515 North Newport Ave. in Tampa. All proceeds will benefit The Dan Wheldon Foundation, created by Sue Wheldon to continue his work of giving back and supporting the Alzheimer's Association.
This will be the first year for the event, which will feature a sled drive competition for men, women and teams. Diesel Fitness owner Mark Gochenour created the competition in honor of Wheldon, a good friend who had begun training with Gochenour during Wheldon's racing days.
Wheldon, an IndyCar Series Driver and two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, died in an on-track accident in October 2011. Before his death, Wheldon was working on events to raise awareness about Alzheimer's, which affects his mother.
“Dan first started training with me six years ago and we eventually developed a close friendship,” Gochenour said. “He was an amazing person who was motivated to do more things than just racing. He wanted to give back as much as possible and this is one way of honoring him.”
The competition will feature a men's, women's, and team competition involving a sled drive where competitors push a training sled 25 yards, turn and push it back 25 yards to the finish. Men will push 180 pounds of weight and women will push 90 pounds. The team competition will include two men and two women. Fastest time wins each division. There is a $20 donation for each timed sled push.
Prizes include gift cards to a variety of locations, memberships and personal training sessions at Diesel Fitness, gas cards, airbrush tanning at KIKI Tan Mobile Airbrush Tanning, and more to be announced.
Wheldon's widow, Susie, created The Dan Wheldon Foundation and Memorial to keep her husband's legacy alive. This includes creating and supporting events that help raise awareness for Alzheimer's Disease.
Dan, whose mother has Alzheimer's, was working with the Alzheimer's Association to raise awareness about the disease when he died in an on-track accident during the 2011 season-ending IndyCar race at Las Vegas Speedway. Wheldon won the IndyCar Series in 2005, which included a first place finish at the Indy 500. He repeated as Indy 500 champion in 2011. In his career, he won 16 races. A native of England, Wheldon made St. Petersburg his adopted home in 2005 when he moved to Coffee Pot Bayou with Susie and the couple's children, Sebastien and Oliver.
For more information about the 2015 Diesel Fitness Push For A Cure event, visit dieselfitness813.com or contact 813-446-4570 or gatorgoch@yahoo.com.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2015.