KANSAS SPEEDWAY PARTNERING WITH HARVESTERS ON JUNE 3

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (April 12, 2011)–Kansas Speedway President Patrick Warren announced today that Kansas Speedway is partnering with Harvesters – The Community Food Network to benefit Harvesters’ BackSnack program. Fans that attend the June 3 practice sessions for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Kansas Speedway will be able to make a monetary donation to the BackSnack program when they enter the gates at Kansas Speedway.

“This is another opportunity for Kansas Speedway and our fans to make a difference in our community by attending the practice sessions at Kansas Speedway,” said Warren. “The BackSnack program feeds over 1,500 children in Wyandotte County and I want to be able to help as many of these children as we can through our June 3 practice day.”   “Harvesters is proud to be partnering with the Kansas Speedway and thousands of race fans to feed hungry children in our community,” said Harvesters’ President and CEO Karen Haren. “Through their support for BackSnack, race fans are making a difference in young lives by providing nutritious food that will help these students grow strong and excel in school.”  

The BackSnack program, provides backpacks of healthy, kid-friendly food to low-income children who are at risk of being hungry on the weekends. Harvesters provides the food and backpacks, and a community partner cleans and fills the backpacks with food each week. Schools distribute the backpacks on Fridays to students who then bring them back on Mondays to start the process again. This year alone, the BackSnack program is feeding more than 13,000 students each weekend in Harvesters’ 26-county service area.   It takes $200 to provide one backpack to one child for the entire school year.   Volunteers from Harvesters will be on hand to collect the donations at the Speedway or race fans can donate $10 to Harvesters by texting FOOD to 41010.  

Gates open at 8 AM with the first practice session starting at 11:20 AM (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series). The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice starts at 12:30 PM. Admission is free for the day.

Kansas Speedway tickets are on sale now for the 2011 season. Season tickets are available and include two NASCAR Sprint Cup races, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck race, the Kansas Lottery 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race and a Track Pass for each Sunday race event. Individual tickets are also on sale now for all events (June 4 O’Reilly Auto Parts 250, the June 5 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the Oct. 8 Kansas Lottery 300 and the Oct. 9 Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway). Tickets are available by calling 866.460.RACE (7223) or by logging onto www.kansasspeedway.com.  

Parking at Kansas Speedway is always free.   About Harvesters—The Community Food Network Harvesters is this area’s only food bank. Serving a 26-county area ofnorthwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas, Harvesters provides food and related household products to more than 620 not-for-profit agencies including emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, children’s homes, homes for the mentally disabled and shelters for battered persons. Agencies in Harvesters’ network provide food assistance to as many as 66,000 different people each week. Harvesters, which was founded in 1979, is a certified member of Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks, serving all 50 states. For more information, visit www.harvesters.org