Published: February 23, 2007 05:09 pm            

Race fans support ‘Brian’s Wish’

What started as a group of friends getting together to enjoy the Indianapolis 500 has turned into an annual fundraiser to benefit research to fight Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Former Indianapolis resident Glenn Harm and a few of his close friends and family fell in love with Indy racing.

“I lived in Indy from 1990 to ‘93 and got sucked into the excitement of Indy and Indy racing,” Harm said. “From ‘94 to ‘97, I lived in Michigan and would frequently drive to Indy for various weekend activities each May. In ‘97, we moved to Denver and I’ve only missed a year or two of Indy since then.”

Harm and two of his close friends, brothers Jim Hamilton of San Diego and Tom Hamilton of Lebanon, Ohio, started hosting parties in the Coke Lot at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The group became known as “Camp and Brew.”

“I was mostly an ‘Indy only’ guy until 1996 when Tony George started the Indy Racing League,” Harm explained. “My wife, Janet, and I were at the inaugural Indy Racing League race at Walt Disney World in 1996, and I’ve followed the league closely since then.”

Through the years, Camp and Brew became familiar with an Indianapolis-area charity called Brian’s Wish Foundation. The group is named in honor of Brian Hall who was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“Tom and I became aware of Brian’s situation from Barb Lyons, aka, ‘Aunt Barb’ from the online racing forums at TrackForum.com,” Harm said.

Hall had been an avid race fan and the group was originally formed to “put a smile back on his face.”

Hall’s mother, Mary Ann Miller of Fishers, helped start the organization calling to action members of her family and friends.

“We started this a little over five years ago,” Miller said. “Brian wanted to spread awareness about ALS.”

Miller said the racing community got behind Brian’s Wish and started displaying decals on the cars and making small donations.

“We are a small charity,” Miller said. “We’ve raised little bits and dabbles here and there.”

Hall died on Carburetion Day 2002 at the age of 33.

“And at the Indy 500 that year, 27 out of 33 cars wore those decals,” Miller said.

She said she feels blessed that so many individuals and groups have embraced Brian’s Wish mission.

“Groups like Camp and Brew have raised so much money,” Miller said. “And they’re helping with awareness.”

Recently, the Brian’s Wish Fund, managed by the Hendricks County Community Foundation, was able to give a $20,000 grant to the Robert Packard Center of ALS Research at Johns Hopkins.

The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research’s sole purpose is to develop new therapies to slow or cure ALS. It operates with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, but its scope is international.

“At first, we just wanted to raise awareness,” Miller said. “But people have made enough donations so we could make this grant possible for research.”

Harm said it’s been an honor to raise money for Brian’s Wish.

“My grandmother died from ALS, so between my personal link to ALS, the racing tie that Brian had, his family, his hospice nurse Barb, and TrackForum, trying to raise some money for that newly formed charity was just a natural, easy choice,” he said.

For more information about Brian’s Wish, visit the website at brianswish.com. For more information about Camp and Brew, visit the website at CampAndBrew.com.

To make a donation to Brian’s Wish Fund, call the Hendricks County Community Foundation at 718-1200.

brenda.holmes@flyergroup.com

        

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