The International Diabetes Federation folks have included a shot of 1101 in their new 30-page booklet promoting the World Diabetes Day 2008 campaign. The booklet is available to download as a pdf file in English, French, and Spanish. Click on the image above to download the version of your choice.

We’re taking 1101 to Watsonville tomorrow to be part of a diabetes health fair sponsored by the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust. We’ll have some of the World Diabetes Day crayons to give out and hero cards, naturally.

The Diabetes Fair will be part of the Watsonville farmer’s market on the plaza in downtown. We’ll be on site from 3-7 p.m. If you’re in the area, drop by and say “howdy”.

Ruth with CPMG sent me a link to her Flickr photo set shot as we were setting everything up for the June 8 public event with the International Diabetes Federation at The Cannery on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf.

You can check out the shots here. Lane and Mitch, who were shooting for the IDF, should have some shots online shortly.

More news to come…

I picked up the hero cards that Roxanne designed from Business With Pleasure today and the response has been great. Pretty much the first thing everyone says is “Coooooooool.” Then I get to say “As a matter of fact, I am a race car driver.”

We’ve got 5,000 and will be autographing them this Sunday at the International Diabetes Federation public event at The Cannery on Fisherman’s Wharf from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you’re in the area, come on by.

Check out the PDF version of the back of the card.

Amy Tenderich writes one of the most informative blog in diabetes-related issues - Diabetes Mine. I wanted to thank her for mentioning our June 8 event at The Cannery on Fisherman’s Wharf…

Desert Dingo Racing — Jim Graham and his diabetic Desert Dingo Racing team will make a Sunday appearance at San Francisco’s famous Fisherman’s Wharf. They’ll be autographing “hero cards” featuring photos of their 1969 VW Beetle decorated with warning signs of diabetes on the back. The IDF will be handing out boxes of crayons that also have the warning signs printed on them, and a couple of companies will be offering free diabetes screening.

I’m sure it’ll be ready by next Sunday*

INTERNATIONAL DIABETES FEDERATION and DESERT DINGO RACING HOST DIABETES AWARENESS EVENT ON FISHERMAN’S WHARF

June 8 event will promote the theme of this year’s World Diabetes Day campaign and showcase Desert Dingo Racing’s ‘World Diabetes Day” Baja 1000 race VW

SAN FRANCISCO, June 1, 2008 – The International Diabetes Federation (IDF), its World Diabetes Day official partners and Desert Dingo Racing will co-sponsor a public event at The Cannery on Fisherman’s Wharf on Sunday, June 8 to promote diabetes awareness and education.

The Federation will be distributing World Diabetes Day (WDD) material to draw attention to diabetes in children and inform people of the warning signs of diabetes. Desert Dingo Racing will have its 1969 VW Beetle (the World Diabetes Day car), which raced the 2007 Baja 1000, and team drivers will be on hand to sign hero cards, which also have the warning signs of diabetes printed on them.

Read the entire press release here.

* Relax. This is 1117, which I’m painting at my leisure. 1101 is dialed.

P.S. This is what it looks like when you steal a race motorcycle at yesterday’s Baja 500, throw it in the back of your pickup and tear off into the night, but forget to turn off the GPS transponder.

4,000 boxes of crayons arrived yesterday. DHL driver Clint got a running start in reverse and got the van most of the way up the driveway. I didn’t have a fork lift, so we unloaded an entire pallet’s worth of custom Crayola crayon boxes onto the patio.

From there I hauled them up the side of the house - in 90 degree heat - and into the guest room, which is the coolest part of the house. 4,000 boxes, 24 boxes to a carton. 167 cartons. In the heat. The cats now use them as a perch to watch out for other cats.

We’ll be using the crayons at a public event on Sunday, June 8, with the International Diabetes Federation and several of their corporate partners at The Cannery on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. We’ll have the car and will be signing hero cards, the IDF will be handing out crayons and I’m pretty sure the partners will have educational materials and might be offering blood glucose testing. (The crayons, btw, have the warning signs of diabetes printed on the back) and each box includes a “Sky Blue” crayon - the color of the World Diabetes Day circle logo.

I’ll have more on this event as it gets closer, but definitely mark your calendars. We’ve even lined up Skid to DJ the hits of the 50s, 60s and 70s. It should be a rockin’ time.

Here’s a shot of the crayons, softening in the heat before I got them into the house:

Max Davis, who’s designed for Nike, Intel, Eli Thomas and the SF 49ers, among others, contacted us to offer his services. His father has Type 2 diabetes and when he heard about us, he dropped me a note. (I’m partial to the World Diabetes Day blue circle logos integrated into the wheels). We’re already investigating t-shirts. Max has also helped me put together a sponsorship proposal and is coming out to the photo shoot this Sunday.

Everything’s coming together and I should have news on an event in San Francisco on June 8 pretty quickly.

We’ve scheduled a photo shoot for the car for April 27 at the Bonny Doon Airport. The managers are great folks and, like us, very community oriented. Brooks Institute-trained Santa Cruz photographer Jeff Luhn will do the photography. Larry, of Larry’s Electric, is bringing his boom truck. Why a boom truck, you might ask? Well, we want to simulate a photo of the car being photographed from a helicopter. Something like this, which I got a screen capture from “Dust to Glory”

To recreate this shot on an airport runway, Jeff says we need 25 pounds of flour. I’m guessing whole wheat.

(The above shot is of Eric Solorzano’s car, actually being chased by a helicopter).

We’ll be inviting the airport neighbors to come out and I should have some World Diabetes Day items to give out. If there’s time we hope to give some folks a ride in the car.

The photo will be used on hero cards that we’ll be printing. They’ll have the photo on the front and the warning signs of diabetes on the back. Our first run will be in English, but in advance of the Baja 1000, we’ll also do a print run in Spanish. We’ll be autographing these and giving them out to fans.

We’re also working with the International Diabetes Federation on an event in the Bay Area in early June. More on that once we firm up a few details.

Ok, so in a few hours there’s going to be a lot of text updates and not a lot of photos, so work with us here and appreciate the logistics required to support a race team in the Baja California Desert. Like Seth’s well-outfitted chase truck.

Uh oh. Someone has some ’splaining to do.

We may be slow, but we’re ahead of that Stock Mini class truck. In tech, anyway.

1101 in repose.

Watch for Desert Dingo Baja Champion brand tires at a tire store near you.