CUP: Kahne Helps Others

Sprint Cup

CUP: Kahne Helps Others

Kasey Kahne spends his spare time helping others through his foundation...

SceneDaily.com | Posted December 17, 2010 Charlotte, NC

Kasey Kahne's rise through the ranks of NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series has enabled the driver to help others through the formation of his Kasey Kahne Foundation. (Photo: Courtesy Ronald McDonald House)

Article by Jay Pfeifer, scenedaily.com

When Kasey Kahne heads home after a long day at his sprawling Sprint car shop – where he spends virtually every minute of his free time – he winds around the inlets of Lake Norman to a spacious Tudor home that offers unobstructed views of the reservoir.

But were it not for the floor-to-ceiling windows, Kahne would hardly know the water was there. Looking at the lake was as close as Kahne got in 2009.

“I live on the water and last year, I never even spent a single day on the water,” Kahne says.

But don’t mistake the lament for self-pity. He wouldn’t mind more time to enjoy the body of water that lies just steps from his back door – in fact, he picked up his first boat in May of this year – but Kahne doesn’t resent his busy schedule.

“If I were just a race car driver, I’d have too many days off. I’d feel like I was a little bit on the worthless side,” the 30-year-old driver says. “I want to stay busy. I want to do the right things. Not just hang out on the lake all day.”

By almost any measure, Kahne is doing a lot of the right things.

On the track, he has won 11 races in a seven-year Cup career and recently signed a deal with Hendrick Motorsports to drive the No. 5 Chevy starting in 2012. (Kahne will drive for Red Bull Racing in 2011.)

While his racing career flourishes, his other passion, the Kasey Kahne Foundation, has grown into one of the most active philanthropic organizations in a sport chock full of big givers.

But five years ago, his foundation didn’t even exist.

Back then, Kahne was coming off a star-making rookie season in which he finished second in five races (and scored 13 top-fives) and ran off with the 2004 Cup Rookie of the Year award. He rocketed to stardom on the strength of his racing, but also won the hearts of many NASCAR fans with his clean-cut good looks.

Kahne immediately experienced the tidings of life in the spotlight: fame, fortune and an endless number of calls asking for his help.

Like anyone, he tried to do all he could.

“I would hear about someone having a hard time and just try to help them personally,” he says.

But it didn’t take long for Kahne and his older sister, Shanon Adams, to see that not only was it impossible to give to every cause that requested his assistance, it was hard just keeping track of Kasey’s giving.

A foundation, suddenly, started to seem like a logical next step even though Kahne was only in his second year of Cup competition. At the most basic level, a foundation would help structure Kahne’s gifts.

Kasey Kahne is driving the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season for Red Bull Racing before heading to Hendrick Motorsports. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“Kasey wanted to give back,” Adams says. “And the foundation gave us a way to organize it instead of just giving a little here and a little there.”

But the siblings were also building something far greater than a clearinghouse for the driver’s donations. The Kasey Kahne Foundation would allow him to enlist his fellow drivers and race fans and compound his ability to help.

“I wanted to do more than just write a check,” he says. “If I could persuade other people – fans, drivers, whoever – to give too, I could do a lot more good.”

The foundation would also give Kahne some much-needed focus in his giving. Inspired by a friend’s struggle with a terminal illness, Kahne knew exactly who he wanted to help: chronically ill children.

“You see a lot of good causes – animals, autism – there are so many great things. Everyone has his or her own thing,” he says. “But I always just wanted to put a smile on a child’s face.”

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