August 2001 • Volume 7 • Number 8
His wheels are smokin', but he's not
BY TONI LAPP
Tar Wars proponent and NASCAR driver John Baumgartner will bring a racecar to the Assembly in Atlanta. Meet him at the exposition hall of the Georgia World Congress Center.Usually, John Baumgartner drives a company car -- a silver Chevy Impala. But on NASCAR race weekends, the pharmaceutical rep from Los Angeles chases a checkered flag in a 450-horsepower NASCAR Pontiac Grand Prix -- and it's emblazoned with the logo for Tar Wars, the Academy's tobacco-free prevention program.
Academy members and their guests attending the AAFP Scientific Assembly in Atlanta will be able to meet Baumgartner on-site Oct. 4 - 6 and sit in an authentic race car, courtesy of a grant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals. The car, retrofitted by Denver, N.C.-based Last Lap Restorations Inc., features computer equipment that simulates the experience of driving a race car for the person in the driver's seat.
Taking a stand against tobacco is a bold move in the racing business, a sport in which the name for the highest prize -- the Winston Cup -- is synonymous with cigarettes.
But Baumgartner, once a sales representative for Philip Morris, is motivated. He lost his father -- a lifelong smoker -- to cardiovascular disease in 1997. That's when he quit his job and went to work as a pharmaceutical rep. With money from his father's estate, he began to build his race car -- a rolling tribute to his father, a racing fan.
"I figured I would just race a couple times a year, but I found I really liked it," says Baumgartner. Fueled by a desire to counter tobacco's pervasive presence at the racetrack, he pledged to use his car to promote the anti-tobacco message.
Finalists in the annual Tar Wars National Poster Contest gathered for an awards ceremony July 17 on Capitol Hill. The winning poster, above, was created by Leah Norsworthy, 11, of Choctaw, Okla.Yet Baumgartner lacked a curriculum for his message. That's where Tar Wars came in.
He was moved to find out more about the program when he visited a family physician's office last year and saw the children's Tar Wars posters on the wall.
The Tar Wars staff couldn't be happier to have Baumgartner on board. Baumgartner gives a powerful presentation, says Sarah McMullen, Tar Wars manager. "He draws you in, and you want to be part of his tobacco-free racing campaign."
Baumgartner receives no money from Tar Wars or the Academy; the alliance is strictly for each party's mutual benefit. Tar Wars receives free advertising in a venue that is popular with youngsters, and Baumgartner receives the credibility of the Tar Wars name in promoting his message.
He still has a long way to go to achieve his dream of fielding the first tobacco-free race car in the Winston Cup series. Although he has six top-10 finishes in his short racing career, he has yet to garner a first-place finish. But Baumgartner says all the building blocks are in place, and he's optimistic about his future in racing. Yet something higher is at stake than mere standings at the races, he says.
"If I could reach kids and at the same time pay tribute to my father, it would be incredible," he says. "It's like a dream."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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