Yellow Transportation and Sprint Announce Sponsorship of the Kansas Busch Series Race on Behalf of United Way
May 20 2005 - 12:40PM
PR Newswire (US)
Yellow Transportation and Sprint Announce Sponsorship of the Kansas
Busch Series Race on Behalf of United Way United Way 300 Presented
by Yellow Transportation and Sprint to be Run at Kansas Speedway
KANSAS CITY, Kan., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- In an unprecedented
event, two leading Kansas City area corporations -- Yellow
Transportation and Sprint -- today announced that they would
sponsor this year's NASCAR Busch Series race at Kansas Speedway on
behalf of the Greater Kansas City United Ways. The race, to be run
on October 8, 2005 and televised nationally on NBC, will be known
as "United Way 300 Presented by Yellow Transportation and Sprint."
Representatives of the two corporations said the goal of their
partnership would be to raise the visibility of and level of
contributions to this fall's community-wide fundraising campaign
for the Kansas City area's largest charity. "The Kansas City
community has been very good to Yellow Transportation and we take
pride in our sponsorship efforts, such as NASCAR," said William D.
Zollars, chairman of the board, president and chief executive
officer of Yellow Roadway Corporation. "This endeavor represents a
wonderful opportunity to bring both community and sponsorship
together in a fun and innovative way. By donating the title
sponsorship of the race to the Greater Kansas City United Ways, we
have the opportunity to act upon one of our core values --
demonstrating good corporate citizenship -- and truly help one of
the organizations that makes our community so great." In addition
to his role at Yellow Roadway, Zollars also serves as this year's
volunteer co-chair of the Kansas City Area United Way campaign.
"Every day the Greater Kansas City United Ways make a difference --
either directly or indirectly -- in the lives of all Kansas
Citians," added Michael Fuller, president and chief operating
officer of Sprint Local Telecommunications Division and member of
the Heart of America United Way Board of Directors. "Sprint and our
16,000 local associates are proud to be a part of this community
and proud to do our part to make Kansas City a great place to live
and work." "Sprint and Yellow Transportation are committed to
helping this year's campaign end up in 'Victory Lane,' and today is
just one example of how we are coming together to help raise the
visibility of United Way and provide additional fundraising
resources at a very important time of the year for this great
organization, both here in Kansas City and around the country."
Under terms of the agreement announced at today's press conference
at Kansas Speedway, the Greater Kansas City United Ways --
including five United Ways in Kansas and Missouri -- will receive
numerous assets that will help United Way remind the community of
the important role it plays in the everyday lives of thousands of
people in the community. The robust sponsorship package includes
race tickets, the right to use the mark/logo in promotional
materials and other tools that will assist the United Way in this
year's campaign. "In just five years, our NASCAR weekend has become
one of the largest tourist events in Kansas and Missouri," said
Jeff Boerger, president of Kansas Speedway. "Sponsorship of NASCAR
events has been shown to be an excellent way for corporations to
raise their overall awareness in the community. Through this unique
arrangement with Yellow and Sprint, we are excited to help United
Way harness the power of NASCAR to ensure this year's campaign is
the best ever." In addition to the sponsorship package, Kansas
Speedway and the Midwest Ford Dealers are also donating a Ford F150
truck to United Way for use in an upcoming fundraising promotion
and the Speedway is contributing an additional block of tickets for
the United Ways to use during qualifying day. "On behalf of the
Kansas area City United Ways, I want to thank Yellow, Sprint and
Kansas Speedway for giving us this opportunity," said Tom Dugard,
president of Heart of America United Way. Not only will the United
Way 300 provide unprecedented visibility for United Way at an
important time of year, it will help us inject an extra dose of fun
and excitement into this year's campaign. Regardless of which
driver ultimately wins the race, the real winners will be the many
thousands of people in our community who are touched by the
hundreds of programs funded by United Way. Yellow Transportation
will further enhance the branding effort by converting its No. 1
Yellow Transportation car into a special United Way- themed car for
the October race. Last year, the Greater Kansas City United Ways
raised more $38 million to support programs that respond to a wide
range of community issues through nearly 150 nonprofit agencies
throughout the metro area. Last year, services supported by the
United Ways acted as the safety net for the 32,000 families in our
community who are living in poverty. Moreover, United Way linked
over 21,000 volunteers with local nonprofit agencies who worked to
improve the lives of young children, teens, seniors and families
throughout the Greater Kansas City area. About Yellow Roadway
Corporation Yellow Roadway Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, is
one of the largest transportation service providers in the world.
Through its subsidiaries including Yellow Transportation, Roadway
Express, New Penn Motor Express, Reimer Express, Meridian IQ and
Yellow Roadway Technologies, Yellow Roadway provides a wide range
of asset and non-asset-based transportation services integrated by
technology. The portfolio of brands provided through Yellow Roadway
Corporation subsidiaries represents a comprehensive array of
services for the shipment of industrial, commercial and retail
goods domestically and internationally. Headquartered in Overland
Park, Kansas, Yellow Roadway Corporation employs over 50,000
people. About Sprint Sprint offers an extensive range of innovative
communication products and solutions, including global IP,
wireless, local and multiproduct bundles. A Fortune 100 company
with more than $27 billion in annual revenues in 2004, Sprint is
widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state-
of-the-art network technologies, including the United States' first
nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network; an award-winning Tier
1 Internet backbone; and one of the largest 100-percent digital,
nationwide wireless networks in the United States. For more
information, visit http://www.sprint.com/mr. About Greater Kansas
City United Ways The five local United Ways in the Kansas City area
work together on a joint community-wide fundraising campaign and
joint fund distribution system. They include Bi-County United Way
of Cass & Jackson, Inc., Heart of America United Way, Northland
United Way Services, United Way of Johnson County, United Way of
Wyandotte County, Inc. Together, they fund more than 350 programs
that help more than 200,000 people per year in the Kansas City
area. About Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of International Speedway Corporation (ISC)
(NASDAQ:ISCA)(OTC:ISCB) (BULLETIN BOARD: ISCB) , a leading promoter
of motorsports activities in the United States. Including Kansas
Speedway, ISC owns, operates and/or has interest in 12 major
motorsports facilities that promote more than 100 events annually.
For ticket information, call Kansas Speedway at 913.328.RACE or
toll free at 866.460.RACE, visit http://www.kansasspeedway.com/ or
come by 400 Speedway Blvd., Kansas City, Kan. DATASOURCE: Yellow
Transportation CONTACT: Greg Stanko of Yellow Transportation,
+1-301-938-9794, ; Jennifer Bosshardt of Sprint, +1-913-794-1130, ;
Ron Howard of United Way, +1-816-559-4644, ; or Sammie Lukaskiewicz
of Kansas Speedway, +1-913-328-3311, Web site:
http://www.sprint.com/mr http://www.kansasspeedway.com/
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