LOCAL SPORTS

Amidst the flying dirt, exhaust fumes and roar of engines at area racetracks this summer will be a flash of pink.

DeMotte's James "Bubba" Ahrendt has turned his high-powered converted Monte Carlo into roaring logo for Northwest Indiana's Pink Ribbon Society.

When Ahrendt and his father, Jim, began working on his new car, he turned to his aunt, Anne Peters, for inspiration. Peters is a 31-year survivor of breast cancer who founded the Pink Ribbon Society to benefit area breast cancer survivors.

The money raised by the society helps to fund mammograms for underprivileged breast cancer patients and wigs for patients undergoing treatment that causes them to lose their hair. The society also helps fund other breast cancer support groups in the Region.

To honor Peters' 31 years as a survivor, Ahrendt's pink and black car is ordained with a large 31. It is also covered in logos for the Pink Ribbon Society.

"The whole purpose of this is my aunt," Ahrendt said. "Back in the 70s, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had extensive surgeries and she survived it.

"She founded the Pink Ribbon Society a few years ago, and they do some really good things."

Besides racing at Kamp Motor Speedway in Boswell, Ahrendt hopes to be able to bring his car to area breast cancer walks and other events.

"I just think it's fabulous," Peters said about her nephew's efforts. "(Ahrendt) has always been very sensitive to my breast cancer organization, and the fact that I'm a survivor."

While it may at first seem like a strange place to advertise a breast cancer society at a Northwest Indiana racetrack, Peters sees it as a way to spread the message to a demographic that may not always receive the message.

"The thing is that breast cancer does not choose an audience," Peters said. "It happens to rich and poor. It happens to young and old. It can happen to professional women, and it can happen to race fans.

"It doesn't matter where we promote who we are because the need is there for everyone."