Jackson Heights, NY — This Saturday, September 16th at the Bellmore Family Street Festival, United Spinal Association, in collaboration with the Bonsignore Race Team, will be providing free mousepads of Long Island Riverhead Raceway driver Justin Bonsignore’s modified racecar. The Bonsignore’s, who have been strong supporters of United Spinal’s mission, have displayed the United Spinal logo on the #28 car since the beginning of the 2006 season. “We are honored to be working with Justin and his race team. They are truly committed to increasing public awareness about spinal cord injuries, which affects thousands of individuals and families each year,” said Billy Hannigan, United Spinal’s senior membership consultant.

Hannigan, who sustained a spinal cord injury in a motorcycle accident in 1995, recently competed under the United Spinal Motorsports flag in a one-on-one spectator drag race at Riverhead to promote the program and the organization’s sponsorship of Bonsignore. “I took my truck, which is equipped with hand controls out to the track to make more people aware that there are many opportunities for people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) to compete on an equal playing field with people who are able-bodied,” Hannigan said. “You just have to get out there and do it. That’s the United Spinal Motorsports’ motto: Living Life In Motion.” He added, “While it is our goal to educate the public about SCI/D, we also want to encourage our members who have spinal cord disabilities to participate in competitive motorsports.” Our partnership with the Bonsignore Racing Team and a young up-and-coming driver like Justin who understands what we are about, makes this vision a reality.”

United Spinal will join the Bonsignore Race Team at the Festival on Saturday handing out the free mousepads.

United Spinal Association is a national not-for-profit organization enhancing the lives of people with spinal cord injuries and disorders. The Association sponsors a wide variety of wheelchair recreational and adaptive sports programs guided by the belief that the benefits of participating in sports are no different for athletes with disabilities than for able-bodied athletes. Membership is free and open to all individuals with disabilities of the spinal cord.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 13th, 2006 at 7:15 am and is filed under Events, Sports, United Spinal News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.