Racing to End Alzheimer’s to be represented in the Porsche Owners Club

The organization now recognized as a series partner, with one of the Porsche race cars utilizing the familiar purple and yellow Racing to End Alzheimer’s livery

LOS ANGELES (28 February 2024) – The Racing to End Alzheimer’s team branches out to a new series in 2024, partnering with racer Karen Robinson to rebrand her Porsche Spec Boxster with the familiar purple and yellow paint scheme in the Porsche Owners Club’s (POC) racing series.

Robinson is a longtime friend of Racing to End Alzheimer’s founder Phil Frengs and his wife Mimi, whose diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s in 2013 was the inspiration for the program. Since 2017, when the familiar “names” livery first appeared, Racing to End Alzheimer’s has raised over $1 million for their beneficiary organizations – $254,000 in 2023 alone. Every donation of $250 (which puts the name of a loved one who has suffered from dementia or Alzheimer’s on the race car) is matched by Frengs’ company Legistics, and every dollar goes to “fund the care and find the cure.”

“This is a great new program for us,” said Frengs. “Karen is so enthusiastic about it, as is everyone we’ve met from the POC.  They’re excited to help us bring the Racing to End Alzheimer’s to their events. It’s a great chance to reach a new audience and to encourage more people to join us by putting their own family or friends’ names on her car.”

Robinson’s No. 346 Porsche Boxster will carry the Racing to End Alzheimer’s logo, with room on the rear decklid to add the loved ones of POC members. Those names will also appear on the Racing to End Alzheimer’s No. 43 Porsche Carrera Cup car.

The POC conducts race events at a variety of tracks throughout the West Coast, including Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Spring Mountain (Nevada), Sonoma, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Robinson has been a regular since she bought her first Porsche in 2016, balancing her work as a commercial lending and small business lender with her racing program.

“Last year was my fourth year of racing the car competitively,” said Robinson, who carried the No. 1 last year as the member with the highest number of volunteer hours. “It’s cool that all of us can have our regular lives and then, on the weekends, go and do this other thing that is so opposite of what we do for a living. We often talk about it, in that the complete focus that’s required when you’re racing pushes anything that you’ve got in your brain away – which is both intense and relaxing.”

Robinson and her late husband Mark first met the Frengses close to 40 years ago, when Mark took over graphic design work for Legistics. The quartet became good friends, with the Robinsons supporting Phil after Mimi’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s in 2013.

“The irony is – her brain and her mind were so sharp,” Robinson remembers. “She had a wicked sense of humor, I just loved being around her positive energy. I am grateful that we had a chance to get to know each other before she got sick.”

Seeing the impact that Racing to End Alzheimer’s has had over the years, Robinson decided to make her own contribution in 2024, connecting the POC with Frengs and helping to bring on the organization as a POC partner.

“I felt that there was a connection here, between the POC members and the chance for advocacy,” said Robinson. “There’s a way that we can help our club members to raise awareness and to help raise funds. I thought it was a great match for the club and our club president, John Momeyer, agreed. We can help share each other’s stories across social media, highlight them in our publications, including our monthly e-magazine Velocity, and help spread the word.”

Robinson’s new livery will make its debut in the POC event at Willow Springs in May.