"4Tommy"

The Message of Speed


Photos Courtesy of Martin W. Spetz, Sportscar Photographer

Author’s Note:  I wrote this article over a year ago.  I have edited it from the original content.  It’s a brief glimpse into an event that marks one of the largest and most significant undertakings in the history of motorsport.  I am very proud to have played a small role in this event and very grateful to every single person that helped make this event happen. 
This isn’t a story about the fastest lap, the newest technology, or stunning driving skill.  It’s a story about a young man fighting for his life, a group of amazingly dedicated people, and a mysterious sponsor decal.  Until now, it is a story that hasn’t been told, except around campfires at the odd race event.
It starts with a young man from Cavan, Ontario named Tom.  Tom was 17 years old when I met him.  In his short life, he’d spent over half of it battling a deadly form of cancer that is normally diagnosed in men over their forties.  His high school career consisted of 90% hospitals and 10% school.  Many times doctors had called it quits on him and sent him home with his family to die.  Each time he answered the door when Death came knocking with a snarl and a nasty right hook.  He cheated Death more times than anyone I know.  His will to live was undeniable and something that was easy to see.  The shear strength of that will to live would put anyone else to shame.  Where it came from, I’ll never know.
In 2004, we brought an ailing Tom up to Mosport International Raceway for the ALMS Grand Prix of Mosport.  We treated him to a VIP weekend with the help of the Dyson, Audi, and Corvette teams.  He got the coveted fast laps around Mosport in the Safety Car, and he had a great time.  The following year, 2005, was a very different story.  We had kept in touch with his mom, Sandy, over the off-season and when it was time for the 2005 edition of the Mosport ALMS Grand Prix, Sandy told me one week before the race that Tom had been sent home to die, again.  This time it was the real deal.  Without a bone marrow transplant, Tom was not going to make it.  I hung up the phone after wishing her the best and just stared blankly at the wall in shock.  I was lost.
If Tom wasn’t going to make it to the race, how could we bring the race to him?  Have a driver visit him or maybe a car and team?  Not feasible.  Then it hit me.  We could get the teams to put decals on their race cars for the race on Sunday.  With Tom watching the race at home, he would see the decals.  At this point, I get to take credit for one thing in this whole story and only this one thing.  I came up with the idea of the “4 Tommy” decals.  The execution of something that should have taken months in just under two days is a credit to everyone else, not me.
In a flurry of activity over those two days, my parents sold the idea to IMSA Race Director Marty Kaufman.  Marty, who understands the devastation of cancer better than anyone else, readily agreed to support the idea.  My parents brought CASC-OR driver and entrant Steve Donovan onboard to make the decals in one night for us for free.  On Saturday, my parents hit up every single ALMS team in the paddock and got the decals on all but three cars that competed in the race.  Other friends in racing with connections at the track that weekend campaigned with the TV Production Company to ensure the decals would be visible on the live race broadcast.  Still others helped to convince teams to put the decals on the cars.  When I calculated it out later, we got approximately $200,000 in sponsorship space on these race cars for nothing.  The entire purpose was to send a private message to Tom telling him that the ALMS drivers and teams remembered him and cared.  What made it even more amazing and unique was that Tom wasn’t a racer, a member of a racer’s family, or in any way involved in racing.  He was quite simply a young man from Ontario dying from cancer.  He was, however, very unique and very special.

Tom had a profound effect on everyone he met.  Johnny O’Connell has never forgotten him and neither has Andy Pilgrim, Robin Pratt, Marty Kaufman, or anyone else.  In his struggle and adversity with life, Tom quite simply brought out the best in everyone around him.  The 2005 ALMS race was no exception.  I was working on Turn 4 for the race.  When the cars came out for their “recon” laps prior to the race, I was crying.  On the front windscreen of the Corvettes was “4 Tommy”.  Right where the camera was pointed on the inner fenders of the Miracle Motorsports car was “4 Tommy”.  On the rear side pillars of the Alex Job cars was “4 Tommy”.  On the end plates of the rear wing of the Maserati was “4 Tommy”.  The list goes on and on.  The proof is in the pictures from that race. 

In his living room not far from the track, Tom watched the race and when he saw the decals on the Corvettes he asked him mom about them.  He was shocked that the decals were meant for him.  It was a gesture with so much meaning that it defied words or description.  It was just “4 Tommy’’.
The decals have left their legacy on the sport.  There is a series of 1:18 scale models with the decals on them.  On the odd occasion a message appears in a fan forum wanting to know who the sponsor is that the decal represents, with the poster speculating that the decals are for the clothing company Tommy Hilfiger. 
Tom got a bone marrow transplant in the eleventh hour that allowed him to once again cheat Death.  He has an autographed photo of the number 3 Corvette with the “4 Tommy” decal – a gift from a motorsports photographer that never even met Tom.  Nothing like the “4 Tommy” campaign had ever happened before in motorsport and it has never happened since.  It was unique, special, and the moment the American LeMans Series shone brighter than the brightest star in the heavens. 
Post Script:  After this event, the Number 3 Corvette driven by Johnny O’Connell and Ron Fellows continued to carry the “4 Tommy” decal on the centre windshield of the race car for the remainder of the race season.  As a result, the 2005 Laguna Seca Edition 1:18 model of the car has the decal on it.  It’s a lasting tribute to an amazing young man and story.

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