Ford Dealer Service Director’s JDRF T-Shirt Design Wins Trip to Ford Championship Weekend

Self-described life-long NASCAR “fanatic” Patty Chemberlin of Imlay City, Mich., service director at the Lasco Ford dealership in Trenton, is the big winner of the T1D, Motorcraft & Me “Customize for a Cause” t-shirt design contest to benefit JDRF.

Chemberlin’s winning design features the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion NASCAR racer appearing to drive off the wearer’s chest over the words: “Helping Break Through to Cure Type 1 Diabetes.”

She and three family members will be the guests of Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing during Ford Championship Weekend for the final race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Nov. 17-19.

Her design also will be featured as a decal the side panels of the iconic Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 during that weekend’s Ford EcoBoost 400, which will decide the 2017 series champion.

Defeating diabetes is a cause close to Chemberlin’s heart, as her father, who introduced her to racing when she was young, died from diabetic complications six years ago.

“This kind of really struck home for me,” Chemberlin said. “This is a great charity.”

She brought the idea of offering t-shirts to customers to dealership principal Jay Lasco who not only approved the plan but helped make the design a reality on his computer.

“We came up with the ‘breakthrough’ idea and I love how he made the car look like it’s driving off the shirt,” Chemberlin said.

Team Lasco raised $1,270 with its t-shirt sales, approximately 10 percent of the total $12,000 raised by the campaign.

“I tied our Owners Advantage rewards program to the charity,” Chemberlin explained. “If customers bought a T-shirt, we put 10 points in their Owners Advantage account. Plus, a lot of employees bought T-shirts. It really turned out nice.”

Chemberlin is a second-generation automotive service manager. She has more than three decades of experience working in Ford dealership service departments. All the while, she and her husband have been ardent NASCAR fans.

“You don’t even know how excited I am,” she exclaimed. “My husband and I go to NASCAR races all over. Our goal in life is to get to every single track. I’m so excited. For me it’s a trip of a lifetime.

“I grew up around a race track and I am a super-big NASCAR fan,” she continued. “And I love (Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing driver) Ryan Blaney. He’s my guy right now.”

Ford Performance PR