Our Champions
My brother David…
My brother David and I grew up in Fayetteville, NC through the 70s and 80s. We fought like a lot of siblings do as kids, but always loved each other and had a special bond being raised in a home that was significantly impacted by addiction. We both love cars and music and became especially close with each other once my brother left for college. We had an amazing relationship that allowed us to talk about literally anything without fighting with each other. We looked for ways to support each other as much as we could as we walked through life. Over time we drifted apart a bit as we both got married, had kids, traveled for work, etc., but we always loved each other dearly and cherished the times we did have together.
In 2017, David had just come to work with me at my company after years of running his own home theater installation business and we were so excited for the future and what we hoped to accomplish together. However, sadly, just a few months later he was diagnosed with ALS in October 2017. In that moment, we committed that we would spend as much time together as we could, that we would finally go race cars (something that we had planned to do in our retirement years), and that if ALS was going to take him, that we would both know that we did as much as we could to fight it!
We made some not so sound financial decisions to buy some 700 horsepower Camaros and hit the track! Little did we know that our passion to race for fun and to make memories would become so much more. Those we met in the racing community were so passionate about helping us and have become some of our most cherished friends. I am so proud of my brother, who he was, and how he inspired so many people to race with him to help others and work towards an end for this horrible disease. You can see the picture from his last day racing in August of 2019 where we worked to use a trilogy breathing machine to try and overcome the heavy g-forces and keep him on track. Sadly, it didn’t work, and he had to stop racing, but it shows you the fight he had in him throughout his battle with ALS!
My brother was the definition of over achiever throughout his life, so in normal fashion David beat the odds with his long 5+ year fight against ALS. That fight along with who he was as a person inspired so many people on the Racing for ALS team to raise over 1.2 million dollars since June of 2018 in his honor to help fund the fight against ALS, and to help others battling this disease. Dave trusted in the Lord throughout and is in heaven today racing around somewhere! Lord willing, we will continue racing here to help others and continue the work to fund a cure for ALS!
We do that for David because we love him, and because of who he was. He always had a kind word and a wave no matter how he was feeling, and of course a good joke. David loved being able to help others and was truly overwhelmed and beyond appreciative of the love shown to him by those who rallied around him. Even though a thank you doesn’t seem to suffice, we do thank everyone who has been a part of this journey and helped in our fight to #endals!
-Scott Lloyd
