Race car design debuts today
The race to find a cure for juvenile diabetes isn't the only race where young Carson Magee is making a mark.
The 11-year-old Coeur d'Alene boy, whose advocacy efforts in support of juvenile diabetes research have earned him state and national attention, is this year's winner of "Our Everyday Heroes," a race car design contest for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
"I am so excited to be selected," said Carson, who has made the finals of the contest for the last three years.
Carson's car design is being unveiled this weekend at the Mile High NHRA Nationals and will be featured on Bob Tasca III's Funny Car.
The boy's design features flames and pays homage to firefighters, emergency medical technicians, police and each of the U.S. armed services.
The design was inspired, Carson said, by friends who have Type 1 diabetes: Adam, a firefighter; and his best friend's mom, who is an emergency medical technician.
"And my friend Hayven, who dreams of flying in the Air Force like both of her parents, but T1Ds aren't yet allowed in the military," Carson said. "My dream is to become a military chaplain so I was thinking of all these heroes and I couldn't leave any military heroes out."
Carson also raised $3,735 for juvenile diabetes research, as part of the contest.
"We are so pleased that Carson has won the 'Our Everyday Heroes' contest," said Mary Lou Quesnell, director of marketing for Ford Customer Service Division - which along with Motorcraft and Quick Lane Tire and Auto Centers, sponsors the event. "Not only is he a talented artist - as evidenced by his race car design - but he is one of the nation's foremost youth activists in support of JDRF and bringing awareness to the effort to create a world without T1D."
Carson has spoken publicly about juvenile diabetes to the Coeur d'Alene School Board and City Council. He attended the Republican Party of Idaho's annual Lincoln Dinner in 2013 and met U.S. Sen. James Risch, U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador, and Idaho Gov. Butch Otter.
Carson was a delegate at the 2013 JDRF Children's Congress in Washington, D.C., and is a budding inventor. His inventions, designed to make testing blood sugar levels easier, have won awards in Idaho and one of them was featured on national television, on Nickelodeon's game show "Figure It Out."