It was called CARA, the Championship Auto Racing Auxiliary in the 1980s and ’90s, and its successor, the IFF, the Indy Family Foundation, served as charitable organizations designed to assist members of the IndyCar paddock in times of urgent financial needs. If a crew member had medical expenses they couldn’t cover, funds are drawn to help, or in the case of losing a loved one, help with funeral costs has been provided. Outpouring of dollars to help get someone’s daily driver repaired, or recover from a natural disaster, or a fire, or whatever else might be needed among the hundreds of people who make the NTT IndyCar Series function is where the charity focuses its emergency relief efforts.
It’s recently undergone a number of changes, starting with Heather Carpenter, the wife of team owner/driver Ed Carpenter and longtime steward of the IFF, who needed to step back from running the program due to increasing demands on her time. In her place, Beth Boles, Liz Power and others within paddock have united to carry the initiative forward in a relaunch ahead of the holidays.
Renamed the IndyCar Benevolent Foundation, a new website and online donation platform (https://indycarbenevolentfoundation.org/
Boles and the board have made recent outreaches to IndyCar teams in seeking donations and hopes to bring greater awareness — to fans and community members alike — to the IBF.
“Heather did such an amazing job with the foundation, and we’re proud to continue everything that has been done to help the IndyCar family,” Boles told RACER. “I’m very passionate about mechanics — probably because they take care of my kid’s car — and their needs. What the foundation has been doing for a long time, is being there for them, or drivers, or PR people, or whoever it is, in any position, really, to take care of them when they need help.