World Wish Month: New Program Will Allow Accardo to Race Full Time and Host Make-A-Wish Foundation Guests for Remainder of Season
April 22, 2025
CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series Driver Bob Accardo Announces Partnership with Jim Guthrie and Guthrie’s Garage
CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series driver Bob Accardo recently announced that he has teamed up with Guthrie’s Garage owner Jim Guthrie to drive the No. 39 Guthrie’s Garage/R.A.C.E. Marketing USA Ford Mustang for the remainder of the season. Guthrie’s support, coupled with Accardo’s 501(c)3 R.A.C.E. Marketing USA and a few local sponsors, will allow Accardo to bring a child and their family from the Make-A-Wish Foundation to the remainder of the races on the 2025 schedule.
“It's an honor and privilege to share our passion of motorsports with some very amazing people, creating smiles and memories that will last a lifetime,” said Accardo.
April is World Wish Month, which celebrates the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s mission of granting life-changing wishes to children with critical illnesses. This weekend, Accardo will be hosting 14-year-old Kris at Sonoma Raceway. Kris was born with the congenital heart disease Tricuspid Atresia. He has undergone three open-heart surgeries, with the first one at just one week old. Kris has gone through a lot in his young life and has spent a lot of time hospitalized for his heart condition at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. He had a stroke just two months before his second birthday and was hospitalized for a month at UCSF. This past year, he was diagnosed with epilepsy. He has been a warrior through all of this.
Accardo will be joined by five-year-old Ezekiel and his family at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Ezekiel was diagnosed with retinoblastoma at two years old. He was in treatment for a year and a half, but it was ultimately unsuccessful in that he ended up losing his vision in the right eye. Ezekiel had his right eye enucleated around his fourth birthday. However, his family is grateful that he is now cancer free.
Accardo has previously hosted guests and their families at last year’s season finale at Circuit of The Americas and earlier this season at Sebring International Raceway. Accardo describes how he got involved with the organization.
“I had a random chance encounter with a family at the COTA race in 2023,” said Accardo. “A couple came by our hospitality area in the paddock with their 12-year-old son, who was handicapped. I spent a few minutes talking with the parents and asked the little boy if he wanted to sit in a racecar. He got very excited, so I put him in my car. I leaned in from the passenger side and started the engine. His eyes lit up as big as silver dollars, and when I looked over at his dad, I saw a tear running down his cheek. At that point, I had to put on my sunglasses and walk away for a second to gather my composure. The parents thanked me and told me that they hadn't seen their child smile like that in a very long time. It was then that I realized my actions had a direct and immediate impact.
“The experience made me remember a conversation I’d had some years ago with a friend of mine who is a wish grantor with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and it all began to come together. This epiphany that I had was all within thirty minutes of my initial contact with the family in Texas. That same afternoon. I then spent the next year getting things set up, and it all culminated with us hosting a child named Jackson at COTA in 2024. The outpouring of support from my competitors, everyone at Trans Am, SVRA, and Nik Middleton with CUBE 3 was amazing.
“I've obtained the support needed to continue this program for the duration of the 2025 season, so we will be making some very special kids and their families very happy this year at the races. I'm excited to go racing and even more excited to be working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The entire experience is extremely humbling, and the strength of the kids is inspiring and nothing short of amazing. My goal, if we can keep this going, is to keep in contact with each of the families and invite them back every year, along with hosting a new family. This will create a network of support for each family at every track that we race at, and it will increase in size every year. I can't thank everyone enough who has helped to get me to this point. This is a huge collaborative effort that wouldn't be possible without the support of so many wonderful people,” concluded Accardo.
