Michael Silver, the award-winning columnist for Yahoo! Sports whose cutting-edge NFL coverage entertains millions of readers annually, has signed to participate in the Audi Efficiency Challenge. The competition begins today in Washington, DC and concludes in Miami in time for Pro Bowl on Sunday. Michael and his team will be driving the Audi TDI Q7, Audi’s clean-burning diesel sport utility vehicle.
The Audi competition, is not a typical race to the finish. Instead, the winning car will have completed the trip with the most fuel efficiency. Typically the drive for most of us from DC to Miami takes about sixteen hours.
The winner will be announced at an event hosted by Audi on Friday, February 5, 2010, at the W Hotel in South Beach, Florida. At that time Audi will award the winning prize of $20,000. Michael Silver has decided to donate his prize to two type 1 diabetes nonprofit organizations that, in his words “play noble roles in coping with and attempting to cure the condition that affects my 10-year-old son and as many as 3,000,000 Americans” that live with type 1 diabetes. The two organizations are the Diabetes Youth Foundation of Concord, CA and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Bay Area.
You can follow Michael’s progress on Twitter and read his Yahoo! Sports column. Mike plans to use his driving time to generate awareness of type 1 diabetes and encouraging others to make donations by providing opportunities for people to help.
Michael says he would love to hear from you while he competes “on fuel efficiency, roadside attractions between D.C. and Miami and potential CD selections. And, we can also talk football.”
More on this competition as it progresses. For now, donations may be made to JDRF by visiting curetype1.org/ridewithsilver. Good luck! Drive slowly. Remember to fill your tank only when it needs filling, if at all!
Thank you for selecting JDRF as your beneficiary.