Jeff Gordon Treatment Room the Newest Pit Stop at the CBCC

Today the Children's Blood and Cancer Center at Dell Children's Hospital in Austin unveiled a new treatment room sponsored by one of the undisputed greatest NASCAR drivers of all time, Jeff Gordon.

Gordon's four NASCAR Cup Series championships and three Daytona 500 victories only scratch the surface of the man's accomplishments on the track. But the Northern California-born Gordon's impact off the track is steadily becoming just as impressive, having focused his philanthropic efforts towards pediatric cancer fifteen years ago. What began as a local effort near his home in North Carolina has grown to impact kids as far away as Rwanda.

"These kids fighting cancer are some of the greatest champions I will ever know," said Gordon, whose Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation has contributed over $14 million to support kids diagnosed with cancer and their families since 1999. "[With the treatment room] we wanted to create a space that was fun and exciting, and a reminder that their visit to the hospital was just a pit stop on the way to victory over cancer."

The huge graphic above dominates the room, depicting Gordon's No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet SS making a pit stop at the Kobalt 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Designed by Red Eye Designs of Charlotte, N.C., the eye-popping graphic was funded by one of Gordon's primary sponsors, Axalta Coating Systems.

Here is Red Eye Designs' graphic in closer detail:

Sponsoring a treatment room comes with other costs, and for the Jeff Gordon treatment room, funds were raised by the Austin chapter of the JGCF Promise Circle. They were able to obtain a significant contribution from the Austin office of the CBRE Group Inc.

Among several very cool details, the room includes a framed Jeff Gordon racing jacket (the glass of which reflects the graphic well; a photographer might say too well):

The sponsorship of a treatment room at the CBCC runs for three years, at which time sponsors can re-up for another three years.

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[All photo credits: Ross Bonander. To see and download many more photos from this event, please visit my smugmug page.]

This is the twelfth installment in my series on the Children's Blood and Cancer Center at Dell Children's Hospital in Austin, Texas. The prior eleven are listed below:

• Introduction: Uncommonly Ordinary
• Part I: Not Your Average Prom
• Part II: Teenage Cancer: One Girl's Story
• Part III: A Food Fight for Life
• Part IV: Clowning Achievement
• Part V: Superhero Kids
• Part VI: Peaceable Kingdom
• Part VII: Survivorship at the CBCC
• Part VIII: WWE's The Shield Visits the CBCC
• Part IX: Austin Film Festival Comes to the CBCC
• Part X: St Baldrick's Delivers the Buzz Cuts