Regan Smith

Doug Warf

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Though I have never seen him physically run, I dub Regan Smith the fastest Caniac I know of.  Regan drives in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and spends most of his week driving at speeds over 150 MPH.  Though some of you may try that on the beltline after work, I think he wins the title.

As you may have heard, Regan will be wearing a custom Carolina Hurricanes themed helmet in this weekend’s Bank of America 500 in Charlotte. 

What you may not know is that the idea came directly from Regan.  Regan was a big hockey fan growing up in Cato, New York and apparently he has had no trouble switching his allegiance to the Canes since moving to NC. 

Usually teams will have to relentlessly bother a NASCAR driver to show support like this…but not Regan.  He and the folks from DEI contacted us about a month ago about the idea of wearing a Hurricanes themed helmet in a race near opening night.  Regan wanted to help create a buzz for the start of the Hurricanes season while showing his support. 

As a true sign of being a great guy, Regan also suggested that he donate the helmet for auction with proceeds going to benefit our Kids ‘N Community Foundation. 

It is/was hard to pull my allegiance from Tony “Smoke” Stewart…but I knew I was a Regan fan this weekend after I was very upset that NASCAR awarded Stewart with a very controversial win over Smith.  See this article if you don’t know what I am talking about 

Marbles

Also, Saturday gave me a great opportunity to meet some of our youngest Caniacs at Marbles Kids Museum.  I had the pleasure of leading a hockey clinic for kids in attendance (I shouldn’t coach anyone older than 9…they can beat me at age 10).  It was a great turnout and I had a blast interacting with the kids. 

One kid that stood out was young Jack.  I spoke with Jack’s father, who explained he had taken him to a game at just over 2 years of age with no expectation of staying long.  Jack surprised him as he loved hockey and was full of questions.  Now, each morning, they get to look at the N&O together to go over last night’s hockey scores.  While Jack was sliding around on the Center Ice exhibit we asked him who he was pretending to be.  A simple answer of “Eric Staal…he scores goals” was enough for me to know that this 3-year-old was already a Caniac.  Yes, I am sure there are “younger” Caniacs, but it was great to see a kid his age having so much fun while being so excited about the Canes. 

Other Stuff

I will follow-up with more information after I contact all of our fall grant applicants, but we had a great Kids ‘N Community Foundation board meeting Tuesday that awarded a lot of money to deserving local children’s charities. 

Also, today (Wednesday) was our We Love the Hurricanes Luncheon.  Thanks to the Greater Raleigh Sports Council and RBC Bank for providing the Kids ‘N Community Foundation with a $15,000 check as a result of this luncheon.  Thanks to Alison Barnwell and her staff for a great event today.