For every $100 the Bettler Brothers Motorsports team raises for sponsorship money on its slingshot, they donate a turkey or ham to a veteran.
“The whole idea began when I was sitting in a local bar one night in 2020, and I heard an old fellow complain about the high cost of turkey,” said Kurt Bettler, who he and Brian make up the Bettler brothers behind the team. “I knew he was a veteran and served our country, so it kind of hit me. I bought a turkey for him.”
The Dinners for Winners program started in 2021 with 15 turkeys. Then it grew to 21 the next year. This year, they gave away 35 turkeys, 40 boxes of stuffing, 50 pints of ice cream, and 10 hams and delivered it to the Edward H. Ackerman American Legion Post 397 in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. The ice cream came from one of the team’s sponsors — Candy’s Homemade Ice Cream in Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania.
“Dinners for Winners really took off and is a pretty big event now,” Kurt said. “Not only does every sponsor on my car donating turkeys or hams to the veterans, but some have also thrown in extra money for us to buy more turkeys.”
Cody Kline, of Bangor, Pennsylvania, drove the Bettler Brothers slingshot last weekend for the Ironton Global Allentown Indoor TQ Midget Race at the PPL Center in Pennsylvania. The team has won the Indoor Auto Racing Championship slingshot title in 2018 and 2019. Cody and Kurt also share a sportsman modified they race at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania.
(For more information on that, read “Kurt Bettler & Cody Kline: Share Car on Race Nights.”)
Back to Allentown, Kline drove the Bettler Brothers slingshot to 10th on Friday and 13th on Saturday. Regardless of the finish, the team is even more proud of who they could help with their slingshot.
“Our car helped feed more than 40 families over the holidays,” said Kurt. “The sponsors on the car not only helped us be fast, but they also rewarded those who preserved our freedom by helping feed their families. That’s a win for us.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
