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Group Helps Men Fulfill Brickyard Wish

By RICK MORWICK
Daily Journal Sports Writer

From left, Bill Edwards, Robert Sinclair and Bob Hartenstein, residents of Greenwood Health & Living Community, attended the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard on Sunday as part of the Never Too Late program.

News photo by RICK MORWICK

August 3, 2005: Bob Hartenstein is ready for the sights and sounds of NASCAR, especially the sounds.

If Sunday's Allstate 400 at The Brickyard gets a little too hard on the ears, Hartenstein has a solution.

"That, I can mercifully take care of," he said, tweaking the volume controls on the hearing aids in each of his ears. "I can tune it right out if I want to.

"That won't be a problem at all."

Hartenstein doesn't expect any problems. Instead, he intends to have a thrilling day at his first-ever NASCAR race.

A longtime racing fan, Hartenstein, 72, is one of three residents at Greenwood Health & Living Community who will attend the Allstate 400 through the foundation Never Too Late.

Patterned after the Make-A-Wish-Foundation, which facilitates wishes for ill children, Never Too Late works similarly for elder citizens.

Founded by Indianapolis resident Bob Haverstick in 2000, the nonprofit organization reaches out to people in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospice programs and adult day-care programs in an effort to grant wishes for senior citizens.

Never Too Late received its first wish request in January 2000. As of July 31, it had granted 770 wishes.

"It's all volunteer driven, including me," said Haverstick, who dedicates about 50 hours a week to the organization. "Everybody donates their time. That way all the money that comes in, 99.5 percent of it, can go back and be used for wishes."

Social workers at Greenwood Health & Living Community contacted Never Too Late after three residents said they wanted to attend the Brickyard race. Caregivers frequently ask residents what, if any, activities they'd like to attempt. 

Employees were startled when three men, within 48 hours, requested the NASCAR race.

"We often ask the people, 'If you had a wish, what would you wish for?'" said Mary Belser, a social worker at Greenwood Health & Living. "They all said they wanted to go to a race.

"They're all three big race fans."

Problem was, the requests were made in early June. And the Allstate 400, one of the most popular races on the NASCAR circuit, had been sold out for months.

That's where Never Too Late and the Fishers Rotary Club in Hamilton County stepped in.

When the wishes were passed on to Haverstick, he relayed the requests to the Fishers group, which conducts major fund-raising activities each year at the Indianapolis 500, the U.S. Grand Prix and the Allstate 400. 

The Fishers Rotary does not limit its charitable mission to Hamilton County. When it learned of the Greenwood request, it purchased six tickets for the race: one for each resident and a care provider for each.

All three residents are wheelchair-bound, and the wheelchair accessible seats were not sold out. The total cost was $517.

Chip Muston, past president of Fishers Rotary Club, said his group was more than happy to oblige. He was club president when the wishes were submitted.

"We have a lot of philanthropy opportunities at Fishers Rotary Club," said Muston, whose group has benefited causes in Indianapolis and as far away as Mexico. "If we only took advantage of helping people we know, it really wouldn't be philanthropy.

"When a good opportunity presents itself, we're not averse to taking advantage of it."

Thanks to the efforts of all involved, Hartenstein and fellow residents Bill Edwards, 58, and Robert Sinclair, 73, will attend their first-ever NASCAR race.

Edwards, who has lived at the nursing home since January, is an unabashed Jeff Gordon fan. And he'll be pulling for the four-time Brickyard winner and former Pittsboro resident to make it No. 5 on Sunday.

"He's an up-and-comer, and he's already a proven winner," Edwards said. "He's a home boy. He proved to all those boys down south that an Indiana boy can drive."

Sinclair and Hartenstein prefer Dale Earnhardt Jr. Their allegiance is born from their affinity for the late Dale Earnhardt, who was killed in a crash during the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

"I'm an old Dale Earnhardt fan," Hartenstein said. "I'm a fan of (Earnhardt Jr.), even though he's not the man his dad was. It's out of respect for the old man.

"He was a scrapper all the way. He didn't do anything dirty, but if you got in his way, he was going to run over you."

Because of the prime location of the wheelchair-accessible seats, the trio's first trip to a NASCAR should be memorable.

"They're great seats," Haverstick said. "They're paddock seats. They're right across from the tower terrace and the pit area, so there'll be a lot of action."

Hartenstein can't wait.

"As long as it doesn't rain," he said, "I'll be happy."

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