Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney has been a long-time advocate for brain health and fitness. He takes full advantage of his position as a prominent sports figure to work towards this cause. The Team Penske driver founded the Ryan Blaney Family Foundation along with his family in 2018 to convert his advocacy into real-world results in the form of resources to aid families and individuals who suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease.
Advertisement
The #12 Ford Mustang driver is motivated to work towards the noble cause since he also has a history of Alzheimer’s in his family. Blaney’s grandfather suffered from the same and passed away due to a mental ailment.
Working with the Alzheimer’s Association, the 30-year-old elaborated on how the family organization has been helping out individuals and groups in need while evolving in its own right.
“As we’ve gotten going at it, we’ve broadened our foundation on just brain health and concussions, dementia, things like that,” Blaney told TODAY
Great to catch up with @alroker @craigmelvin @SheinelleJones to talk about @rbfamfoundation and our great partners focused on supporting #ALZ awareness and brain health on @TODAYshow https://t.co/rhNLY9GGRW pic.twitter.com/1w53GU3Svs
— Ryan Blaney (@Blaney) July 10, 2024
He spoke about how being a stock car racing driver also exposes him to risks and instances of concussions. The Ohio native also touched on how commonplace such brain health issues are in the grand scheme of things.
“It will shock you how many people that it affects around the world. How do we help these people?”
Ever since the inception of the Blaney’s Family Foundation, the organization has collected over $750,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association which has been put to use to fight ailments such as Dementia and Alzheimer’s at an early stage along with treatment and preventive measures.
Ryan Blaney on the pressures of following up his championship-winning season
Having clinched the ultimate prize in NASCAR in 2023, Blaney also touched on how he and the #12 crew at Team Penske deal with the pressures of being the defending champions. The 30-year-old took a positive approach to the same and told TODAY, “I think it’s good that people are coming for us right.”
He added, “Now it’s ‘How do we do it again?’ Everything changes year to year and I think there’s a big difference in believing you can do it and not knowing you can do it. It was nice to accomplish that last year with my whole group.”
With the #12 crew and driver already locked in for the 2024 postseason, it remains to be seen if Blaney and Team Penske can turn on the afterburners at just the correct time, just as they did last year.
