Often we can point to a single person who influenced us the most in our love for cars. Sometimes it’s a friend, other times it’s a family member. For Johnny Racine it was his uncle Jim. The two worked on a lot of project cars together over the years, and even worked alongside each other at a Midas shop.

A few years ago Racine’s uncle Jim was diagnosed with kidney disease, and sadly he passed away in February of 2012. Racine noticed that not too many people he encountered understood kidney disease, let alone that it affects 10 percent of Canada’s population. So Racine took his talents with cars and turned it into a way to raise awareness about the disease creating the Steering Towards Hope campaign.

Racine and his twin sons have built this 2007 Mustang GT into a high performance street and show car over the last three years. The car features a built twin turbo 4.6 three-valve engine good for 500 hp at the rear tires. They also added an Exedy dual friction clutch, ROUSH Performance body kit, and Menzari 20-inch wheels. They lowered the car with Eibach springs, added Koni adjustable shocks, and a Steed anti-hop kit as well. They kept the stock 3.55 gears in the differential allowing the car to cruise easily on the highway. It averages 500 km with 65 liters of 94 octane fuel on the 94 octane performance tune, that’s a little over 18 MPG (for those of us not on the metric system),. The father and sons also upgraded the exterior of the car with a ROUSH body kit and a set of vertical opening doors.

Raising Awareness

Racine used his experience with both motorcycles and car shows to organize events and fundraisers for Steering Towards Hope. Racine had had his motorcycle creations featured on magazine covers, so he knows a thing or two about the industry. Driving the Mustang around the area, he’s drummed up the support of numerous sponsors and features them with magnets on the car. The car is present for numerous car shows, often taking home some awards, and always garnering a lot of attention -which is the whole idea.

Racine wanted to make a bigger impact though, and began thinking outside just the local show and poker run scene for his efforts. This gave Racine the idea of driving his Mustang cross-country to raise awareness for kidney disease, the idea for the 2014 Steering Towards Hope Tour was born.

Next spring, Racine along with friends Jean Sebastien Poudrier and Bianca Mo will ship their Mustangs to western Canada and then begin driving them cross-country on a month-long tour. They’ll also be joined by Racine’s fiancé Stephanie Bailey and his twin 15 year old sons Tyler and Ryan who helped build the car. Cody McClelland, a teenage kindey transplant patient who Racine met while escorting the World Riderz (who are also riding for kidney disease) will also be joining the tour.

Along the way the teams will make stops at dialysis units, and speak to patients, and offer support. They’ll also be talking with anyone they can and hope to spawn Steering Towards Hope car shows and events nationwide as they pass through.

The Proposed Steering Towards Hope 2014 Tour schedule is:

Day 1 Mission BC

Day 2 Victoria & Nanaimo BC

Day 3 Vancouver BC

Day 4 Calgary AB

Day 5 Medicine Hat AB

Day 6 Saskatoon & Moose Jaw, SK

Day 7 Brandon MB Day 8 Winnipeg MB Day 9 Kenora ON

Day 10 Thunder Bay Day 11 Toronto ON Day 12 Val D’Or & Quebec City

Day 13 Labrador City Day 14 Travel day Day 15 Charlottetown PEI

Day 16 Halifax & Fredericton

Day 17 Montreal QC

Day 18 Ottawa

The entire journey will be video logged, with regular updates, and ends at the Steering For Hope event in Ottawa. For more information on the Steering Towards Hope tour, visit their Facebook page or web site, and be sure to follow along as Racine and company head cross-country early next summer.