TULARE, Calif. — Since the 1995 Trophy Cup race at San Jose Speedway to the 2024 event at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway, the race has donated money to a Make-A-Wish Foundation branch.
It started with the second running of the event and an impressive level will be reached this coming October.
The total money donated by the race to Make-A-Wish will reach $3 million.
Dave Pusateri, the founder and leader of the Trophy Cup, called around eight charities in 1995 to find out which one had the least amount of donated funds used for administrative costs.
It was the Bay Area Made-A-Wish Foundation that had the lowest administrative costs and later that year the Trophy Cup began raising and donating money to Make-A-Wish.
Through 2009 each year a check was given to Make-A-Wish at the San Francisco branch even though the event had moved to the Central Valley.
In those years much of the donated funds came from the Bay Area sources but over time the Central Valley became the major source. The recipient starting in 2010 became the Fresno branch, now known as the Central Valley Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Reaching the $3 million level is the result of many people supporting the Trophy Cup in different ways.
Sponsors, events at the Trophy Cup, an auction of donated merchandise, shirts, and programs all raise money toward the yearly donation. All these years every dollar from entry fees has gone to Make-A-Wish.
All this support has made the Trophy Cup the largest non-corporation donor in the Central Valley to the Make-A-Wish foundation.