D.J. Kennington and Gaunt Brothers honor Humboldt junior hockey team
Canadian NASCAR Pinty’s Series driver D.J. Kennington and team owner Marty Gaunt try and honor the town of Humboldt after the tragic events with its junior hockey league team this weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Photo by: Tim Southers
Kennington will feature a logo honoring the team and town on his Toyota Camry this weekend and hopes in some small way it makes a difference.
When the news broke of the terrible accident that claimed 16 lives associated with the Humboldt junior hockey league team last week, NASCAR driver D.J. Kennington reacted like a lot of his fellow Canadians.
“When I heard the news I thought about it for a minute was kind of by myself and I just started to cry,” said Kennington. “My heart breaks for the families but also the first responders who had to deal with things at the accident scene. I just appreciate everything the first responders do for us.”
The small town of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, has a population of only 4,872 people, but now has over 35 million brothers and sisters throughout Canada after the loss of 16 players and staff members of the Humboldt Broncos Junior Hockey league team.
I appreciate everything everyone is doing across Canada to help and if we can do this small little thing (this weekend) to help, raise awareness and help those families - I’m all for it.
D.J. Kennington
Kennington, who also played Junior Hockey in Canada, is still trying to deal with the loss of the young lives.
“It’s horrible and it doesn’t matter where it is, when you hear news like that and the hockey community that we have in Canada,” added Kennington. “The big thing for me is the families.
“The brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles and all the people who are suffering right now through this. The ones that are still here are the ones hurting and I hope they can heal and get better and move on with their lives is why we’re doing what were doing.”
Kennington and Gaunt Brothers Racing team owner Marty Gaunt realized quickly that they could use their first race together at Bristol Motor Speedway to help raise awareness, money and most importantly show support for their fellow Canadians.
“We all realize money is not going to bring these kids back, but hopefully these donations will help the families deal with the tragedy the best they can and help that community,” Kennington said. “I get chills just talking about this right now because it’s just terrible thinking what these families are going through and I hope no other families ever have to go through this again.
“Any little thing we can do to show support and try and help the families who need it, I’m proud to do anything I can right now to help.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Michael Annett for JR Motorsports is also running a logo on his car this weekend as well.
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