Wheaton, Ill. (April 2, 2001) After impressive positive feedback,
leftbehind.com, the official web site of the best-selling Left Behind
Series, has renewed its title sponsorship of Randy MacDonald’s #72 Chevrolet
for the Advance Auto Parts 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Race at Martinsville
Speedway on Saturday, April 7 at 2:00 p.m. ET
“It will be a big weekend with the Winston Cup teams at the track,”
MacDonald says. MacDonald, who was injured in a crash at Daytona earlier
this year, has delegated the driver duties at Martinsville to veteran
competitor Jimmy Hensley, who previously placed first at that track. “We’re
very excited about our chances,” MacDonald added.
Fans of the apocalyptic novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins who
watched the ESPN coverage of the March 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway
had such an excited response to “Read the Future” and leftbehind.com logo
emblazoned on MacDonald’s truck that Tyndale House Publishers, of Wheaton,
Ill., decided to try it again.
Through the message boards at leftbehind.com, Left Behind readers sent
MacDonald hundreds of messages of encouragement such as “Go Randy, we’re
behind you all the way” and “I think its great that NASCAR and Left Behind
got together.”
“It’s been a groundbreaking experience for us,” said Dan Balow, Tyndale
director of marketing, “We have enjoyed the encouraging reaction to our
sponsorship. It was beyond what we expected.”
The experience has been equally gratifying for MacDonald, who has been able
to share the message of the Left Behind Series in new avenues. “The reaction
to leftbehind.com being on my truck has been fascinating,” MacDonald says.
“It has opened doors I never could have imagined.”
Surprisingly at the Homestead-Miami event, ESPN announcer Dr. Jerry Punch
mentioned that he and his wife had read the books. In response author Tim
LaHaye’s grandson said, “You know you’ve arrived when your grandfather gets
his name mentioned on ESPN during a NASCAR race.”
Left Behind is a series of end-times thrillers that has rocked the
publishing world by selling more than 37 million copies. In 2000, two titles
in the series, The Indwelling and The Mark, hit number one on all the
national best-seller lists, including The New York Times, USA Today,
Publishers Weekly and The Wall Street Journal. The apocalyptic novels are
based on the Bible’s Book of Revelation and follow the lives of those left
on earth after the sudden disappearance of millions of believers—an event
called the Rapture.
Leftbehind.com is the headquarters for information and conversation about
the Left Behind Series. With an average of 60,000 visitors per day,
leftbehind.com not only provides the first-time visitor with background
about the trend-setting series but also offers active message boards that
have developed into an on-line community of Left Behind fans.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Advance Auto Parts 250 at the Martinsville
Speedway will be broadcast live on ESPN and Motor Racing Network. For more
information on MacDonald Motorsports, Jimmy Hensley and leftbehind.com, the
official web site of the best-selling Left Behind Series go to
www.truckseries.com www.randymacdonald.com and www.leftbehind.com