The 1in8 Motorsports Series has a long and somewhat complex history.   
1in8 President and CEO, Ken Vrana, had been a screenwriter and producer
in Los Angeles for many years and in 1994 decided to move to the Raleigh
area of North Carolina and go to law school. Once in law school however,
he realized that his first love was still making films, so in 1996, he
decided to create Caitlin Productions, Inc. a non-profit, documentary
film company. Of the many films Caitlin produced, including a 13-hour
documentary on Elvis Presley, probably the film they are most known for
is called Snow Angels, which follows three North Carolina women,
through a year of their lives, all of whom have breast cancer.

As production was wrapping up, Sir Paul McCartney and Canadian singer,
Sarah McLachlan, offered their music for use as part of the soundtrack,
and shortly thereafter, Ken was asked if he'd like to work with the
breast cancer charity that was created to honor the life of Linda Eastman
McCartney, Sir Paul's first wife. For the next three years Ken traveled the
country putting together black tie events to raise money for McCartney's
charity, and it was during this period that Ken also created the 1in8. Breast cancer affects one out of every eight women in the United States,
claiming the lives of one woman every 15 minutes.

The 1in8 just seemed like the perfect name for this new organization. Ken also discovered that while hundreds of millions of dollars are being
spent on breast cancer research, far less attention was being accorded the area of early detection. If treated early enough, nearly 90% of those women diagnosed with breast cancer, can be saved. Left undiagnosed, the disease is always fatal. While finding a cure for breast cancer is critical,
and something we pray for every day, says Ken, hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved if men and women simply found their cancer early
enough. That then is where the 1in8 devotes its energies.

There are actually two separate elements to the charity. One is called The 1in8 Foundation, and is a
broad-based entity through which all 1in8 business flows. The second is the 1in8 Motorsports Series,
which specifically targets all things motorsports. There is also a unique new initiative called *Speedsters.
Breast cancer is beginning to strike younger and younger women, and the 1in8 identified a huge, previously
ignored group of people, ages 12 to 30, who seem to know very little about the disease. "The time to begin
educating young people about breast cancer is as soon as they are able to understand it,"
says Vrana. "Its all about education and making people aware." Speedsters is an anime
series created to capture the imagination of young people in new and innovative ways
and the response to the program, from all ages, has been amazing.

The 1in8 organization has grown by leaps and bounds and in October of
2007, it was named the fastest growing motorsports series in the
world. That may well be true. In 2007, the 1in8 put on 7 events. 
In 2008/09, we are looking at over 60!

If you would like to help us save women's lives, please read the We
Need You and  1in8 Initiatives pages thoroughly. Our programs are
designed to be fun and easy to put on. Together, we can make a huge
difference in the lives of tens of thousands of men and women impacted
by this horrible disease.