So far in 2003, members of my crew and I have volunteered over 200 hours to repair the car and trailer and an additional 300 hours to attend events on our time without pay or compensation. In addition we have driven over 4,350 miles so far this year to attend the various events.

January - Attended the Tower Shoppes Classic car show in Davie, Florida. Spoke to over 100 people including the Chief of Police and several city council members. The Sun-Sentinel wrote an article about our program and included several photographs of the car. As a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, I was awarded the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal for my work with the Beat the Heat program.

February - Attended the Tower Shoppes Classic car show in Davie, Florida and spoke to over 100 people.

March - Attended the Tower Shoppes Classic car show in Davie, Florida and spoke to over 100 people. Participated and raced in the Fun Ford Weekend Spring break Shootout in Orlando, Florida. Despite working out bugs from the new engine combination that was installed the week before, we managed to run a best of 11.7@116mph during the weekend. We also spoke to several hundred people including some of our national sponsors. At the request of Moroso Motorsports Park, we attended the Pepsi Chevy Show and displayed our car. In addition, we made several exhibition passes during the weekend, even running our best speed of 117mph. During the weekend we talked to several hundred people, handed out badges and pictures to children and posed for pictures with children in front of our vehicle. Our car also appeared in the Palm Beach Post as part of the event wrap-up story. We have also been asked by a local church to display our vehicle at their annual car show on 3/29/03.

April - Attended the Tower Shoppes Classic car show in Davie, Florida and spoke to over 200 people. Attended the Pepsi Jet and Truck Nationals held at Moroso Motorsports Park in Palm Beach, Florida, where we displayed and raced the car. We made our first attempt at bracket racing and were knocked out in the first round. We did manage to speak to around 100 people while there despite going out early.

May - On May 17, 2003, we held a “Beat the Heat” race in conjunction with Moroso Motorsports Park in Palm Beach, Florida. During this event kids and young adults received free passes to enter the track while “Beat the Heat” racecars from all over the state of Florida attended. After we explained the dangers and consequences of street racing we explained the basics of drag racing and demonstrated them with our “Police” racecars. After that the track was opened and everyone was free to race against each other or challenge the police cars that were on hand for the event. We were challenged five times during the night by adults and kids alike and displayed the car in between races. We spoke to over 300 people and there were at least 100 cars on hand to participate. In addition, our car was photographed by the Davie Kidz magazine for a future article. This publication is distributed to all of the local schools in south Florida and will help us reach more children. We also attended the Tower Shoppes classic car show in Davie, Florida and spoke to approximately 150 people of all ages while displaying our car and trailer.

June - On June 6, 2003, we displayed our vehicle at the Muvico movie theater in Davie, Florida for the opening of 2 Fast 2 Furious in attempt to head off street racing after people watched the movie. We were on there for 8 hours and the theater sold more than 50,000 tickets to see the movie. All of the local media was also on hand and we provided interviews explaining the purpose of the program and our attempts to prevent street racing. A conflict in scheduling due to my current status on active duty with the Coast Guard prevented me from attending the Tower Shoppes classic car show this month.

July - On July 11, 2003, we displayed our vehicle at the Abundant Life Church summer Camp located in Margate, Florida and spoke to 350 middle and high school students. We also attended the E.T. Bracket points night at Moroso Motorsports Park on July 19, 2003 and spoke to approximately 50 kids and young adults despite losing in the first round of eliminations. Due to my continued active duty with the U. S. Coast Guard and conflicts in scheduling we were unable to attend the Tower Shoppes classic car show this month. Our car was also featured on Steeda’s website and we would like to thank them for the added exposure and continued support of our program. Go to www.steeda.com and have a look for yourself.

August - On August 3, 2003, we attended the Hot Rod Sunday show at Moroso Motorsports Park. Unfortunately weather shortened the event before we could even make a pass down the track. We did speak to approximately 300 people while in the staging lanes before the rain started. On August 5, 2003, we displayed the racecar at the Davie Police Department building for National Night Out. National Night Out is designed to: (1) Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness; (2) Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs; (3) Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and (4) Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back. There were approximately 600 people from our community on hand for this event. We used this opportunity to explain to the community the purpose of the program and our efforts to curb street racing.

September - We drove over 1200 miles and attended the Beat the Heat World Finals in Muncie, Indiana on 9/18-9/21. There were approximately 50 Beat the Heat programs from all over the country in attendance. On 9/19, we displayed our vehicle in downtown Muncie where we had approximately 400 people stop by to talk about the program and our vehicle. We then went to Muncie Raceway and had a truck race consisting of all of the members tow vehicles. We won the truck race and walked away with a nice trophy for our efforts. On 9/20 we held the Beat the Heat copcar shootout. This event was held in conjunction with the regular bracket racing points race. There we had the opportunity to talk with another 1000 people about the program. Unfortunately, while making a qualifying time run our engine broke ending our racing. We did continue to display the car and assist other Beat the Heat teams as needed. Meeting with other Beat the Heat members from all over the country was a great way of sharing new ideas, such as lesson plans and educational material to hand out to the children.

Also announced was the Beat the Heat’s new partnership with the NHRA and U.S. Army in the Youth and Educational Services program. This program is a youth outreach program that encourages youths to stay in school and offers them career opportunities in drag racing, the military and public service. This partnership will allow us to reach more youths by displaying our cars at national NHRA events.

Due to the broken engine we will be unable to attend any more events for 2003 but will back up and running by January 2004. We did have a very productive year in 2003 as shown by our numbers below.