Page 78 - Experience Magazine Fall 2022

GT500. Not only did he want to add this special GT500 to incorporates everything that Little Red and the Hornet
his collection, he understood JDRF’s good work and the tested back then, some 50 years ago. Having the winning
immeasurable funds necessary to continue its crusade to bid on the 2020 GT500 was like acquiring the holy grail
end diabetes. to me. It truly has been a pleasure to work together with
In 2020, JDRF had numerous advancements supported in Edsel Ford and the Ford Motor Company to help raise
part by the donation. more than $6.5 million over the years to help JDRF – I am
honored to have played a part in that, and the GT500 will
Among its achievements, T1D was reversed in a young have a treasured place in my collection.”
man with a precision medicine treatment correcting the
effect of a genetic mutation. The young man has now been $1,075,000: National Forest Foundation and
off insulin for more than two years. Outward Bound
Ford donated its VIN 001 2021 Ford Bronco 2-door at
The treatment is a Janus tyrosine kinase (JAK) inhibitor, the March 2021 Scottsdale Auction as part of its Bronco
which is a type of therapeutic that stops or inhibits the Wild Fund initiative, raising $1,075,000 for the National
activity of a JAK protein in the body.
Forest Foundation and Outward Bound. The Bronco
JAK inhibitors are also being researched by JDRF-funded Wild Fund is devoted to keeping the great outdoors great
scientists, Thomas Kay, M.B.B.S., and Helen Thomas, and connecting people to outdoors responsibly through
Ph.D., who discovered blocking the protein may slow grants, scholarships and other contributions.
down or prevent beta cell loss. They now have a clinical As a result of the donation, the National Forest
trial, funded by JDRF, to find out if baricitinib, a JAK Foundation used the funds to support projects in Arizona,
inhibitor, will preserve beta cell function in children and Colorado, Illinois and Southern California. In Arizona,
young adults with recently diagnosed T1D.
the funds benefited the Sierra Vista “Border 3” Forest
“I must admit that when I found out about the GT500, Health and Fire Risk Reduction Project in the Coronado
I knew I had to be sitting in those bidder seats – for a National Forest.
number of reasons,” Jackson said. He added that he has The Arizona project aims to return the area to a condition
been a Shelby enthusiast all his life and his personal car favored by pronghorn and mule deer herds and
collection includes the 1967 and 1968 Shelby GT500 EXP significantly beneficial for grassland birds, Montezuma
prototypes “Little Red” and “Green Hornet.” quail, white-tailed deer, javelina and Gould’s turkeys.
“The Hornet was the first car to have independent rear Outward Bound was gifted a total of $537,500 as a
suspension and was used for testing. Now, finally, that charitable beneficiary of the VIN 001 Ford Bronco, an
groundbreaking technology is in the 2020 GT500, which equal split with the National Forest Foundation.

78 BARRETT-JACKSON EXPERIENCE FALL 2022