Life after Redskins

Racing and family keep Gibbs feeling fortunate.

In the past year Joe Gibbs has dealt with a veteran athlete's reconstructive surgery, a coveted free agent's bouts of brilliance and tempestuousness, and a gifted rookie's coming of age.

Such is life as a NASCAR team owner.

In the 19 years since he started his NASCAR team, Gibbs has had remarkably little turnover among the corporate sponsors that pay the bills. And he has rewarded his backers handsomely, collecting three championships (2000, 2002 and 2005) and more than $190 million in winnings in NASCAR's elite ranks.

But the most heartening statistic in Gibbs's family is zero. That's the number of chemotherapy treatments that remain for his 5-year-old grandson, Taylor, now deemed cancer-free.

To celebrate this remarkable achievement, Joe Gibbs is helping to sponsor Taylor’s Finish Line Festival.







Taylor’s Finish Line Festival will be held at the Z Max Drag Strip at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 23rd, 2010. Rain or Shine! The gates will open at 2:30 and the carnival attractions will operate until 7:30. Included in the carnival will be a kid zone with inflatable’s, face painting, balloon artists, and live stage shows.

The adjacent carnival area will contain larger thrill rides, a hot air balloon, midway games and a second stage for live entertainment. Within this area will be several interactive stations featuring NASCAR drivers and other celebrity athletes.

NASCAR fans will love the simulators and show cars, appearances by NASCAR drivers and other professional athletes. We will also hold a bake sale, silent auction, concert, and fireworks display!

All proceeds of this wonderful event will be donated to the
Make-a-Wish Foundation, and Levine Children’s Hospital.

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Hand Grenades against cancer

Every now and then..
I come across someone who has done some good research.
I come across someone who knows how things work and can think "outside the box".





I wish it happened more often.

In his article, 5 attractive stocks under $5, Michael Brush discusses an interesting company and stock called Genspera.

Even in this age of economic uncertainty, smart people are still developing new weapons against cancer, the second-most-common cause of death in the U.S., after heart disease. Craig Dionne, who headed up discovery research in biology at Cephalon (CEPH, news, msgs) for several years, now leads a tiny biotech startup called Genspera (GNSZ, news, msgs), which is developing what he likes to call a "hand grenade" against cancer.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have figured out a way to put a chemical "pin" on a powerful anti-cancer drug called thapsigargin, extracted from a readily available weed. The pin deactivates the drug, allowing it to circulate in the body without causing damage to good cells.

Enzymes from tumors "pull the pin," activating the drug only near the tumors. The drug destroys blood vessels feeding tumors, with limited damage elsewhere in the body. Genspera, which bought this approach from the Johns Hopkins professors who developed it, thinks it could be effective against a range of cancers.

The drug also causes cancer cells to flood with calcium, killing them. This approach is crucial against slow-dividing cells such as those in prostate-cancer tumors. Many chemotherapies take out cancer cells only when those cells divide; Genspera's compound doesn't wait.

Genspera is a risky investment, of course, as is any biotech startup. Its "hand grenade" approach looks effective in animals but may not work in humans. And it is still in early "phase one" testing, which checks for safety. However, I'm betting Dionne's two-decades-plus experience in drug development offsets these risks.

I think I'll add this one to one of my none monthly watch lists.

More about Genspera.

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