Joey Logano dedicates Louisville park to an 'amazing' person

Ashleigh Hunt didn't fight just to stay alive. 

She battled cancer, outran every best-case prognosis for her time left, and fought, fought, fought so she could go and see and do and live. 

NASCAR driver Joey Logano helped the Whitehouse, Ohio, native after she put together a bucket list when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, when she was 19 years old.

Logano arranged two years ago for Hunt and her family to fly to New York City. She attended the Jimmy Fallon Show and spent a lot of time in Central Park. Logano and Hunt met in person for the first time at Kentucky Speedway. A friendship was established and a legacy of living made firm.  

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"For going what she was going through, I don't think I have it in me to be as positive as she was," Logano said. 

Hunt passed away earlier this year. She was 24. That's why Logano dedicated the renovation project he spearheaded at Louisville's Portland Park in her honor. Hunt's name was prominently displayed on a sign depicting the soon-to-be constructed STEM-based playground unveiled by Logano and mayor Greg Fischer on Tuesday. 

"This is an unprecedented commitment to Louisville from a NASCAR driver," Fischer said. 

How did one of NASCAR's biggest stars, born in Connecticut, currently living in Charlotte, settle on making a difference for Louisville? 

His appeal was the genesis. 

Logano was chosen by Kentucky Speedway, the 1.5-mile track an hour away in Sparta, to help promote the July 14 Monster Energy Cup Series Quaker State 400 race. 

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Logano's only obligations, according to Kentucky Speedway general manager Mark Simendinger, were to show up one time in the market (star driver Kyle Busch appeared at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington last year), answer questions from the media and pose for promotional photos. 

But Logano said he wanted to do more.

So, with help from Kentucky Speedway and sponsors Shell, Coca-Cola and PNC Bank, construction on a playground incorporating elements of science, technology, engineering and mathematics will be completed later this summer. And, of course, there will be a race track circling the area. 

"This was his vision, his idea, his insistence that it happen," Simendinger said. "There were plenty of times along the way where it was getting hard to do and Joey said, 'No we're doing it.'" 

Logano is 28 years old but already has 11 years of experience in NASCAR's elite series. The 2015 Daytona 500 is the signature moment of his 19 career wins, and he almost won the series championship that season. 

But one unfortunate experience and something Logano's wife, Brittany, said motivated his already-on-going charitable efforts away from the track. 

In 2016, Logano was among hundreds of drivers and crew members who attended the funeral of 5-year-old NASCAR fan Jake Leatherman, whose mother asked the racing community to honor her son after he died of leukemia. 

Logano didn't meet Leatherman when he was alive. He said the "missed opportunity" made him mad.  

"I said, 'We need to do more,'" Logano said. "We're not doing a good job, as a sport, with kids that are big race fans and they don't get to meet their racing hero. Right? I may think I'm just a normal person, and I do think that way, but sometimes kids see their heroes differently." 

That furthered the impression Logano's wife made when she once asked: "Do you want to see trophies when you look around or do you want to see people?" 

His response was that of a racer with a heart for helping. 

"I want both," he said. 

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So Logano continues to do more. Through The Joey Logano Foundation, four or five times each season kids with serious illnesses get the opportunity to hang with him before races. Each kid gets their own race suit, their name is added to Logano's No. 22 yellow and red Ford and they participate in pre-race meetings and driver introductions. 

Logano's foundation also helps families dealing with mounting healthcare costs. 

"You've got to go somewhere special to get good treatment," he said. "That's not in your home. What do you do about work? What do you do about the bills? You still have to pay the mortgage bill. The bank doesn't care about that. There's things that really affect these families and we can take a little bit of stress off them." 

Logano began his Cup career driving for Joe Gibbs, the three-time Super Bowl champion coach with Washington, and drives for world renown entrepreneur and motorsports legend Roger Penske. 

Simendinger, who has known Logano since he was 18, said the influence of leaders and icons like Gibbs and Penske are obvious in Logano's maturation. 

The significance of Logano's time with Hunt is glaring, too. She wasn't supposed to still be alive. But she fought and lived to the fullest as long as she could. 

"It takes a fighter to do that," Logano said. "She never took the easy way out. She fought and fought and wanted to be around. That was admirable and an amazing trait in a person to see. I want that legacy that she created to live on."

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