When you've just turned 21 years of age and you're sitting at a head table with the likes of World Series winners Pat Hentgen and Cito Gaston, and Toronto Maple Leafs greats Borje Salming and Johnny Bower, you know you've been doing something right
.
On Monday, January 17 at the London Convention Centre, up-and-coming driving star Doug McNair was part of the head table at the 55th Rogers Sports Celebrity Dinner & Auction.
The dinner is the longest running and largest fundraiser for Thames Valley Children's Centre. It has raised more than $1.3 million to support programs and services which help TVCC clients reach beyond disability. Every year the children's centre helps more than 6,900 children and families across 10 counties in Southwestern Ontario.
“Talking to the kids (from the Thames Valley Children’s Centre) is great and if you get a chance like this, why not?" McNair, who took the day off from driving, was quoted as saying in an article by The London Free Press.
"I like to race every day but when a thing like this comes up you’ve got to take your shot and go for it. This is my first time doing something like this and it’s been really great.”
McNair was also recently profiled in a piece by The Guelph Tribune. During the 'Q-and-A' session, McNair revealed that if he could have dinner with three people, either dead or alive, one of them would be an active participant in the harness racing industry.
McNair, who is coming off a career year, has been putting up very solid numbers so far in 2011. At the time of press he had driven in 109 pari-mutuel dashes and won 30 of them. Off the strength of his wins, 23 second-place finishes and 12 thirds, McNair sits with a UTR of .429.
To view McNair's next scheduled drives, click here.