Speedway 95 auto racing drivers Jordan Pearson, 16, and his brother Derek, 20, of Glenburn will be helping the Children’s Miracle Network with the Kids Racing for Kids campaign. Their mother, Tammy Pearson, came up with the idea.

“Jordan didn’t have a lot of extracurricular things at school, so we were thinking of something to do for fund-raising,” said Tammy Pearson.

She contacted Karen Brasslett, the community relations coordinator at the Children’s Miracle Network at Wal-Mart in Bangor. Once the CMN board approved the idea, Kids Racing for Kids was born.

“I’m very excited about [Kids Racing for Kids],” said Brasslett. “I think they’ll do a great job.”

The Pearsons will sport the Children’s Miracle Network balloon on the hoods of their Strictly Street cars for the Saturday evening races throughout the season at the racetrack in Hermon. They also will do fund-raisers at the track and during other events.

“I feel pretty good about it,” said Brewer High School sophomore Jordan Pearson. “I hope others come along, too.”

All the money raised by the program is donated to the Children’s Miracle Network.

The first fund-raising effort for Kids Racing for Kids debuted at the Portland Racing Show in February.

“The reception was good there. People are great about helping,” said Tammy Pearson.

Their next fund-raiser will be Friday and Saturday, April 15-16, at the Airport Mall in Bangor, where Speedway 95 holds its preview for the upcoming season.

On May 7 at the Bangor Wal-Mart, there will be a car show along with hot dogs, a raffle and racecars. Participants will have buckets for people to donate money and they will be selling yellow and orange bracelets for $1 a piece at the fund-raisers.

Tammy Pearson hopes that fund-raisers at the track also are successful.

“Alice [Baker, co-owner of Speedway 95] knows that we’re doing this. We want to do a helmet pass where drivers go into the grandstands with helmets and collect donated money,” Pearson said.

Jordan Pearson also is excited about the upcoming racing season. He enjoyed a successful rookie campaign by winning Strictly Street rookie-of-the-year honors while placing in the top three in 16 of 20 races – including three wins en route to a third place finish in points. He also won a Safety Award and the Tech Award.

“I hope to win the points championship or at least get better than third. I want to improve on last year and have a few more wins,” said the younger Pearson, who drives the No. 30 1984 Pontiac Trans Am.

Derek Pearson had a disappointing season in 2004 due to driving a lesser car, but now he has a new car and is ready to contend for the Strictly Street championship with his brother.

“I’m going to try to win the championship,” said Derek Pearson, who drives the No. 29 1984 Camaro. “I’ve finished second in points twice.”

Another goal for the duo is to finish one-two in a race, something that eluded them last year.

“They like to race each other,” said Tammy Pearson. “In one race, they were side by side for first and second for a long time before someone split the two, so they finished first and third. They finished in the top three together three of four times last year.”

“I have a lot of fun racing Derek,” said Jordan Pearson.

Derek Pearson added, “Hopefully, we’ll be pretty equal. We have almost the same cars.”