Awesome Supercars Gather in OKC to Brighten Kids’ Day
We talk cars with Redline4Kids, which brings together owners of exotics to provide exciting experiences for sick children.
Chance Wynn knew what it was like to be an outsider. As a four-year-old, he began his lifelong battle against Systemic Juvenile Arthritis.
The disease left Chance unable to do most of the things young boys do to occupy their time. Instead of playing football and riding bikes, he often found himself in and out of hospitals.
However, there was one thing that even horrific diseases such as SJA couldn’t extinguish. And that was his passion for fast cars, which he inherited from his father Eric Wynn.
So, when Chance was able to he purchased his first Nissan GTR. According to his father, that sparked an idea.
“My son grew up sick most of his childhood. He lived in the hospital,” says Eric. “So, now that he’s an adult and has his own exotic car, he had the idea to put this together.”
‘As a parent of a kid who was sick, it really gets me, because I could see those kids’ smiles that sit in the cars and I can look at the parents’ faces and see the happiness.’
What he put together is Redline4Kids, an organization that brings together owners of exotic cars to provide a unique experience for sick and bed-ridden children.
“We get a group of car guys in cities that own high-end exotic sports cars that are willing to bring them to children’s hospitals,” says Eric, who is the company’s president of the board of directors. “We park them outside, do an exotic car show for about an hour and a half, let the kids that are in the hospital and their families come out, sit in them. We let them start them and rev the engines. We give them a free tee-shirt, a toy car, and then a collector card that features each one of the vehicles, the stats on the engine, what kind of engine they got, and how fast they go.”
Redline4Kids was formed in 2017 and their first showing was at OU Children’s Hospital here in Oklahoma City, where they are on display as part of the Oklahoma City Auto Show. Since then they have traveled across Oklahoma and the nation putting on their special car show. That includes Oklahoma City, Dallas Fort Worth, Houston, and Miami. They are also looking to launch soon Kansas City, Phoenix, and Arizona.
“When you have these cars, if you go to the store or to a restaurant, kids always say, â€Can I get a picture of it or can I sit in it,’” says Eric. “And I think it was from that concept that he said, ‘You know, I think I can use this to help kids that are like me, that are in the hospital that are sick and can’t get out and do this.’ And that’s kind of how we put it together.”
Redline4Kids began with two appearances in 2017. They are scheduled to make 12 this year, which includes the annual Oklahoma City International Auto Show. This year they had a variety of different cars on hand to show off to the spectators.
“We try to bring one of every make. So, you’ll notice we do have a couple of Lamborghinis here. They’re both Gallardos, but one is a coup, one is a spider,” says Eric. “And then we have to have a different type of Lamborghini, which is the Aventador. We have a Dodge Viper, a McLaren, an Audi R8, a Corvette 06, we have two Porches, one is a GT3 RS, which is a track car. The other one is just a turbo. And then of course for the older folks, we even have a two-door Bentley.”
‘We’ve had kids that have been literally brought out in a bed, they want to sit in a red Ferrari. They take them out of the bed, put them in the car, take their picture. So, that’s how much these cars can help kids.’
According to Wynn, he got one question more than any other. And that was which car was the fastest.
“Now, if you talk about from the factory, it’s going to be the McLaren,” says Eric. “But of the cars sitting here, if you’ll notice the Audi red R8, on the bottom of it, it says ‘Underground Racing.’ So, that means it’s been sent to a company down in Houston that modifies cars like that one. So, that car has 1,200 horsepower. So, that R8 is the fastest one here.”
Even though the Oklahoma City auto show was filled with brand-new 2020 and 2019 automobiles, many car buffs and the novice alike still made their way over to the Redline 4 Kids corner of the arena to check out the exotics.
But, as usual, it was the reactions from the children that really got the Wynns charged up.
Eric had his own 2017 Red Blood Corvette on hand and takes it on trips to children’s hospitals as well. He has seen up close and personal what the automobiles can do.
“As a parent of a kid who was sick, it really gets me, because I could see those kids’ smiles that sit in the cars and I can look at the parents’ faces and see the happiness there,” says Eric. “Because we’ve had kids that have been literally brought out in a bed, they wanted to sit in a red Ferrari. They take them out of the bed, put him in the car, take his picture, put him back in the bed and roll him back in. So, that’s how much these cars can help kids.”
Photos for Team Speed by Michael Kinney