Cancer survivor Byers driving to help others

July 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

Among the dozens of cars at this weekend’s ARCA race at Pocono Raceway, one will stand out. Not for the color scheme or the lines. For the decals.

When the No. 48 of Ricky Byers Racing rolls out onto the track, it won’t be sporting the usual array of auto-parts or alcoholic-beverage stickers. Byers’ red-and-black Ford Fusion will be decorated for those who have made his dream a reality, the 90 or so people who have given the two-time throat-cancer survivor a chance to fight back at the disease that nearly cost him his life.

“It’s the greatest feeling of my life,” Byers said. “Those are the people who support what I’m doing, believe in what I’m doing and they’ve given me a chance to go out there and race for cancer.”

The Birmingham, Ala., native went on to race for 20 years, winning five track championships in Pony, Super Pony, Dwarf and Late Model cars.

But when Byers was 33, his career took a back seat to something much bigger: a race for his life.

Byers was diagnosed with stage-one squamous-cell carcinoma. After 35 radiation treatments over seven weeks, Byers was told he was cancer-free.

But the cancer was back, this time in stage four. Surgery saved his life.