Hilton Head car show raises funds to fight rare cancer

Car enthusiasts and friends and family of those battling cancer revved their engines in support on Saturday at the inaugural Cars Against Cancer show at the South Island Square on Hilton Head Island.

Presented by Hilton Head Ice Cream in partnership with the Community Foundation for the Lowcounty and Audi Hilton Head dealership, the car show brought in more than 100 cars and 67 entries to raise money and awareness for the fight against a rare form of cancer, liposarcoma.

Kate Knisely Delay, owner of Hilton Head Ice Cream, celebrated her 29th birthday at the event dressed in vintage pin-up-style clothing to pose for a calendar shoot with members of the ice cream shop’s team.

“It was a mad house,” she said. “Definitely bigger than we expected.”

She and her husband, Derek Delay — whose mother survived cancer and grandmother died from cancer — wanted to do something after a friend battling liposarcoma for years told them that the cancer had returned yet again, she said.

What originally was supposed to be a photo shoot to create a pin-up-style car calendar turned into an all-out car show with a prize.

“Best in show wins a trophy and the cover of the calendar,” Derek Delay said. “I said it doesn’t matter what kind of car you have, if you’re a car guy, a car enthusiast, bring it.”

Instead of making those who wanted to enter their cars “kiss the ring” and pay a large fee as most car shows do, Derek Delay said he asked car owners to donate whatever amount they felt was reasonable to enter their vehicle.

“We left it open to the public,” he said. “We got a really good response that way.”

The Delays said they wanted to make the car show a yearly event.

“Every year for my show, what I want to do is I want to pick a different rare form of cancer and raise awareness for that,” Derek Delay said. “And then what we do is take the largest researcher for that form of cancer, and we donate the money to them.”

Michael Bates of Audi Hilton Head and a friend of the Delays said the show had a “phenomenal turnout.” About 20 to 30 Audi employees assisted with the event.

“We had a huge showing of our team,” he said. “Employees that had the day off, mechanics and people that just wanted to come out and pay it forward.”

Bates, who helped provide an silver Audi R8 to showcase at the event and whose mother is battling cancer, said the visitors were a good mix of car enthusiasts, cancer survivors, and supporting friends and family alike.

“I mean, there were hundreds of people here,” he said. “(It’s) not so much about cars.”

Derek Delay said he would know the total amount of donations collected by the end of the week. The calendar is expected to be available later this year.

This story was originally published July 9, 2016 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Hilton Head car show raises funds to fight rare cancer."