Wednesday

Tony Marks Racing and Leilani Munter Team Up To Bring Dolphin Awareness to the High Banks of Daytona

Filed under ARCA, Press Releases

Mooresville, NC (February 8, 2012) Leilani Munter may be small but she is a huge force when it comes to standing up for causes that she is very passionate about, especially the inhumane captivity and slaughter of dolphins around the world. Leilani will be driving the first ever ocean awareness themed car on the high banks of Daytona joining Tony Marks Racing in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards on February 18, 2012. In an incredible display of the public’s support of her cause, Leilani’s race to bring public awareness to the plight of the dolphins has been funded completely by donations from individuals and organizations who wanted to help get her ocean awareness race car on track.

The No. 12 TMR Dodge Charger will feature the Academy Award winning documentary “The Cove” which exposes the annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins in a small cove in Taiji, Japan. The documentary, which won over 70 awards globally, also exposed the undeniable connection between dolphin parks and dolphin captivity with the largest slaughter of dolphins in the world. Munter, a biology graduate, has made three trips to Japan to document the dolphin slaughter first hand and keep the issue in the public’s mind. Leilani comments, “Racing a “The Cove” themed race car at Daytona is an incredible opportunity to reach a new audience about this important issue and since the race is broadcast live on SPEED, it will be seen in the United States and overseas.”

The star of film, dolphin activist Ric O’Barry, and the director Louie Psihoyos will be joining Leilani at Daytona and autographing 1000 DVD’s of the movie to give away to race fans during the autograph session in the ARCA garage on Saturday, February 18 at 12:30pm. “The Cove” was produced by the Oceanic Preservation Society, a non-profit organization that creates film, photography and media that inspires people to save the ocean. Special thanks to sponsor pair Networks (http://www.pair.com), a carbon neutral website hosting company who hosts Leilani’s websites and the Shaw Family Fund for their significant contributions to “The Cove” dolphin awareness campaign at Daytona.

“I am excited Leilani is with the team for Daytona and hopefully we can take this further into the future. She is a very driven person and passionate about what she believes in; what she is doing is an honorable thing- she takes risks to expose the brutal slayings of the dolphins and that is something that a lot of us would not even think about doing,” said team owner Tony Marks.

TMR Racing is holding a screening of the film at the race shop so the team will have a deeper understanding of the motivating force behind their driver. Leilani’s birthday is Saturday, February 18th and this year it falls on race day- what better way for her to celebrate than to take the No. 12 “The Cove”/Dolphin Awareness Dodge Charger to Victory Lane.

Be sure to follow Leilani in her No. 12 “The Cove”/Dolphin Awareness Dodge Charger in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway LIVE on SPEED Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. EST.

For more information on “The Cove” go to thecovemovie.com, opsociety.org and dolphinproject.org

To learn more about Leilani and her endeavors visit leilanimunter.com

To learn more about Tony Marks Racing visit tmr-racing.com

- Tony Marks Racing Press Release