Drive Away Cancer With John Nikas

STUDIO CITY (CBS) — Would you allow people to sign your vintage car? John Nikas did, and it was all for cancer.

Nikas visited the KCAL 9 studios Thursday. He just returned from a 7,000-mile coast-to-coast-to-coast trip in a 1953 Austin Healey. Along the way, the car was signed by thousands of people who have had their lives impacted by cancer. John will take to the road again next week as a participant in the inaugural running of the Mille Miglia North America Tribute. Along with dozens of vintage vehicles (Ferraris, Alfa Romeos, Fiats, etc.) built between 1927 and 1957, John and his Austin Healey will start in Santa Barbara on the morning of October 26, head north of San Francisco, and return to Santa Barbara on Friday, October 28. The trip, which will cover 1,000 miles, will include stops in Paso Robles, Monterey, Cambria and Half Moon Bay.

Drive Away Cancer is the brainchild of slightly foolhardy but very motivated vintage racer and cancer survivor, John Nikas. Why? Because a barely running sixty year-old British sports car shot through with rust is the perfect metaphor for people living with cancer. Imperfect? Of course, but with effort, hope and luck all things are possible.

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