BUFFALO TWP — In the rough-and-tumble world of dirt-track racing, Gary Rankin isn't afraid to show his sensitive side.

The Renfrew resident and veteran driver of the No. 16 Sprint car at Lernerville Speedway painted it pink this season.

Pink race cars aren't exactly commonplace, and Rankin has heard about it.

"Yeah, I get teased a bit," he admitted. "Guys tell me that no man would drive a pink race car. My response is that it takes a real man to drive a pink race car.

"And when I pass them on the track, they'll definitely know who it was that passed them."

Butch Beasley, an Ohio driver who raced regularly at Challenger Raceway, had pink trim on his Sprint car a couple of years ago. Ben Miley raced a pink car for years and was known as the "Pink Panther."

Rankin's car is pink for a good reason: to promote breast cancer awareness.

"My crew chief's best friend's wife has breast cancer," Rankin said. "A number of women close to our race team either have it or have beaten it.

"At first, my car was painted pink as a joke. It's staying that way to draw attention to a very serious disease."

The names of six women, Candy, Cindy, Leah, Debbie, Cheryl and a second Cindy, are listed on top of the wing of Rankin's car.

Leah and Cindy are relatives of Rankin. Candy is the wife of crew chief Matt Turner's best friend. The other two are friends of the Rankin family.

"I've got three more names to put on there,"said Rankin's wife Sheila. "We just haven't had time to get to that yet."

Turner said Candy is cancer-free now.

"I was best man at my best friend's wedding and he was best man at mine,"Turner said. "This cause is very important to us. If Gary's car raises any money at all, it's worth it."

Rankin endured a few wrecks during the 2004 season, prompting Turner jokingly to threaten to paint his car pink if he did serious damage to the car again.

That happened toward the end of last season and Turner had the car painted pink as a joke.

"It was supposed to be hot pink," Sheila Rankin said. "It would have been pretty."

The shade turned out to be a lighter pink. Once lettering was added to the car, "the color scheme kind of grew on us,"Gary Rankin said.

"We figured as long as we were going pink, let's do some good with it."

Sheila Rankin drives the No. 6 Sprint car at Lernerville. Her car is orange this season, the first time in years the Rankin cars are not the same color.

"Matt wanted to keep the cars different colors to avoid confusion on the track as to who's who,"she said.

Jo Marie Rankin, the racing couple's daughter and a Miss Pennsylvania beauty pageant contestant, is working with Lernerville Speedway to have a breast cancer awareness night at the track. She's hoping drivers will be permitted to go through the stands and collect donations.

The younger Rankin is coordinating the project through the Susan Komen Foundation.

"She took that project up on her own. She's handling everything there,"Rankin said.

According to The Breast Cancer Site, one of eight women either has or will develop breast cancer during her lifetime. This year alone, 182,000 women will be diagnosed with the disease and 43,300 will die from it.

Rankin has never won a feature race at Lernerville.

"Maybe pink will be his lucky color,"Turner said. "You never know."

Lernerville Speedway is sending two teams of runners to the Susan Komen Race for the Cure on May 13 at Schenley Park. Those interested can either run or walk the 5Kcourse.

Details are available by calling the speedway at 724-353-1511.