As part of the company’s 25th Anniversary “Papa’s Road Trip” tour, Papa John’s Founder John Schnatter will stop in Denver on Monday, and Los Angeles on Tuesday, on a nationwide search to find the 1972 Z28 Camaro he sold in 1984 to open his first Papa John’s restaurant.
Schnatter will be driving a replica of his beloved Z28 in the Mile High City and City of Angels, the latest stops on his multi-city tour. He’s offering a $250,000 finder’s fee to the person who locates his original Camaro, which had such distinguishing features as a custom-installed sunroof and Indiana license plate 10z 54. Additional clues about the car can be found online at www.papasroadtrip.com.
“The Rockies are only a speed bump in my quest to locate the car credited for the start of Papa John’s,” says Schnatter. “I’ve promised everyone that I will leave no stone unturned as I search for my Camaro. Between the Rockies, Red Rocks, and Hollywood Hills, I’ll be facing a lot of stones, but I’m willing to go the distance.”
While in Denver, Papa John will join Governor Bill Ritter and Lt. Governor Barbara O’Brien in packing boxes of donated food at the Food Bank of the Rockies. While at the Food Bank, Schnatter will add free pizza cards to each donated food box prepared by the dignitaries, and will also provide pizza for the organization’s “Kids Café” that will serve more than 100 children that day.
From there, the man who’s made an estimated 10,000 pizzas around the world will teach children from the Boys & Girls Club of Denver the skill behind pizza making from a nearby Papa John’s restaurant.
In L.A., Papa John will go “Hollywood,” literally. From making surprise deliveries to select media personalities to visiting the Los Angeles chapter of Junior Achievement and sharing his entrepreneurial spirit, he will be stopping at all of the local hotspots.
The 2009 Road Trip and Schnatter’s search for his original Camaro is being chronicled by two interns who have logged Schnatter’s road trip adventures online at www.papasroadtrip.com via an array of photos, videos, blogs, tweets and rules for the contest.
Highlights of Papa’s Road Trip include:
•Louisville – launching the Road Trip and releasing first clues for finding the Camaro
•Indianapolis – driving the replica Camaro around the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of the Indy 500 “Community Day”
•Atlanta – riding the Goliath (rollercoaster) with 25 contest winners at Six Flags Over Georgia
•Houston – delivering pizzas to patients and staff at the Texas Children’s Hospital and surprised attendees of a neighborhood block party with a pizza delivery
•Dallas – feeding Cowboys Stadium construction workers alongside Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones
•New York – ringing the Closing Bell at NASDAQ and giving away pizza in Times Square
•Daytona – serving as the honorary starter for the 51st Annual Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway
•St. Louis – a pizza party in Downtown St. Louis with the Gateway Camaro Club and throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at the Cardinals game
•Chicago – attempting a world record for the highest pizza delivery by delivering pizzas more than 1,300 feet up to the Skydeck Chicago at Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower)
Also at www.papasroadtrip.com, Schnatter and the interns continue to release new information about the original ’72 Z28 Camaro in the hopes that someone will reveal the car’s whereabouts. The $250,000 will be paid one-time only and must include title to the car.
