Darrell Nelson, The Hermantown Hammer, Fights Cancer

Darrell Nelson, #44, The Hermantown Hammer, our buddy, fellow racer, friend, OUR FAMILY, needs help!

Early last fall (2023) Darrell was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He began by waiting months to get in for a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester because, well, they are the best and relatively close to home. After his initial visit in early 2024, he had a surgery that went very well. They had follow up appointments and came up with a game plan for future treatment.

Everything was going well until his insurance (Medica) DENIED over $100k in charges from the Mayo treatment. They insisted he stay local and seek treatment in Duluth. After fighting for weeks with Medica his Drs at the Mayo say he should continue treatment at the Mayo. Their staff says he shouldn’t pay their bill because if they do, it tells the insurance company that they accept all charges and they are no longer going to fighting them. HOWEVER, because of his six-figure balance the Mayo won’t treat him unless he pays the bill first.

In the time all of this has all happened, Darrell’s cancer numbers have gone up and he has had no choice but to seek treatment in Duluth so he can FIGHT this thing. The Duluth Drs are disregarding the treatments plan he had at the Mayo. They want to start at square one. As frustrating as this is he needs to do something so his numbers don’t get out of hand. Recently, he was able to get X-Rays (to show he doesn’t have metal in his eyes), got an MRI and his first injection of female hormones to re-start a treatment plan…these help kill the testosterone which feeds cancer. He won’t know the results of his scans for days due to the processes of the local hospital.

Several of Darrell’s friends have stepped up even though the Darrell & Missy insisted they do not want to ask for help. The guys want their friend & fellow competitor, THEIR FAMILY, to be able to enjoy his life and not stress about the medical bills that are not going away any time soon. They want to help him FIGHT Cancer and kick it’s ass like he has done for so many years in a racecar.

If you know Darrell at all, you have a nickname. I’m Jody Bellefeuille, aka Butterfly, the northshore nightmare and several others that are probably not appropriate here. Darrell has been a huge part of my life! He helped me get started in racing giving me tips and parts, even loaning me an engine so I could stay in a points race. He was in my wedding and also was one of the biggest encouragers to helped me start my business. Darrell has easily been one of my best friends for over 20 years! I talk to him almost every day either on the phone or in person. He is one of the first people to offer help when it is needed. He is the hardest working person I know. He is up and at Dave’s Automatic Transmission (the tranny shop) before most people are out of bed and back home well after most have had dinner. He is one of the toughest competitors on the track and he is one of my favorite racers to race…especially if I can pass him! I always give him crap that my favorite time of day is 11:44 because the 11 is in front of the 44. I couldn’t imagine not talking to him for a day, let alone forever.

I’m Jamie Reberg aka Big Arms. When I met Darrell he treated me like a friend the second I walked into his life. He made me feel like an equal. I am a seasonal worker so I started spending my winters at his shop to help put. Eventually turning our friendship into something more like family! While I would be working out of town, Darrell, without, my knowledge would secretly help out my oldest son if his car had a brake-down and not charge him a dime because he was in college. Over time, I watched him selflessly help random strangers with no hesitation… I told myself I wanted to be more like this man! He helped me with my racecars and used a lot of favors up for me... I felt very humbled...being a loyal person in general because of how I was raised I knew at that point that I'd lay down my life for this man and his family…because from that point on he was my family! Period no questions asked. So when I had the opportunity to pay him back the love and gesture he showed me and my family. I knew I had an obligation to help him in any way that I could. This is the only way that it was gonna happen. I will now and forever have the Hammers back!!

I’m Harry Hanson, I've raced against Darrell since he first got in a late model many years ago and he has always been a great guy! He has helped so many racers and has helped me whenever I needed it. Although we have been rivals for years on the track, we have been great friends off the track. Some of us fellow racers figured we should step up to the plate and help our friend out when he could use a little less stress so he can fight his battle that he will certainly win!

We know that our community will come together and help the Nelson family! We are confident that we can help relieve the financial burden they have so that they only have to stress about when the #44 will collect his next feature win. 100% of the money raised will go to medical bills. Just like racing there may be one person in the driver's seat, but there are so many people cheering that driver on! We don’t consider this a “hand out”, it’s a “hand up”! We love you Hammer!