Bakersfield resident Douglas McGuire, 11, has been selected as a top-five finalist in the second annual nationwide Ford Funny Car Design Contest.

McGuire estimated his design took about half an hour to make using colored pencils and No. 2 pencil.

The design had to incorporate the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation logo, and McGuire liked the idea of one word tying into another word. This is reflected in his design, which reads "JDRF: Discover A Cure."

His mother kept close watch on his design online, and she was the one who told him his design had reached the top five.

"I think it's pretty cool," he said of his status as a finalist.

The Ford Funny Car Design Contest is a fund-raiser that allows children with type 1 diabetes to create a design for the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang Nitro Funny Car, driven by Bob Tasca lll.

The car will race at the National Hot Rod Association Nationals in Concord, N.C., Sept. 18. The contest winner gets a trip with his or her parents to see his or her design unveiled.

Ford gives money to local JDRF chapters to sponsor the contest, said Allison Perkins-Thomas, branch manager for the Bakersfield-Kern County chapter. The Bakersfield chapter puts the money toward each applicant's team for the Walk For A Cure, but each chapter is different.

This year, there were 10 entries from Bakersfield.

Contest entries are put online, where the public votes for a design by making a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation under the name of the child whose design they choose.

The five designs with the most money donated at the end of the voting period are put before a panel of judges from the Ford Customer Service Division. This year, the contest raised $39,542 for JDRF.

The winning design was selected Aug. 17, and it will be revealed Sept. 9.