As the purple-banded ultrasoft prepares for its Circuit of the Americas debut, in a one-off move Pirelli has actually given its softest compound a pink band to support the Susan G. Komen foundation.

"We're once again taking a softer range of compounds that we have done for previous races," said Mario Isola, "with the ultrasoft available in Austin for the first time: but in pink as a one-off, to highlight the brilliant work of the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Often referred to as simply Komen, the foundation is the largest and best-funded breast cancer organization in the United States.[3]

Since its inception in 1982, Komen has spent (through 2010) nearly $1.5 billion for breast cancer education, research, advocacy, health services and social support programs in the U.S. and through partnerships in more than 50 countries. Today, Komen has more than 100,000 volunteers working in a network of 124 affiliates worldwide.

Founder, Susan Goodman, later Susan Goodman Komen, was born in 1943 in Peoria, Illinois. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33 and died of the disease at age 36 in 1980.

Komen's younger sister, Nancy Goodman Brinker, who believed that Susan's outcome might have been better if patients knew more about cancer and its treatment, promised her sister that she would do everything she could to end breast cancer. To fulfil that promise, Brinker founded the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in Komen's memory in 1982.

In 2008, the 25th anniversary of the organization, the name was changed to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and trademarked a new logo in support of its promise "to end breast cancer forever." The new logo is a pink ribbon that resembles a runner in motion and is meant to reflect the importance of Komen's signature Race for the Cure event, which is currently the world's largest fund raising event for breast cancer education and research.