John M. Sweeney, right, with participants in the Sweeney Oil golf tournament for MDA.

When the sun rises over Lake Michigan in the morning and tinges the Chicago skyline orange, things already are happening at Sweeney Oil, a few miles southwest of The Loop. Engines are growling, gears are shifting and big tanker rigs are pulling out of the yard, headed for points all across northern Illinois and Indiana and southern Wisconsin.

The 24 trucks, with loads of up to 7,500 gallons each, are hauling gasoline, diesel fuel and heating oil. Sweeney Oil's storage facilities can hold up to 4 million gallons of fuel, and the company has branched out in recent years to establish eight convenience stores, which sell gasoline, of course, and several Subway sandwich shops. The employee list is closing in on 200.

With those numbers, you'd expect the firm's chairman and chief executive officer to have his hands full. Well, John M. Sweeney, grandson of the company's founder, is busy, all right -- but every summer he puts much of his operation on cruise control and pours his effort into staging a fund-raising golf tournament to benefit MDA.

"Since 1912 when my grandfather started this business - -- it was Sweeney Coal back then -- - we've always had a hand in this community," Sweeney said. "Several years ago, we realized we were at a point where we wanted to start getting more involved in our community. I wanted to give something back.

"We are a distributor for Citgo, and because of that affiliation we knew that MDA was their charity of choice. Our team looked things over and decided holding a golf tournament as a fund-raiser would fit our aim."

If Sweeney needed any further inducement to select MDA to be the beneficiary of his fund-raiser, he had one at home. His wife, Eileen, is the national manager of civic affairs for United Airlines, a longtime national sponsor of MDA.

Sweeney and John Gerlesits, his vice president for retail sales, poured untold hours of their time into making arrangements for the first tournament, in July 1991. Friends, family, vendors and other business acquaintances were asked to participate. The event, held at Midlane Country Club in Wadsworth, north of Chicago, raised $18,000.

"We had become familiar with MDA by that point, and were pleased with how it went. I still didn't know anyone with a neuromuscular disease," Sweeney said.

That changed in dramatic fashion in October 1994, three months after the third golf tournament had been played.

Eileen's mother, Marie Stephenson, received a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. About 30,000 Americans have ALS, which is usually fatal two to five years after diagnosis, and 5,000 new cases occur each year. The progressive motor neuron disease, which became well-known when the famed New York Yankees baseball star was found to have it in 1939, is one of the 40 neuromuscular diseases in MDA's program.

The very next day, the mother of one of Sweeney's sisters-in-law also was found to have ALS.

"The reality of what MDA does was brought home to us very quickly," Sweeney said.

He was determined to make the golf tournament even more of a success -- and he has. Sweeney and Gerlesits have promoted the event at every turn, sharing the news about the work MDA does and encouraging Chicago-area celebrities, including former members of the NFL Bears and the NHL Blackhawks, to participate.

MDA's fund-raising legend, Jerry Lewis, made a point of playing in the 1996 tournament, Sweeney noted. Now he has his sights set on the ultimate Chicago sports hero, Michael Jordan.

"I haven't approached him yet, but he plays golf at another club I belong to, and I'm working on it," Sweeney said.

Eileen and their two daughters, Bridget, 20, and Sarah, 18, are very supportive of the golf tournament, and this July might be the first time 13-year-old son Kevin tees off in the event. Although there are a host of details to be taken care of on the day of the tournament, Sweeney forces himself to not get bogged down with them.

"I make myself get out there with the high-rollers to see if I can get them to open their wallets," he said. "That's what the whole thing is about."

His efforts are paying off. Last year's tournament attracted 202 participants and raised more than $54,000 -- triple the total of the first event.

"This year, we're aiming for 244 entries," Sweeney said.

In addition to the more than $220,000 the golf tournament has raised in its seven-year existence, Sweeney's convenience stores all sell MDA Shamrock mobiles around St. Patrick's Day.

One thing is for sure -- no matter how busy Sweeney gets for MDA, he won't run out of gas.