Hundreds of people turned out Saturday for hot laps around Martinsville Speedway, really hot laps in the pace car with Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell, and most importantly to donate hundreds of toys and money to the 15th Annual Martinsville Speedway Toy Drive.
Almost 1,000 toys were donated along with an additional $2,500. The toys will be distributed to needy families in the Martinsville and Henry County area by the Grace Network, an organization of almost 100 area churches.
“It was a great day, a fun day with so many people coming together to help,” said Campbell. “I say this every year, and I’ll say it again: the generosity of our community and the generosity of the racing community always amaze me.
“Everyone that came out today helped put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces Christmas morning.”
Those toys will go to help about 200 children in the Martinsville and Henry County area have a brighter Christmas morning.
People donated $10 to drive their cars around the historic half-mile oval while the more adventuresome donated $25 to take hot laps in the Martinsville Speedway pace car with Campbell behind the wheel.
The Grace Network will use all money collected in the toy drive and from concession sales to purchase additional toys.
“The volunteers with the Grace Network do an amazing job. They handle the hard work of getting all the toys boxed, additional toys purchased and everything distributed,” said Campbell. “We couldn’t do this without them.”
The Grace Network utilized about 40 volunteers Saturday. They collected toys and cash from those people who wanted to drive around the track in their cars. They transported toys to the infield, sorted them by age group and then boxed them for distribution to families.
The staff of Martinsville Speedway donated their time Saturday to man the infield concession stand to cook and sell hot dogs, coordinated the hot laps and pace car laps with Campbell.
Martinsville Speedway PR
