Raceway and NASCAR Plant 58 Trees at Vacaville Public Schools

Four Vacaville public schools  will be a bit more “green,” thanks to the raceway in Sonoma and NASCAR.

Fifty-eight trees were donated to the Vacaville Unified School District through “NASCAR Green Clean Air” — an initiative that neutralizes all the carbon produced by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events.  The trees will be distributed between Markham Elementary School, Orchard Elementary School, Browns Valley Elementary School and Vacaville High School.

“This is a terrific initiative from NASCAR and we’re delighted to participate,” said Steve Page, president and general manager of the raceway in Sonoma. “We look forward to watching these trees grow and becoming part of the campus environment in Vacaville.”

A ceremonial planting of three live trees was held on Friday at Markham Elementary School, and was attended by Vacaville Unified School District Superintendent John Niederkorn, Markham Elementary School Principal Manolo Garcia, Buckeye Nursery’s Kim Bertotti, raceway representatives and several students.

“I liken trees to students. Our students need certain things to live and grow, and we give those to our students here,” said Garcia. “We are so grateful to both the raceway and NASCAR for their generous contribution and we will take great care of these wonderful trees.”

The raceway, which hosts an annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event each June, has participated in NASCAR’s Green Clean Air program since 2009. The initiative plants trees for every green flag waved during a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event.  There were three green flags at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma last June, so 58 trees (30 western arborvitae, 20 pear trees and eight California redwoods) are being planted at the Vacaville Schools. Past beneficiaries of this program have included Roseland Creek Elementary in Santa Rosa, City Park in Vallejo and Petaluma Junior High School.

NASCAR purchased the trees from Buckeye Nursery, a Women’s Business Enterprise National Council-certified business in Petaluma.

The program dovetails well with the raceway’s sustainability efforts, which include a major solar panel presence, comprehensive recycling program, water conservation efforts and the use of sheep to maintain the grasses and fire lanes around the raceway, among other initiatives.  The raceway also hosts an annual sustainability summit (www.acceleratingsustainableperformance.com).

Sonoma Raceway PR