True Value Man of the Year: Mark Martin’s countless hours of preparation, planning meetings and fundraising to fulfill his dream of building a quarter-midget track to give local kids a place to race, received the first quarter nomination for the NASCAR True Value Man of the Year Award. True Value, the Official Hardware Store of NASCAR, is once again sponsoring the NASCAR True Value Man of the Year. The award is designed to honor a driver not only for their accomplishments on the track but for their community service contributions and charitable efforts. The inspiration for this project was Martin’s eight-year-old son Matt, who began racing a quarter-midget last year near Orlando, Fla. Martin saw the need to have a track closer to home for many of the local kids. Martin worked on this summer-long project in 2000 and watched as his dream became a reality with the grand opening of the track in February earlier this year. With support from fellow NASCAR Winston Cup Series drivers Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mike Skinner, just to name a few, Martin unveiled the New Smyrna (Fla.) Quarter Midget Racetrack. The track, located in the infield of New Smyrna Speedway, is a standard 1/20th-mile oval and operates on Wednesday evenings. It is sanctioned by the Quarter Midget Association and a local club. For the purpose of determining the NASCAR True Value Man of the Year Award winner, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series season has been divided into four quarters in which drivers are nominated for their off-track efforts. An elite group of panelists will select one of the four quarterly finalists to name the NASCAR True Value Man of the Year. This award will be presented at the NASCAR Winston Cup Series banquet in New York City, along with a prize of $100,000. The prize will be divided evenly between the driver and the charity of his choice.(NASCAR PR)(4-20-2001)
