The #4 State Water Heaters Chevy Impala SS will undergo a slight transformation this weekend in Phoenix. Morgan-McClure Motorsports and Ward Burton will be sporting a large Virginia Tech logo on the hood and smaller decals on each side of their entry in this weekend’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Virginia Tech, located in Blacksburg, VA is only a little more than an hour’s drive from the Morgan-McClure Motorsports facility in Abingdon, VA. Morgan-McClure President, Larry McClure said today, “The tragic loss of life at Virginia Tech this week is heavy on all our hearts. We decided immediately to utilize our #4 State Water Heaters Chevy Impala to recognize and honor the students, faculty and families of Virginia Tech this weekend at Phoenix. Virginia Tech is near and dear to our hearts. My family follows their athletic programs and we feel a closeness to the campus which is practically in our back yard. We currently have a VT student, Blake Ray, who is working as an Engineering Intern for Morgan-McClure. Even though he was away on a project in Florida when this tragedy happened, he still is affected by the loss of fellow students and faculty members. Being the only Virginia based Nextel Cup team and having Ward Burton, a Virginia native driver, we felt it important to show our support for VT as they try to recover from this horrible tragedy.” Ward Burton expressed his sadness over the events at Virginia Tech, “I have lived in Virginia all my life and Virginia Tech has always been a big part of this state. I am surrounded by people who are either graduates of Virginia Tech, or they have kids who attend. This is not just a community or state tragedy, it’s a national one. I am saddened by this negative publicity for Virginia Tech, but Virginia Tech, its students, their colleagues and employees and the whole state of Virginia is going to rally around this institution.” Burton continues, “Personally, my Wildlife Foundation [WBWF] has a partnership with Virginia Tech and we value that partnership very dearly. We are working together very hard to do a lot of positive conservation outreach projects with the state of Virginia. We’ve been talking with our friends at VT all week trying to offer them support. I’m really proud that Larry [McClure] and Tim [Morgan] have allowed this race team to show their support by putting them [VT] on the race car. Virginia Tech will rise above this and this is our way, for the time being, to help them and show our support.”(Morgan-McClure Motorsports PR)(4-18-2007) Images: see some images of the car on the Paint Schemes page.(4-20-2007)
