Martinsville Speedway proved once again in 2014 it has a mighty big heart when it comes to its neighbors. In 2014, Martinsville Speedway gave more than three-quarters of a million dollars to the Martinsville and Henry County area, either in cash and ticket contributions, in-kind donations, free use of the facility, fundraising activities or staff hours worked at different community events at the track. The largest and most visible is the annual Fourth of July Celebration event the speedway has hosted for 16 years. It is a free-to-the-public community party with nationally-known musical acts, carnival rides and fireworks. Many area businesses support the show with financial donations and the speedway promotes it as if it were a race, the track’s entire staff spending days working on the show. Area food banks also benefited from Celebration 2014 with a canned food drive spearheaded by the United Way of Henry County and Martinsville. While race weekends are big money-makers for area businesses, they also provide a boost for local fire and rescue units and other non-profits. Area volunteer fire departments and rescue squads were awarded over $25,000 for their race-weekend work during 2014. Americrown, International Speedway Corp.’s food service division, paid out almost $100,000 to area non-profits for staffing concession stands during 2014 race events at Martinsville Speedway. The speedway worked with many non-profits, governmental and community agencies to host fundraisers, meetings and training events in 2014.(Martinsville Speedway)(1-11-2015)
