Eldora Speedway | 13929
St Route 118 | New Weston | OH | 45348
For immediate news release e-mail: mail@eldoraspeedway.com
‘Prelude’
Produces $800k for Charity
NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream Presented by Old Spice Raises $800,000
after Ground-Breaking
Telecast on HBO Pay-Per-View
INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 8, 2007) – The third annual NEXTEL
Prelude to the Dream presented by Old Spice, held June 6 and
broadcast live on HBO Pay-Per-View, raised $800,000 for charity.
The 30-lap dirt late model event at the famed Eldora Speedway
in Rossburg, Ohio, featured some of racing’s biggest stars,
and in a thrilling race won by NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver
Carl Edwards, it allowed the Tony Stewart Foundation to make
significant contributions to charity.
The chief
benefactor of the NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream presented by Old
Spice was the Victory Junction Gang Camp. The Randleman, N.C.-based
organization that serves as a year-round camp for children ages
seven to 15 with an assortment of life-threatening illnesses
will receive $600,000 from the Tony Stewart Foundation.
“It’s
tough to put into words what that kind of a donation means to
Victory Junction,” said Kyle Petty, who along with wife
Pattie formed the Victory Junction Gang Camp in honor of their
late son, Adam. “Getting the camp built was a huge undertaking
that took a lot of money from a lot of generous donations, but
running the camp and maintaining its medical facilities have
proven to be just as expensive. The success of the Prelude to
the Dream has ensured the camp’s success, which allows
everyone who works at Victory Junction to focus on one thing
– making sure the kids who come to camp get to do the
things they can’t always do in a hospital, and that’s
the ability to simply be a kid.”
Also receiving
support from the proceeds generated by the NEXTEL Prelude to
the Dream presented by Old Spice was the Autism Society of Delaware
and Motor Racing Outreach, with each entity receiving $25,000.
The remaining
$150,000 stayed with the Tony Stewart Foundation, allowing the
Foundation to continue its support of groups caring for chronically
ill children, drivers injured in motorsports activities and
charitable outfits specializing in the protection of various
animal species. Charities actively supported by the Foundation
include, but are not limited to, the Ronald McDonald House,
the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Indiana Special Olympics, Greyrescue
(Greyhound Rescue Organization) and the Victory Junction Gang
Camp.
“This
year’s Prelude to the Dream was our biggest yet, and the
money it was able to raise for charity is a testament to all
of the time and effort everyone put into it,” said Tony
Stewart, two-time Nextel Cup champion and founder of the Tony
Stewart Foundation. “From the drivers who participated
in the race, to the fans who came to Eldora or watched it on
HBO Pay-Per-View, to the media who covered it, to all the work
everyone did behind the scenes to make the event first-class,
it was a total team effort that made the Prelude so successful.
“We
learned a lot from this year’s race, and we’re already
planning for next year. We feel like we’ve found a cool
event that the drivers and the fans really enjoy, and we only
want to make it better so that next year’s donation is
even bigger.”
Carl Stealey,
Old Spice associate marketing director, added, “We consider
our relationship with Tony Stewart to be very special, and when
our relationship can benefit the work of such great charitable
organizations, it’s just hard to imagine it getting any
better.”
