Tony Stewart To Help TMS Kick Off Its 2009 ‘Speeding To Help’ Community Outreach Initiatives

FORT WORTH, Texas – While in the midst of raising more than $200,000 for Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Chapter as host of Tuesday’s “Smoke Show” charity fantasy camp, two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart has decided to reserve some time for another important cause in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Stewart will assist Texas Motor Speedway in kicking off its four-week “Speeding To Help” community outreach program by having a disabled veteran as his special guest for Tuesday evening’s “Smoke Show” dinner and auction as well as giving the 25-year-old American military hero a high-speed Team Texas two-seater ride around Texas Motor Speedway. U.S. Army Specialist Brett Wolf, along with his wife Kelly, received a special invite from Stewart to visit with him the day prior to the TMS staff volunteering its time Wednesday for the Homes For Our Troops project to benefit the Wolfs as part of its “Speeding To Help” initiatives.

Homes For Our Troops, a non-profit organization founded in 2004, assists severely injured soldiers and their immediate families by raising donations of money, building materials and professional labor, and then coordinating the process of building a new home or adapting an existing one for handicapped accessibility. The finished home is then presented to the veteran at no cost.

Texas Motor Speedway will assist the Homes For Our Troops Building Brigade in constructing a home at 3388 Adell Circle in Weatherford for Wolf, who was severely injured Sept. 11, 2007, in South Kirkuk, Iraq. Wolf needed to have both legs amputated above the knee and also sustained serious injuries to his right arm, abdomen and face when the minesweeper he was driving for the 25th U.S. Infantry struck a large bomb and flipped over.

“This will be a very special day for me as I love NASCAR racing at Texas Motor Speedway and I am a big Tony Stewart fan,” Wolf said. “Not only that but Homes For Our Troops is building me and my wife, Kelly, a brand-new, specially adapted, barrier-free home with help from Sandlin Custom Homes and countless other volunteer professional trades people.”

The admiration is mutual as Stewart is looking forward to meeting Wolf.

“I have yet to meet Brett, but I am already a fan of his because he is a true American hero,” Stewart said. “He made a tremendous sacrifice for our country and we should all be indebted to him for his courageous service. I know I am.”

In just one day in the Metroplex next week, Stewart will be making a substantial impact in terms of lending his hand to important causes.

The second annual Tony Stewart “Smoke Show” is expected to raise more than $200,000 for the second year in a row, and last year’s total of $262,000 became the highest-grossing, single-day event in the SCC-Texas Chapter’s history. The money raised will be distributed to non-profit organizations across Denton, Tarrant, Collin and Dallas counties through SCC’s grant program later this year.

Stewart was planning on being part of the opening day of the Homes For Our Troops build, but a scheduling conflict altered his plans. However, he still wanted to share some of his time with Wolf and add to his memorable week.

The TMS staff will be on hand at the building site Wednesday to offer volunteer support for Homes For Our Troops as the opening event of the four-week “Speeding To Help” community outreach initiatives for this year. In addition to Homes For Our Troops, TMS will assist United Community Centers, Inc. of Fort Worth, North Texas Food Bank and the Dallas Arboretum in the coming weeks.

“Tony’s commitment to volunteer his time sets a great example for our staff at Texas Motor Speedway and exhibits what can be achieved,” Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said. “He has a tremendous heart.”

The next stop for “Speeding to Help” will be Wednesday, Aug. 12 when TMS provides help to United Community Centers, Inc. by sprucing up the Bethlehem Center in Fort Worth for disadvantaged children. The TMS staff will beautify the outdoor recreation area, paint hopscotch and four-square boards outside, re-paint the letters on the building front and re-paint the center’s reception area. In addition, Levy Restaurants will provide lunch for the approximately 100 children that will be attending the center that day.

TMS will head to the North Texas Food Bank warehouse in Dallas on Tuesday, Aug. 18 to assist with the boxing and sorting of food for distribution to 260 of the food bank’s member agencies. The projects include working on “Food 4 Kids,” senior citizen food boxes and salvage/canned food drives.

The final event will be Wednesday, Aug. 26 when “Speeding To Help” visits the Dallas Arboretum. The TMS staff will volunteer its time to the arboretum’s Trial Gardens, where the primary focus of this important plant testing program is to grow and evaluate various plants in the wide-ranging North Texas climate and develop new selections.

This marks the second season of the program. Last year, “Speeding To Help” helped build a Fort Worth home for Habitat for Humanity; provided lunch with Levy Restaurants for the families of ill children at the Ronald McDonald House in Fort Worth; visited and distributed toys to ill children at the Children’s Hospital in Dallas; and provided Team Texas two-seater stock-car rides, lunch and a staff-wide show of support for incoming and outgoing soldiers with the USO of Dallas/Fort Worth.
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