Fifty-three Sonoma County (California) non-profit organizations will benefit from more than $405,000 in grants recently awarded by the Sonoma chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities (SCC), the charitable arm of Sonoma Raceway. In total, $405,537 was distributed to youth-serving organizations in Sonoma County, bringing the chapter’s total distribution of funds to just over $6 million since 2001. The amount raised this fiscal year marks an increase of $30,000 over 2016.
SCC’s success was due largely to the 13 SCC fundraising events in 2017, the majority of which are held during the raceway’s major-event weekends, including NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar and CSRG. The highlight of the year included the Children’s Champions NASCAR Grand Marshal’s Banquet and its live auction, which combined to raise a record-setting $252,000 during the NASCAR Cup Series weekend in June (above, photo courtesy of Speedway Children’s Charities).
The Grand Prix Salute Banquet, held prior to IndyCar’s Grand Prix of Sonoma, generated another $110,000 and the 11th annual Eric Medlen Nitro Night, held the Thursday prior to the NHRA’s Sonoma Nationals, netted an additional $28,000. Great Clips raised nearly $10,000 in donations at its mobile hair salon in the main paddock during the NASCAR weekend.
SCC is also the beneficiary of the Classic Sports Racing Group’s Charity Challenge, which netted $52,000 for Sonoma County non-profits. This brings the group’s donations to SCC to more than $880,000 since 2004.
Speedway Children’s Charities is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for qualified children’s organizations. Founded in 1984 by Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., SCC originated at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina and now boasts eight chapters at SMI facilities throughout the country.
