The whole event being at a race for first time.

Just make sure when taking RV to Martinsville that you have a large gas tank, or plenty spare gas when traveling late at night because chances are (which was for us) you’ll run out of gas before you get there. No stations open.

Tony’s 2005 Brickyard win

Another Story On It

The sad news at the Oct 2004 Martinsville race: 10 die in Hendrick plane crash

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – A Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed Sunday on its way to a NASCAR race, killing all 10 people aboard, including the son, brother & two nieces of the owner of one of auto racing’s most successful organizations.

The Beech 200 turboprop took off from Concord, N.C., & crashed in the Bull Mountain area 7 miles from Martinsville’s Blue Ridge Regional Airport at about 12:30 p.m., said Arlene Murray, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Hendrick owns the teams of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte & Brian Vickers, who raced Sunday, with Johnson winning the Subway 500 in the Nextel Cup series at Martinsville Speedway.

Among those killed Sunday, according to Hendrick, were Ricky Hendrick, 24, Rick Hendrick’s son & a retired NASCAR driver; & John Hendrick, 53, Rick Hendrick’s brother & president of the organization. John’s 22-year-old twin daughters, Kimberly & Jennifer Hendrick, also died.

PADUCAH, Ky. – Scott Lathram , the helicopter pilot for NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Tony Stewart, was amongst the 10 people killed when the Hendrick Motorsports plane they were traveling in crashed Sunday en route to Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Lathram, age 38, had been Stewart’s helicopter pilot since last October (2003) upon his retirement from the Kentucky State Police. The Paducah native was a state trooper for 16 years while also serving in the Army Reserve as an Apache helicopter pilot for the 8th Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment. Lathram & his Fort Knox, Ky.-based unit participated in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, & Lathram was set to re-join his unit today, as it had already begun serving in Iraq. Lathram was given a bereavement leave following the death of his father Sept. 24.

No answer

We attend Eldora’s Prelude To The Dream at Tony’s track every yr.