MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell revved the engines of the roughly 35 people who attended a free lecture at the New College Institute on Tuesday afternoon by showing a highlight reel from recent races at the historic half-mile track.
But with this being race week, most people were likely already excited.
"I think the biggest difference between now and, say, 20, 30, 40 years ago -- I think everybody gets pumped up. I think Martinsville and Henry County gets excited about race weekend, whereas maybe in the past, 'Oh, it's race weekend. I'm going to get the heck out of dodge,'" Campbell said, addressing the audience.
Campbell pointed out that a race weekend typically draws about 60,000 people to the track and the two annual race weekends combined generate $170 million for the region.
To maintain those numbers, or ideally, to increase them, using social media to fuel a passion for racing in kids today and in the future is key.
"Kids today, they don't have an affinity for cars like we did when we did when we were growing up," Campbell said. "So that's a challenge. If you don't care about cars, that's our core product. It makes it difficult to reach those people. We're doing our best."
While he won't be around after the next 71 years at the speedway are up, he's confident it will remain an important and exciting part of the sport and Martinsville and Henry County.