NASCAR star Ty Dillon made two impactful visits on Thursday in the Appalachian Highlands Region to spread community spirit before he suits up to compete in Sunday’s Food City 500 race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Joined by officials from BMS, Dillon took some time to put smiles on many faces at Niswonger’s Children’s Hospital and then the veteran driver visited with officials at Appalachian Service Project and toured some of the homes they are building for survivors and others affected by the Hurricane Helene flooding last fall.
His first stop was the Children’s Hospital. He chatted with the children and signed some autographs. He was amazed at their incredible strength in a time of adversity.
“It’s always an honor for me to be able to give my time in that way and just also have fun with the local families,” Dillon said. “I really enjoy getting to spend the moments that I get with these kids as a parent. You want to do everything you can to help make these days a little bit easier for these folks.”
He said spending time with the children always gives great perspective.
“I just love seeing the smiles on these kids’ faces when we get to have a little bit of fun or joke around or maybe bring them gifts because, you know, they’re going through a time in their life that is stressful and making a deep impact,” Dillon said. “And you’re hoping that you can bring just a lot of joy, and usually you leave being uplifted by these kids because they’re so strong and doing amazing things, fighting for what they’re going through.”
Dillon was also inspired by the joyful attitudes of Hurricane Helene survivors David Harris and Carolyn Garland. Dillon met with them inside their new home, which is being constructed by the Appalachia Service Project.
Their home is being placed back near the one that was destroyed during the flooding. Dillon toured most of the affected areas and there’s still signs of devastation remaining. He went from Erwin to Bumpus Cove and Embreeville and finished up in Tittle Circle where he met with Harris and Garland.
The stories that both told of that fateful day were beyond scary. They lost many friends and neighbors. They became emotional as they remembered how lucky they were to make it out; it all happened so fast.
Dillon said it’s difficult to see the path the flooding created through the communities; especially given the hundreds of times he has driven through those areas admiring its beauty.
“I thought about the drives from my home to Bristol,” Dillon said. “My family has always loved the beauty of the mountains. For that tragic storm to come through and wipe out so much, to be able to give a little bit of our time, to maybe make one day a little easier for some who have lost so much, is the least that we can do. I will always be grateful for participating in these experiences.”
In addition to the work ASP is doing and countless first responders, the National Guard, the United Way and other emergency response agencies, Bristol Motor Speedway became the Northeast Tennessee Disaster Relief Center over several months working with TEMA, and countless NASCAR drivers and teams eagerly joined in to help in relief and recovery operations. North Wilkesboro Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway also were huge in helping in the devastated areas of North Carolina. Dillon’s Kaulig Racing Team and his family team of Richard Childress Racing also gathered donations to help during that critical time.
“I believe there’s no community in sports that does better than NASCAR, we’re just so tight knit in that way,” Dillon said. “When anything happens, whether it involves a community that we're close with, or people within our community that we know, our whole group rushes to try to help in any way possible.”
This Sunday during Food City 500 pre-race festivities, Bristol Motor Speedway will gather a small group of first responders, emergency personnel and volunteers who dedicated themselves to rescue, restore and rebuild efforts for those impacted by Hurricane Helene as a salute to all who gave so much.
The highly-anticipated weekend opens with the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race, a 250-lap race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series under the lights on Friday, April 11 (7:30 p.m., FS1 and PRN Radio), and continues Saturday afternoon on April 12 with the SciAps 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race (5 p.m., The CW, PRN Radio). Bush’s Beans Practice and Bush’s Beans Qualifying will be held for all three series both Friday and Saturday. The weekend culminates Sunday afternoon with the running of the historic Food City 500 NASCAR Cup Series race (April 13, 3 p.m., FS1 and PRN Radio).
To purchase tickets, please visit www.bristolmotorspeedway.com or call the BMS ticket sales center at (866) 415-4158.
