Dover Motor Speedway will once again pay tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with the annual 9/11 Memorial Blood Drive on Thursday, Sept. 11 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
This marks the 20th consecutive year that Dover Motor Speedway and the Blood Bank of Delmarva have partnered together for this event, dating to 2006. For the third time in the blood drive’s history, registrants will have the opportunity to drive on the famous Monster Mile, the high-banked oval which has hosted NASCAR events every year since 1969.
Pre-registration is highly encouraged. Call 1-888-8-BLOOD-8 or visit https://donate.bbd.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/11191 to book an appointment. Remember to only schedule an appointment if you are feeling healthy and fever free.
It only takes one hour to donate, and a single donation can save multiple lives. Roughly one in seven hospital admissions require a blood transfusion. Those in need include: cancer patients, accident, burn, or trauma victims, newborn babies and their mothers, transplant recipients, surgery patients, chronically transfused patients suffering from sickle cell disease or thalassemia, and many more.
Registrants should be aware of the following procedures as they make their way in and around Dover Motor Speedway:
- ENTERING THE PROPERTY: Guests should use the Speedway’s Leipsic Road entrance, near the Monster Monument (not the entrance to Bally’s Dover off of Rt. 13), to access the event. Suggested GPS address to help with guidance: 99 Plaza Drive, Dover, DE 19901.
- WAIVERS: Before entering the start-finish line gate, guests will be asked to sign a Speedway-issued waiver to drive their vehicle on the Monster Mile racing surface and a Blood Bank-issued waiver in order for their photo to be taken.
- DONATION AREA: Guests will donate blood in the Blood Bank of Delmarva's mobile unit. After their donations, guests will exit the garage area near Turn 2 then make their way back around the track toward the frontstretch exit where they entered.
Blood from volunteer donors is needed every two seconds to help meet the daily transfusion needs of cancer and surgery patients, accident and burn victims, newborns and mothers delivering babies, sickle cell anemia patients, and many more.
Per America’s Blood Centers, 62 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate (204.9 million people) but only 3 percent of Americans do so each year.
