When residents of Savannah, Ga., were ordered to evacuate because of Hurricane Matthew, Larry Singletary knew where his son should go: to Charlotte Motor Speedway, 250 miles away.
Why not a place with a weekend full of fun to get your mind off the storm's approaching destruction, dad thought. Larry Singletary, 69, lives on the outskirts of Savannah's county, but his son is in downtown near the Savannah River.
"You guys go have fun," he told son Justin Singletary, 34, and Justin's girlfriend, Kasey Gay, 28.
So off they went at 9 p.m. Thursday in their 33-foot motor coach. They made it to a Cracker Barrel 45 minutes from Charlotte, pulled into the parking lot and slept then drove to the track.
They were shown to a spot in the infield and given a tour. "They're treating us great around here," Justin said by phone from the speedway on Friday afternoon.
The speedway, coincidentally, invited Matthew evacuees on Wednesday to spend the week there, saying Charlotte hotel space might be tight given the Bank of America 500 _ which was postponed from Saturday to Sunday _ and the Carolina Panthers NFL game on Monday night.
The speedway had plenty of dry camping spaces with restroom/bathhouse access available, and spokesman Scott Cooper said rates were far less than uptown hotels. For $125, people could camp for the week.
"Plus, there's a lot of free entertainment (with our Fan Zone) through the weekend to take an evacuee's mind off what may be happening with the storm on the coast," the speedway said in a statement.
It was unknown Saturday how many evacuees took the speedway up on its offer. But at least a few had pulled in as early as Wednesday, Cooper said.
One woman, he said, hadn't planned to come in for the race until Friday, but she was vacationing in Myrtle Beach and came early to the speedway due to the storm," he said.
Justin Singletary said his dad had always been the bigger NASCAR fan in the family, having rooted for Dale Earnhardt and now Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But the speedway's hospitality is turning him into a racing devotee, too, Justin said.
"It's making us more and more NASCAR fans," he said.
As for what Matthew wrought? "We'll deal with it when we get back," he said.
