Capitol Racing along with help from a host of others have raised nearly $25,000 for people in need
We never know who we're helping, we never know where it will be, and we never know when. it will be. All we know is if someone needs our help due to a catastrophic illness we are willing to use our sport and love of cars to help. Our Night of Fire and Nitro Night events started seven years ago with the help of local car enthusiast Jim Billings and have become an annual tradition in Salem. The locations change nearly every year and the events are normally planned only one month in advance of the event, but that's what makes them so unique and a challenge to successfully pull off. Every cent goes to the family and neither Capitol Racing or Jim Billings ever handles the money.

As the photo below shows these event have become quite popular as we mixed dragsters, hot rods, fun, and flash, into a positive event for the community that has yet to be duplicated. How often do you see a jet funny car doing a fire show out side a supermarket? Our Night of Fire events are not your average car show. Will there be a show in 2007? Maybe. We'll bring one together if the need is there.

The Night of Fire Event in 2005
The Night of Fire benefit for Bailey Santana was a huge success as thousands of people from around the state literally crammed in to the Albertsons and Rite Aid parking lot for perhaps one of Salem's biggest automotive spectacles in recent memory. Over $7,000 dollars was raised in only five hours and over 180 cars registered. As Jim Billings began playing the oldies, the parking lot was near capacity even before the event officially began and some of the cars on display were double parked while some spectators parked on side streets and nearby parking lots.

The well-publicized event drew a wide spectrum of spectators from car enthusiasts to families. Even a representative from the Governor's office showed up to make a donation! Among the people there to help was Les and Mason McIllney. Mason was the beneficiary of the "Hot Rods for Mason" event. Les and Mason both thanked the crowd for their help when they were in the same position as Bailey three years ago. One of the most touching moments came when a Mustang convertable restored for Bailey rolled in mid way through the event. Bailey's Aunt got Bailey on a speaker phone and the whole crowd yelled "hello Bailey!''. Bailey replied from her hospital bed "hello, I love you all!"

The finale of the event was the jet Funny Car owned and driven by Richard Smith. Just as advertised, the jet roared to life and put on a spectacular fire show that will be talked about for years to come. (photo credit Lee Morgan)

Night of Fire Event in 2006
The Night of Fire event was once again a success as we raised over $6,000. This brings the total up to $25,000 in cash that we have raised for people in Oregon facing horrendous medical challenges. The weather was perfect and MorningStar Church was a great place to hold the event as there was lots of room.

This year, we added more family attractions to the Night of Fire including "Crater" the mascot from the Volcanoes baseball team, a dunk tank, a jump tent from Funland Inflatables, a 30 foot tall rock climbing wall from the National Guard, a clown, KSND's mobile studio which did a live remote from the car show, and four of those LA-style sadans that are lowered and jump up using hydraulics which generated a lot of interest. We also had some short on-the-spot auctions which kept things pretty lively. It didn't look as crowded as last year because we were in a much bigger venue but when the jet car fired up you realized that there were as many people as last ye ar's show.

And speaking of the jet car all I can say is WOW! Daren Bay put on an awesome show complete with the afterburner pops, smoke, and those spectacular, 30 foot flames. After jet was done, four of Salem's finest showed up as the 911 board lit up by people not knowing what was going on. The cops were cool about the whole deal and went on their way.

We also started up the Capitol car a few times to the delight of the crowd and Kenney "the Action Man" Goodell did a burnout in the parking lot with his ICS Red Saw sponsored Anglea. As usual, we gave out tons of great stuff including a bicycle, tickets to a Lucas Oil race, t-shirts, and a chance to sit in our car as we fired it up. Over all we had very few problem if any and the evevt went smoothly as planned. Tonight at the Blue Moon, a lot ot of people who were at the Night of Fire gave the event raved reviews and liked the new venue. If the church didn't mind the black burn marks on the pavement then we will have it there again next year. Darren Bay already indicated he will return next year. Complete photo coverage now on www.nwdragracing.com

Thanks to the following people and companies for helping us pull these events off:
Capitol Auto Group, Jim Billings, Doug Herbert, Sonnie Herbert, KSND 95.1, Matt Richards,Ernie Hopseker, Edlebrock, KBZY, Warren Franklin, Royal Purple, Jim Rugg, KYKN, Josh Frith, Jeff Morgan, Gary White, Lars Larson, Shawn Taylor, Supervinyl Signs, Mark Adams, Ernie Hopseker, Tom's Trophies, Salem Blue, Courtwear, Tony James, Albertson's, Ron Groves, Papa's Pizza, Saife, Mike and Randy, Rite Aid, JFL, Down Shift, Everyone at the Statesman Journal, Shanon Timms, Dean and Judy Anderson, Richard Smith, Dave Strauss and Kurt Knell for working late, Car Quest, Paul Romine, Les and Mason McIllnay, George and Karen Adams, Woodburn Dragstrip, Jim Livinston, Jonathan Adams, Ron Pappel, Adams Rib, Mike and Katrina Adams, Jeff and Pam Foster, Tom Baldwin, Ashwell Racing, Goodell-Whitehurst Family, Chrissy and "Lins" McAllister, Rob Bese, Boss Enterprises, Dan Judy, Loni and the Salem Kwanas Club, Rob Bese and last but not least the Willamette Valley Miata Club!

To Book the race car for an event:
Community involvement is a big part of Capitol Auto Group Racing. Each year, we do numerous visits to schools, scouting events, cruise-ins, and fairs. If you live in Oregon or Southwest Washington and would like to book the Capitol car for your event, shoot us an e-mail at capitolracing@hotmail.com. While we try to do as many events as our calendar and work schedule will allow, sometimes other considerations prohibits us from agreeing to do an event. We don't normally charge a fee to display the car, but we may request a small fee to cover traveling costs depending on the location of the event.