A driven fight against cancer

Published 10:51 am Thursday, May 4, 2017

gathering of remarkable cars and motorcycles drew a large crowd of people to Teresa’s Place at Sprouse’s Corner for the fourth annual “Let’s Fight Cancer Together” car and bike show Saturday afternoon.

“It’s a good cause,” said Travis Toney, one of the organizers of the event.

He explained that it was a group of Buckingham County High School (BCHS) graduates — including Jamie Bryant, Scotty Edwards, Jennifer Shumaker and himself — that first put the show together.

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Click here to view photos of the event.

“We had a classmate that passed away from cancer, and we wanted to do something and donate the money to the Relay For Life, so me and (Edwards) and (Bryant) and a few others just decided we’d do a car show, and we thought it was going to be a one-time thing, and it’s gotten a little bit bigger every year.”

In its first year, the event recognized three Buckingham graduates: Laura Snoddy Davis, from the class of 1988, Tammy Murphy Jamerson, from the class of 1989, and Paul Gaita, from the class of 1990.

Toney said that each year, the names of different people who have passed away from cancer are featured at the show, including some who did not go to high school in Buckingham County.

He has been impressed from the start by how big the event has been.

“The girls had never done a car show before, and I told them, I said, the first one, ‘If we have 30 cars, it’s going to be a big show for Buckingham.’ We had 63 the first year.”

The second year featured 75 vehicles registered, and last year there were 83, he said.

Edwards noted Monday that while there ended up being only 61 entries this year, the event broke new ground in fundraising, bringing in $1,770 for Relay For Life.

“This is the most we’ve raised so far in four years of doing this event,” Edwards said after pointing out that the new high beat the previous one by $200.

Explaining how awards are handed out, Toney said, “We’ve got different classes. We do it like a four-wheel drive class, and then we do the cars and the two-wheel drive trucks by decades, and then we do motorcycles,” domestic and metric.

There are also best in show categories.

“In order to vote, you’ve got to put a car in it,” Toney said. “We just decided, hey, if the people own a car and they put a car in the show, they should know something about them.”

He said that every bit of the money raised from the event goes to the Relay For Life, and that includes entrance fees, the 50/50 raffle and any donations people want to make.