Racecar driver gives back to children fighting cancer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Many of the drivers on the track spend a lot of time getting ready for the races, but many of them also spend countless hours helping causes that are close to them.
          
Recently, Eyewitness News anchor Blair Miller spent some time with Martin Truex Jr. and found out how he's making a big difference far from the race track.
 
On the race track and at first glance, the innocence may be hard to find.
          
In the eyes of Truex, that innocence isn't here at 180 mph.
 
Instead, it's through the faces of children with cancer and every one of them is determined to beat it.
 
Along the halls of the Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, Truex and his girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, come to help.
 
It's more than just a day here or there to visit with the kids.
 
Through his foundation, Truex has come to know these children and know their battles of a lifetime -- fighting cancer.
 
"When you get to meet the kids and see what they're going thru, it makes doing what we're doing feel that much better and it means that much more to us because of that," Truex said.
           
Since 2007, Truex and Sherry have given the kids one night to forget about the IVs, the hospital beds or the intense treatments.
 
It's their night to be part of Catwalk for a Cause.
 
Even for some of the biggest names in the sport, a night like this doesn't get much bigger.
 
"It's going to do a lot of good things here tonight," said Dale Earnhardt Jr.
           
They're raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and raising the spirits of kids, who just want to be kids.
 
"Our kids don't get to be normal kids," Pollex said. "So to see them tonight, come out on the runway and be happy is what we're here for."
 
"They inspire us every day. The things they go through," Truex said.

WSOC