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200-person crew will spend week cleaning up at speedway after races

CONCORD, N.C. — Twenty thousand campers packed into Charlotte Motor Speedway and the surrounding lots during the past two weeks.

While the racing is over, the massive cleanup effort has just started.

Volunteers are packing up the signs as campers and RVs are rolling out.

"I feel bad for the people cleaning up. I really do,” camper Bill Robinson said.

Grills, inflatable pools, mattresses and bags of trash are scattered as far as the eye can see.

Track officials said a 200-person crew will work around the clock for the rest of the week to clean up the speedway.

"We were looking around this morning at all the garbage and it's a shame that people leave that kind of mess behind,” camper Debbie Russell said.

Russell is a regular at the annual event and one of the few campers that did not leave any trash behind.

Lenny Dean is from Greensboro and has been coming for years. He joined others in offering a suggestion to improve the trash problem at the speedway.

"I wish Charlotte they would put the trash cans out. A lot of the race tracks they put the big barrels out and they come around every morning and they get them. I think that helps out big time,” he said.

More than 150 tons of trash and recyclables will have been hauled away by the end of the week.

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