For years the Mattioli Foundation has provided funding to a wide variety of local and regional organizations.

Led by Pocono Raceway’s CEO Dr. Joe Mattioli, the Foundation does a significant amount of philanthropy throughout the community by contributing to multiple charities and also awarding scholarships.

Over the past two years the Foundation has reached outside of Northeast Pennsylvania and begun a unique diversity program at South Boston Speedway in Virginia.

South Boston Speedway is a 4/10-mile paved track that is steeped in tradition, serving as the training ground for many of today's top NASCAR drivers. What many may not know, too, is that South Boston is run by the Mattioli family and thanks to the Mattioli Foundation the track has played perfectly into a K–12 motorsports program known as The Motorsports Academy at Halifax County Public Schools.

Begun in the spring of 2005, the goal is to provide students the opportunity to get involved in a career in the growing world of racing through a rigorous academic program made relevant to the variety of jobs involved in the sport through close interaction and relationships with those who are currently employed in the field. The program is open to all kids with a particular goal to recruit minority and female students.

It’s a one-of-a-kind curriculum that no other school district offers. What’s more is that students in senior high are eligible for a high school letter by simply completing the necessary procedures of the course.

The Mattioli Foundation and South Boston Speedway are both contributing resources to the program. Students utilize race cars that range from go-karts to a variety of short track stock cars.

In the go-kart program there is no cost to the kids. The Mattioli Foundation purchased all the karts and South Boston built the track they race on. The kids are learning all aspects of racing and even taught about marketing and PR.

Nick Igdalsky is Vice President at both Pocono Raceway and South Boston Speedway and has been working closely with Halifax County school district superintendent Paul Stapleton on the project.

“Doc (Mattioli) came to me and said we need to get kids involved. We had planned to do sort of a go-kart program on our own and at that same point we had heard that the school district and superintendent, Paul Stapleton, was looking to start some sort of motorsports curriculum,” said Igdalsky, who is also the grandson of Mattioli.

“So I got right over to his office and sat with him (Stapleton) and talked and we basically married the projects in a matter of minutes. It was so similar what his goals were and what our goals were that it was a perfect relationship.

“Between Doc Mattioli and Paul Stapleton, this program was developed between them two and it’s just grown since them.”

Classroom work includes plenty of on-hands work with cars that are prepared and raced by the students weekly at the main track.

For the karters there is a special clay surfaced race track constructed outside turn four at South Boston and was built using WKA guidelines.

“For right now we want the kids to learn on clay because that type of surface is a little more forgiving. They can learn how to slide the car and get a better feel for car control. They get more racing craft that they can learn on the dirt with passing and re-passing a lot more,” explained Igdalsky.

“If we have the option we can always go out and set up a course on the infield of the main speedway and create an additional concrete or asphalt oval or we can even develop a road course.

“So these kids will have a gamut and learn the racing craft from dirt ovals to asphalt ovals to the road courses that they’re going to learn.”

The go-kart program is basically an after school activity for the 7th through 9th graders and used as an introduction to get the understanding of motorsports.

Program participation is mixed with 50% Caucasian and then a rundown between minorities and females.

“Right now the 7th to 9th grade kids compete in the go-kart portion of the motorsports academy and there are currently 50 kids enrolled in that part of the program,” noted Igdalsky.

As sophomores the kids enter a new level of the program and the eligibility begins for a varsity letter in motorsports. There are two-parts to achieving a letter. It comes down to a list of items that they must fulfill in order to be eligible for the varsity letter.

First is with the classroom that entails around the technical aspects of a race car.

The next sees a number of the class competing on Saturday nights at South Boston as members of a pit crew for the car(s) in any capacity necessary.

“The only way they can enter the program is directly though the school district. We had looked at other options like going through the YMCA and other youth organizations but when it comes right down to it 99.9% of the kids are in the school so that’s the logical place to get hold of everybody,” said Igdalsky.

Although still in the growing stages, the program has been successful and continues to attract students.

“It’s just starting to get legs. One of the reasons we started the program was that the demographic in racing has been going towards the higher end of more towards 50 to 60 year olds. We need to reestablish at the bottom of that chain and get these youngsters involved,” said Igdalsky.

“A lot of the high school and junior high kids are getting into the tuner cars and street racing and that kind of stuff. We’re just trying to get them away from the tuners and off of the streets and into an organized outlet for motorsports. Basically they’re already into motorsports. We just need to redirect them into the NASCAR and short track racing part of it.”

NASCAR has recognized the program but at the present time is not a direct partner. Igdalsky noted that everything done with the program is neither sanctioned nor supported financially by NASCAR but that they are keeping a watch on what’s going on.

“We developed the program around two of their (NASCAR) main drives. The Diversity Program and the Youth Initiative. NASCAR, on there own, is trying to establish a younger fan base and a more diverse fan base at the same time. So this program encompasses both goals of what NASCAR is trying to do into the future.”