Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

NASCAR Driver Eric McClure Talks Racing and Neutering August 9

Story by Kristen Street

NASCAR driver Eric McClure will visit Boone on Saturday, August 9, to meet fans and promote responsible pet care. On Saturday, August 9, the RBC Centura Bank parking lot on Blowing Rock Road will be filled with NASCAR fans and animal lovers alike. NASCAR driver Eric McClure, as well as his racecar, will be at the bank from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. McClure will sign autographs, pose for pictures with fans and talk about two subjects that are important to him: racing and pets.

The Watauga County Humane Society will be on hand as well, ready with info about the society’s services and a signup sheet for the 2008 Big Fix spay and neuter project.

Born just minutes away from Bristol Motor Speedway, McClure has lived a life full of racing from the start. His family started Morgan McClure Motorsports when he was 5, and that was the beginning of McClure’s lifelong love of racing. As he grew up, he spent time around drivers and owners, both at cup races and in his family’s shop. He learned the value of education from his mother, a teacher, and was patient about his racing dreams while he attended Emory & Henry College, graduating in 2000 with a degree in mass communications.

When his racing career finally kicked off, it started with a bang. He won five races and four poles during his first year, leading him to receive the 2000 Rookie of the Year honor in Lonesome Pine Raceway’s Pure Stock Division.

Since then he has joined the Hefty racing team and competed in 21 of the 24 NASCAR Nationwide Series events, finishing at a career high 15th at the Talladega Superspeedway this year.

For the second year in a row, McClure is teaming up with the Watauga County Humane Society to get the word out about the benefits of spaying and neutering pets.

“A lot of people don’t know that fixed pets are less likely to bite, that they focus better, are less likely to mark their territory indoors or that they are just as playful and active as they were before,” said Prevent a Litter…Fix Your Critter Coordinator Kathy Copley.

The Watauga County Humane Society has spay and neuter opportunities available throughout the year, sending vans each Thursday to the Humane Alliance in Asheville where the surgeries take place. The Big Fix, which happens this year on Thursday, August 21, is a low-cost special event for male animals. The fee is $35 for a male dog (regularly $55) and $20 for a male cat (regularly $35). Rabies shots, which are mandatory, cost an additional $8. People attending the McClure NASCAR event will be able to sign their male pets up for this one-time special offer and the Humane Society is able to accommodate 100 pets at this special price, up from last year’s 50.

McClure’s website states that he couldn’t live without his three girls: his wife Miranda, his daughter Mabreigh, and his teacup poodle Annabelle. Annabelle is, you guessed it, spayed and happy.

For more info about McClure, click to www.ericmcclure.com, and for details about the Big Fix call the Watauga Count Humane Society’s shelter at 828-264-7865 or click to www.wataugahumanesociety.org.

Want To Go?

Date: Saturday, August 9
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Location: RBC Centura parking lot, Blowing Rock Road
Cost: Free

Unfixed Pet Stats

People don’t fix male pets as often as female pets because the results—unwanted litters—don’t affect their owners directly. Often, owners do not even know if their male pets have fathered litters, so it is important to fix males.

• A female cat can have 18 kittens in a season, but a male cat can father a litter every time he sees a female in heat, so his offspring potential is fairly limitless.
• An unneutered male can smell a female from half a mile away, and he will usually try to find her.
• Eighty percent of road fatalities in cats and dogs occur because the animal was roaming, looking for a mate.
• Only 1 in 9 cats and dogs born in the United States will find homes.
• Each year, between 6 and 8 million dogs and cats enter shelters in the United States, and 3 to 4 million of them are euthanized because there are not enough homes for them.
• For every pet in this country to have a home, each individual would have to own 6 dogs and 9 cats.