Tracy Lawrence will bring his string of  number-one hits and platinum albums to Martinsville Speedway to headline Celebration 2008 on Thursday, July 3.

Lawrence has amassed an amazing catalogue of hit music over the past 15 years. He has 18 number-one country music hits to his credit along with two double-platinum albums, two platinum albums and two gold albums.

His most-recent hit, “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” has been on the charts for almost two years and earned him a Country Music Association Award for 2007’s Musical Event of the Year.

Lawrence will headline the 10th annual celebration, a free event sponsored by area industry, businesses, charitable organizations and local government.

The celebration will kick off when children’s carnival rides open at 5 p.m. Domino, a soulful horn band from Roanoke, will open the musical part of the event at 7 p.m. Lawrence will hit the stage at about 8:30 p.m. The area’s largest fireworks show will cap the evening at roughly 10 p.m.

 “We feel good about the show we’ve been able to put together. It’s fitting that our 10th Celebration looks to be our biggest yet,” said Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell. “Tracy Lawrence has such a long list of hits he could probably fill his show with his number-one songs alone. Domino always puts on an awesome show and we feel like we’ve assembled the best group of rides for the kids that we’ve ever had.” 

Lawrence blasted onto the country scene in 1991 with his debut album, “Sticks and Stones.” It produced four top-10 songs, but was just a sign of things to come.

His second album, 1993’s “Alibis,” produced four straight number-one hits, including the title song, “Can’t Break It To My Heart,” “My Second Home” and “If The Good Die Young.”

The hits kept coming with Lawrence’s third album, “I See It Now.” The album went platinum and he had huge hits with “If The World Had A Front Porch” and “Texas Tornado.”

“Time Marches On” was his fourth album and the title song earned Lawrence nominations at all the major country music awards ceremonies in 1996. The album sold over two million copies.

Lawrence hit it big again in 1997 with “Better Man, Better Off” and in 2000 with “Lessons Learned.”
His biggest triumph yet, though is the recent “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” the award-winning collaboration with Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.

This will be the fifth appearance at Celebration for Domino, a group that contains both regional and nationally-known talent. The group’s hour-long set will kick off at 7 p.m.

The children’s rides will open at 5 p.m. and remain open throughout the evening, closing at 11:30. Rides for children include Willie the Whale, Animal Bounce, Spin-the-Apple, Slide, Go-Gator, Tempest, Cliff Hanger, Swinger, Obstacle Course and The Train.

Sponsors for Celebration 2008 include: Henry County, the City of Martinsville, Memorial Hospital, Hooker Furniture, American of Martinsville, Stanley Furniture, Martinsville Speedway Children’s Foundation, Martinsville Speedway, Gardner, Gardner, Barrow and Sharpe, Blue Ridge Aquaculture, Bassett Furniture, The Lester Group, West Window, Smith River Community Bank, J.G. Edelen Corporation, Millard’s Machinery, Frith Construction, Steve Martin Trenching, Ridgeway Concrete, The Dutch Inn, TR Properties, Henry County Baptist Association and Star Tek.

This will be the 10th Celebration at Martinsville Speedway. Other artists performing over the years include Confederate Railroad, Montgomery Gentry, Charlie Daniels, Aaron Tippin, Tracy Byrd, Trick Pony, Trace Atkins, Blake Shelton and Diamond Rio.