By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

When a tireless volunteer has to take a step back due to medical issues, more volunteers jump on the chance to help out.

That’s exactly what happened when SELCAS employees and staff at the Fairbury American Legion Speedway came to the aid of local Muscular Dystrophy Association fundraiser Oscar Gorbet when his health recently faltered. EMS Coordinator Jim Hargitt said they decided they had to take action and fill in for Gorbet at last weekend’s races.

“We work the races just about every Saturday night. Myself and several of the other people that are regulars – we see Oscar all the time. We really support what he’s doing, beause he’s not asking for anything in return and this is just a passion he’s come up with on his own. Since he was not out there, we wanted to continue his efforts, because we know he’s raising money for kids so they can go to camp. Since he wasn’t there, we thought, let’s go ahead and step in and fill his shoes for him for tonight and see if we can collect some money, and we were pretty successful last weekend,” Hargitt said.

The FALS staff and SELCAS brought in more than $850 in Gorbet’s absence last weekend through donations from race fans. They’re wishing Gorbet the best of luck in his recovery and hope they see him back at the track soon, but if not, they will be out to collect more donations at Saturday’s races.