Yahoo Sports NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Childress pledges 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine
NASCAR Hall of Fame owner Richard Childress is donating 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine to help with their war against Russia, he announced on Wednesday.
Childress is currently a member of Ammo, Inc.’s board of directors, and said he reached out to chairman Fred Wagenhals shortly after hearing Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky ask for ammunition rather than help fleeing the country shortly after Russia invaded last week.
“I said, ‘Fred, we got to help these people. They need ammunition,’” Childress said on Fox News on Wednesday morning. “He stepped right up … Now we’re turning our production to this as our No. 1 priority.”
Childress said he isn’t yet sure how or when they will deliver the ammunition to Ukraine.
"To see the people in Ukraine fighting, it's terrible to see the lives that are being lost over there," he said. "We have to do all we can, and I felt with Ammo Inc. and myself, we were doing the right thing. We’re going to get the ammunition to them as quick as we can.”
Childress, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017 after more than five decades in and around NASCAR, is just the latest sports figure to speak out or take action since the conflict began.
The International Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from international events until further notice on Tuesday, and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich announced that he is going to sell Chelsea and donate proceeds from the sale to help those in need in Ukraine on Wednesday. FIFA has already levied sanctions against Russia and banned it from the 2022 World Cup, and the EA Sports video game "FIFA 22" has removed all Russian clubs from play.
The NHL also suspended relationships with all Russian partners, Formula 1’s Russian Grand Prix was canceled and Russian president Vladimir Putin was stripped of his honorary presidency by the International Judo Federation.
