Yahoo Sports NASCAR Salutes: Looking back on the sport's history of honoring the military
Throughout its 75-year history, NASCAR has been synonymous with numerous groups and organizations. But perhaps none has carried more significance than the sport‘s relationship with the U.S. military.
From pre-race flyovers to the annual Coca-Cola 600 Memorial Day Weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR and the armed forces have seemingly been joined at the hip.
That history includes champions and other major contributors to the sport who have carried many of the skills and life lessons learned in the military over to civilian life, and particularly into their roles with NASCAR.
“There‘s no question about how things I learned in the military helped me in civilian life, things like leadership, guidance or how to run a tight ship,” said Dale Inman, who was an Army ordnance specialist before he became crew chief for all seven of Richard Petty‘s NASCAR championships (plus an eighth title with Terry Labonte). “Whether in the Army or NASCAR, if you‘ve got five or more people under you, you‘ve got to have a leader, right?
“And you‘ve got to respect the leaders. When I became a crew chief, people did respect me, and I certainly learned a lot from the military. You‘ve got to be disciplined, you know.”
The sport is once again celebrating its close ties with the military thanks to NASCAR Salutes Together with Coca-Cola. Let‘s pay homage to some of those close ties:
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Perhaps the most notable service member who went on to racing stardom was NASCAR Hall of Famer Bud Moore. Before he became a championship-winning crew chief and team owner who won three NASCAR Cup Series championships and 63 races, Moore was without question an American hero.
After being drafted as an 18-year-old in 1943, Moore became a prolific machine gunner, taking part in the 1944 D-Day Invasion, and served under famed Army Maj. Gen. George S. Patton. Moore was eventually awarded two Bronze Stars for his bravery and five Purple Heart Medals for a variety of injuries he suffered.
In addition to Moore, one of the most successful engine builders in NASCAR history, Henry “Smokey” Yunick, served four years in World War II (1941-45) in the Army Air Corps, piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber on over 50 missions across Europe.
There was also NASCAR‘s first-ever champion, Army hero Red Byron, who suffered debilitating injuries in a bombing mission in World War II that left him hospitalized for more than two years and nearly cost him his left leg.
While he lay in a hospital bed, Byron had a goal that served to inspire him: to return to race in NASCAR. He‘d go on to win the sport‘s first championship (Modifieds in 1948) and then the first Cup Series championship in 1949 (known back then as the Strictly Stock Division).
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And then there was Bill France Jr. The son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., he was one of the primary reasons why NASCAR became so synonymous with the military. After spending two years at the University of Florida, the younger France served two years in the U.S. Navy as a Petty Officer 3rd Class ordnance specialist (guns and bombs) in the mid-1950s.
It was during his military stint that the younger France helped recruit several former service members to begin a career in racing, particularly those who had mechanical aptitude that they learned while in the service.
When he returned to the sport after fulfilling his military obligation around 1956, France helped engineer one of the first flyovers in 1957 and 1958 when the Navy‘s famed Blue Angels performed over the Daytona beach races before Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959.
The Blue Angels also were featured on the cover of the 1961 Southern 500 program at Darlington Raceway to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Naval Aviation. It was those early flyovers that would lead to flyovers before most NASCAR Cup races, a tradition that continues to thrill fans today.
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Today, the partnership between NASCAR and the military is as strong as it has ever been. Charlotte Motor Speedway has proudly presented a yearly salute to the troops every Memorial Day weekend before the Coca-Cola 600 for nearly 40 years.
And this year, one individual — Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Iwuji, now better known as Xfinity Series driver Jesse Iwuji — will be front and center, showcasing what serving in the military has done for him and his own career and life.
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Iwuji spent nearly a decade on active duty while also beginning a racing career — at the very advanced age of 26 (he‘s now 35) — in his off-duty time.
Iwuji will not compete in the May 27 Xfinity race, but he will host a special Gold Star event honoring military members and their families before the Coca-Cola 600 on May 28.
Now in the Naval Reserves, Iwuji has become a perfect illustration of the partnership between the military and NASCAR. The example he‘s set has led to others enlisting in the military with the hope of eventually following in Iwuji‘s footsteps into NASCAR as drivers or team members.
“Starting at that age and without any real knowledge of racing, starting with no real pathway because I didn’t come from the racing world, I had to basically draw upon what I learned from the Naval Academy and in the Navy,” Iwuji said. “One of those attributes was being resourceful. There’s no book that says, ‘Here’s the steps to becoming a professional race car driver.‘
“You have to be ridiculously resourceful because you have to put into place all the different things that it takes to be a race car driver. It’s not just learning how to race a car well, it’s learning how to drive a race car, how to find funding, how to be marketable, how to be a professional ambassador not only for your brand, your personal brand, but for the brands that support us and the motorsport that you’re in.”
Iwuji has become an ambassador for NASCAR to not just the Navy, but all branches of military service. And he has been an inspiration to individuals he‘s met at the track. In fact, so many individuals have sought advice from him about what they should do with their lives, potentially joining the military and eventually entering the world of NASCAR, that he has written a primer he sends to those who either request it or who Iwuji feels will help them in their path forward.
“I have a lot of different fans reach out to me almost pretty much on a weekly basis, not only just at the track, but also through social media,” Iwuji said. “A lot of them wonder what’s military life like? What’s it like balancing your military duties and balancing what you’re doing with racing with their businesses, and all that together.
“So I developed what I call a playbook in which I describe my pathway into NASCAR and what I had to do to get to where I got to. My pathway might work for some, or it might not work for others.
“I try to help people get to the right mindset. Because when you’re going into any journey, you’re going to go through difficult times, and if your mindset isn’t where it needs to be, you‘ll never make it.”
Iwuji gets satisfaction in pointing individuals to careers in the military, NASCAR or both.
“The greatest thing is when you send people this information, and a year or two later, they reach back out to you and they’re like, ‘Hey, because of you, I‘m on my way,‘ ” he said.
That‘s why the military-NASCAR connection is as important today as it was 30, 40 or more years ago. In addition to Iwuji, dozens of current NASCAR members proudly claim to have served in the military.
“I think the tie-in with NASCAR and the military is very important,” Iwuji said. “It’s something that we need to continue to grow every single year. I love what we do with the NASCAR programs, what we do during the month of May, Veterans Day and all the other patriotic weekends of the year. I love how NASCAR is super supportive of it.
“It‘s very important because NASCAR is the No. 1 motorsport in the U.S. It’s a very patriotic-type sport because of its fan base. So why not have the No. 1-most patriotic sport, the No. 1 motorsport, why not have that heavy tie-in with our nation’s military, which is something very important and near and dear to everybody’s heart, right?
“Because without our men and women out there who are serving, deploying, going out there risking their lives, risking their limbs, why not continue to honor them, to support them for everything they do.”
