NASCAR Drivers, Volunteers Assemble Care Packages For Military

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Some seven hours before Saturday night’s Sharpie 500, NASCAR drivers Casey Mears and Jeff Burton weren’t thinking about how they would travel the fine line between making their living and risking their lives.
Rather, Mears and Burton were inside a bustling Jack Daniel’s tent some 500 yards outside the Bristol Motor Speedway, helping more than 100 volunteers pack 10,000 huge plastic bags of supplies – lotion, tissue, trail mix, shaving razors, puzzle books, cotton swabs, camouflage pouches, candy, raisins, beef jerky, packets of powdered orange drink and more – bound for American military troops serving overseas.
In the hours before the Sharpie 500, Mears and Burton weren’t obsessing over how to win a race and lift their arms in victory. Rather, they were making a sacrifice – of time, attention and hands – to lift the morale of those far away, bearing arms in combat.
“It means something to me to do this, because I know how much getting these means to those soldiers,” Mears said, stuffing items, one after another, into bags that kept steadily coming his way.
Added Burton: “Spending some time doing this doesn’t compare to the work those troops are putting in over there. So, I don’t feel like this is a sacrifice for me at all. If it is one, I’m happy to make it.”
Burton’s words reflected one clear theme dominating the atmosphere outside the speedway in the hours before the Sharpie 500: Countless people making countless sacrifices – big and small, serious and humorous – for the chance to experience being in Bristol for a Saturday night of racing.

Driving for hours
Joe White, a native of the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, sacrificed sleep to experience a Saturday night in Bristol.
White and buddies Vincent Begaye, Elliott Begay and Neilson Howard – also residents of the Navajo Reservation – drove hours without sleep from Jackson, Miss., to attend the Sharpie 500.
Four months ago, the four men left their reservation for short-term jobs as contractors for a Mississippi electronics company. White said they viewed the side trip to Bristol as a chance to bond. And for a moment, he said, to ease endless thoughts of missing their families back in Arizona.
“We left to make money for our families, and make things better for them,” White said. “But before we go back to Arizona, we wanted to do something together, laugh together, just have fun.”
Added White: “We all love racing. And none of us have ever been to Bristol. So, yeah, it’s worth not getting any sleep. It’s going to be an experience we can always talk about.”

Amazing expectations
Faron Worman and buddy Dennis Stephens, both from Chillicothe, Mo., sacrificed some serious gas money to experience a Saturday night in Bristol.
Worman, who proudly had Stephens take a picture of him posing in front of the speedway, said the two had racked up some serious cross-country miles along the way.
“We drove 850 miles to watch a 250-mile race,” Worman said with a laugh. “That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But I’m a big NASCAR guy. So I didn’t think twice about coming here.”
Stephens admitted he rarely followed NASCAR, but said it “didn’t take much convincing” from Worman to make him tag along.
“I’d heard being here would be amazing,” Stephens said. “It is, too.”

A buy-tote agreement
Dustin Dowling, of Nashville, sacrificed a bit of dignity to experience a Saturday night in Bristol.
Walking through the Earhart Campground East late Saturday morning, Dowling drew puzzled looks as he dragged a small suitcase on wheels through gravel and small puddles.
Dowling’s buddy, Jim Cooper, of Kingsport, was walking behind – with a barely disguised smirk on his face as he gestured toward Dowling .
“There’s cold beer in that suitcase, and I’m the one who bought it,” Cooper said. “And since I bought it, the least he can do is carry it.”
Dowling said while he’d bought several tickets for Saturday night’s race, he’d given them all to family members. As for Dowling himself?
“I’ll spend the race outside,” he said with a laugh. “Just hanging out. Enjoying the atmosphere, you know?”
And, yes, Dowling said, along the way, he probably WOULD have an item from the suitcase in his hand.

Domestic bliss
Ron Keith of Lake Kiowee, S.C., sacrificed an afternoon of watching his beloved soccer to experience a Saturday night in Bristol.
Clad in a Liverpool soccer club jersey, Keith said friends convinced him to attend the Sharpie 500, his first NASCAR race.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Keith said. “I spent a lot of years living in England and NASCAR’s not exactly a hot thing there. But I think it’ll be worth being here to experience this.”
Keith admitted that he’d probably sacrificed something else, too, in making the trek to Bristol: Some domestic bliss with his wife, Cheryl.
“I couldn’t convince her to come, so I left her behind,” Keith said with a laugh. “I’m sure the “Honey Do” list is going to be pretty long when I get back.”

Appreciation
Back at the Jack Daniel’s tent, as Mears, Burton, NASCAR president Mike Helton, car owner Richard Childress and others stood side-by-side with the volunteers and Jack Daniel’s staffers packing troop bags, there also were no regrets for the sacrifice being made – BEFORE a Saturday night in Bristol.
Among those packing the troop bags were members of the Tennessee National Guard’s 278th Armored Calvary Regiment, which will be deployed to Iraq early next year.
As Burton stood among the soldiers, the volunteers, the quickly moving bags and the rapidly filling boxes, he smiled.
“Absolutely, it’s good to be here,” Burton said. “It just makes me appreciate what I get to do [Saturday night] that much more.”

rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512.