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  • Staff Sergeant Randy Gray Speechless After RPM Race Experience

    Staff Sergeant Randy Gray Speechless After RPM Race Experience

    This past race weekend, thanks to Richard Petty Motorsports, driver Aric Almirola and team, sponsor Eckrich, Weis Markets, and Operation Homefront, wounded warrior Staff Sergeant Randy Gray was given a VIP NASCAR experience that literally left him speechless.

    The weekend started out with the Gray family’s shopping trip to their local Weis Markets in Tannersville, PA. There, the family was greeted by members of the No. 43 team who surprised them with free groceries for one year at any Weis Markets location.

    The team then invited Staff Sergeant Gray and his family outside where the No. 43 Eckrich Ford race car drove up to the store front. A member of the RPM team invited the Gray family to not only join them at the track, but also informed them they would be guests of “The King” Richard Petty.

    “That was an amazing night,” Gray said. “I wasn’t expecting it. It was like come on in and boom, I met all the crew. They came out of an aisle. We didn’t see anybody until we rounded the corner and there was like a hundred people around us.”

    “I was speechless,” Gray continued. “I was blown away. It was an amazing thrill that they took the time to just do that.”

    Staff Sergeant Gray, who lives about an hour from the track in Hunlock Creek, PA, recently returned from a nine month deployment in Kuwait. He was enlisted as active duty in the Air Force from 1991 to 1993 before joining the National Guard and deploying to Kuwait.

    But it was an act of kindness from this wounded warrior caring for another service brother in need at a most critical time that got him nominated for the NASCAR VIP honor.

    “Well, we just got back from the deployment from Kuwait,” Gray said. “My wife seen a Facebook message from a soldier that was concerning and I intervened. They kind of said I saved his life. There’s a lot to it because of the privacy rules. The military is very hip on no suicide for soldiers. And I just reacted in a way that impressed my upper echelons.”

    “It was a very late night but he’s doing great now.”

    “I’m still in active duty, waiting on shoulder surgery. I’m actually injured and on June 12th I go for surgery,” Gray continued. “What caught their attention was that I put my stuff aside to help somebody else.”

    For that act of heroism, Gray headed to the track for Pocono race weekend. And while Gray enjoys watching races now and again, he admitted he is not a hard core fan. But his son, who follows Jeff Gordon, certainly considers himself a true NASCAR aficionado and was thrilled to tag along.

    “I’m a NASCAR fan but I don’t follow it, follow it,” Gray said “When they told me that I was coming to the track, I was like ‘whoa’ but my son is on cloud nine.”

    “It’s beyond anything I have ever felt before,” Randy Gray Jr. said. “Usually when I get the opportunity to do things like this, something stupid happens like I get hurt and I can’t do it. But I’m here. And I’ve been pinching myself and slapping myself all weekend.”

    “I wasn’t at the visit at the grocery store in Tannersville but when my parents came home and told me, I mentally passed out and don’t remember a lot of the conversation,” Gray Jr. continued. “I heard ‘Richard Petty, car, hot dog’ and that’s about it. It has been beyond belief.”

    “Jeff Gordon is my driver so I felt kind of bad,” Gray Jr. said. “I rooted for Aric but I mentally had to root for Jeff too.”

    “I can now die happy,” Gray Jr. continued. “I can go into a coma, I can get hit by a truck, whatever. I can die happy after this.”

    Staff Sergeant Gray and his family were impressed not only with opportunity to be at the race track, but also with being able to spend time with the team, from pushing the race car through inspection with them to sitting atop the pit box and watching them work during the race.

    “The fact that the team had to fit every piece of the car through the different inspection bays and they knew the tolerances, it’s just amazing,” Gray said. “We watched qualifying, hung out with the pit crew and took it all in.”

    “The team was so busy, doing their thing,” Gray continued. “I tried to stay out of their way. I’m a mechanic in the Army so I can appreciate the need to stay out of the way and let them do their job.”

    When the race was finished, Staff Sergeant Gray and his family were still pinching themselves, still speechless as they reflected on their VIP weekend.

    “I was really taken back by everything,” Gray said. “It’s awesome to have Eckrich, Weiss and Richard Petty Motorsports do something like this for us. It’s humbling to see people recognize what we go through and it meant a lot to me.”

    “It was an overwhelming and amazing experience.”

    “We are proud to honor our military families,” Charles Gitkin, vice president, marketing, innovation and R&D for the John Morrell Food Group, said. “Our partnerships with Richard Petty Motorsports, Operation Homefront and Weis Markets allowed us to give back in a very special and unique way this weekend.”

    “It’s something that we’re very proud to do for the Gray family after all of their sacrifices for us.”

     

  • Aric Almirola is Bringing Home the Bacon

    Aric Almirola is Bringing Home the Bacon

    Aric Almirola has a smile on his face and a spring in his step as he continues to bring home the bacon for in his No. 43 Smithfield Foods Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports.

    And he could not be happier as he prepares to race at the ‘Monster Mile’, which he firmly admits is his favorite track on the circuit.

    This will be Almirola’s ninth start at Dover International Speedway, where he won in the Truck Series in 2010 and where he posted his best finish of sixth in 2012.

    “This is my favorite track just because I’ve had success here,” Almirola said. “I’ve had really good runs here and won my first Truck race here.”

    “I’ve run really well in the Cup car here and have had good runs in Nationwide cars here as well,” Almirola said. “For whatever reason when I show up here, I run good.”

    “That makes you really like a place,” Almirola continued. “So, I always get excited about coming here because I know I have a shot to run good.”

    “I do circle this on my calendar.”

    So, what is it that makes Almirola so crazy about the Monster Mile?

    “Each turn is different,” the driver of the famed Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 car said. “It’s crazy but the thing that makes it so special is the sensation of speed is unlike anywhere else we go.”

    “There’s a lot of race tracks where we run 200 miles an hour and it doesn’t feel that fast,” Almirola continued. “And here, we only run 170 or so and it feels like we’re going 250 miles per hour.”

    “It feels super-fast and it is a challenge to keep your focus,” Almirola said. “The race track will suck you in and that’s why it’s called the Monster.”

    “It will bite you,” Almirola continued. “It’s very easy to overdrive this place and be too aggressive.”

    Although a challenging track, Dover is also special to Almirola because of what his sponsor does to help those in need. This race weekend, Smithfield and Weis Markets partnered to donate 40,000 pounds of protein to the Maryland Food Bank, which is part of Smithfield’s “Helping Hungry Homes” program

    “Smithfield does so much and it’s really important,” Almirola said. “This weekend, they gave 14,000 pounds between pork and bacon and ham.”

    “That means a lot to be associated with such a great company and great organization that is willing to take some of the profits they make and give it back to the local communities to help feed people,” Almirola continued. “A lot of us take for granted that we go to bed on a full stomach and not everybody is that fortunate.”

    As he looks forward to competing at his favorite track, Almirola admitted that his 2013 season has been going well too, especially in comparison with the previous year.

    “We have run really well,” Almirola said. “I’ve been impressed with our improvements, especially over the last year.”

    “That is a big testament to what Todd Parrott (crew chief) and all the guys on this team have done, stepping up their game and continuing to produce and give me fast race cars,” Almirola continued. “That’s what it takes at this level to be competitive.”

    “I’m getting better as a driver, the team’s working together better and Todd is understanding these cars and the engineers are understanding these cars better,” Almirola said. “Just everything is getting better and that’s what we need to do.”

    Almirola also credits his improvement, as well as the team’s, with doing some testing. And although he was not willing to share any of the new things they were trying on the car, he was most enthusiastic about what they were experiencing and looking forward to upcoming tests scheduled prior to season end.

    “Doing some of testing, we’ve tried some things out of the box,” Almirola said. “We have a test coming up at Kansas next Thursday and we have a laundry list of things we want to try that we haven’t gotten a chance to try on normal race weekends.”

    “We think that may be better or worse but that’s a good opportunity for us to find out,” Almirola continued. “This sport evolves constantly and if you don’t keep up, you get left behind.”

    Almirola knows that the spotlight is a bit dimmed on him and his race team since they are not Chase participants. But he is not letting that deter him from achieving the goals that he has set for the remaining few races of 2013.

    “Those guys raced for 26 races and put themselves in the position to make the Chase so they deserve to get that attention,” Almirola said. “Then it’s up to us because the only way for us to get the attention back on us is to be really competitive and run good.”

    “I don’t race any differently now in the Chase or against the Chase competitors,” Almirola continued. “I race the same because I have just as much at stake as those guys do as far as each and every weekend.”

    So, what would be the coup de grace for Almirola this race weekend at Dover?

    “We want to get to Victory Lane really bad,” Almirola said. “We’d love to get that 43 car back in Victory Lane.”

    “We have great sponsors, with Smithfield Foods, STP and Air Force and we want to get all of those guys to Victory Lane,” Almirola continued. “So, we’re working hard to do that and there have been a lot of late nights at the shop.”

    “A win would mean a lot,” Almirola said. “Obviously driving the sport’s most iconic car is really special in itself.”

    “But to get to Victory Lane in that car would be an amazing feeling,” Almirola continued. “Richard Petty has won 200 races and he deserves to be in Victory Lane again.”

    “He got accustomed and used to being in Victory Lane back then and we want to get him back to Victory Lane and I’d like to bring that win home to him.”