VETMotorsports gives veterans the Indy Racing Experience - Speedway Digest

In partnership with the Indy Racing Experience, award-winning non-profit organization VETMotorsports provided five United States military veterans, one active-duty airman and one active-duty national guardsman with rides in the Indy Racing Experience two-seater IndyCar at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway following this year’s Indy 500.

The participants included Colorado Navy veteran Mike Atwater, Ohio Army veteran Mike Hensel, Indiana Navy veteran Troy King, Illinois Army veteran Claire Farron, Virginia Army veteran Jason Ehrhart, Ohio Army National Guardsman Kevin Colwell, and Ohio Airman Drew Brenner.

All took rides from the Indy Racing Experience’s team of professional race car drivers in one of their purpose-built, two-seater Indy cars and experienced what it’s like to go 180 miles per hour around one of the world’s greatest racetracks.

“We’ve given our military participants some pretty incredible experiences over the years,” said VETMotorsports Founder and Executive Director Peter Cline, “but this one was right at the top! Getting a driver’s-eye view and the physical experience of what it’s like to race in the Indy 500 is truly unbelievable. We can’t thank the Indy Racing Experience enough for making it possible, as well as donations from Rod Falkner at Dumonde Tech Racing Oils and Hilliard Memorial VFW Post 4931.”

VETMotorsports is an award-winning, non-clinical outreach program that honors and empowers active military, National Guard, Reserve, Gold Star parents, and veterans with service-connected injuries and their caregivers through active participation in motorsports. The program recruits participants, gives them hands-on access to a variety of motorsports experiences, and covers all expenses for them to take part.

More information about participating, donating or volunteering with the program is available at www.vetmotorsports.org.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.