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Stephen Kantarze is the Program Director of The Veterans Trust. He joined the US Army in 2008 as an infantryman, serving his country in numerous capacities, including a tour in Iraq. He was deeply impacted by his role as a casket team leader at Arlington National Cemetery, where he conducted over a thousand funerals and ceremonies. As part of The Veterans Trust, Stephen continues to honor his military roots by serving other service members.
Fred Roger is the Executive Director of The Veterans Trust. He began his service journey in high school, spurred by 9/11 and a deep sense of duty to protect his country. Joining the ranks of the US Marine Corps at just 18, he embarked on multiple tours, including in Fallujah, Iraq, where he confronted the challenges of combat head-on. Transitioning into civilian life, he immersed himself in various endeavors, eventually finding his calling in nonprofit work. Through his foundation, Fred merges his love for motorsports with his desire to give back, creating unforgettable experiences for military veterans and first responders.
In this episode…
Many service members struggle with a lack of purpose after their service. The importance of providing veterans with opportunities for engagement and purpose after leaving the military cannot be overstated.
According to Fred Roger and Stephen Kantarze of The Veterans Trust, motorsports can play a large role in supporting veterans’ adjustment to civilian life. Stephen stresses the significance of finding passion and expressing oneself as a means to combat depression and find fulfillment, while Fred notes the camaraderie and community support veterans experience in response to their motorsports involvement.
On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge welcomes Fred and Stephen for a conversation about supporting veterans’ transition to civilian life through motorsports. Stephen emphasizes the psychological benefits, highlighting motorsports’ role in providing purpose and self-expression for veterans. They share humorous anecdotes and discuss the program’s growth, including partnerships and national expansion.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Stephen Kantarze highlights the diverse engagement opportunities at motorsport events
- Why veterans may struggle to find purpose after military service
- How motorsport can offer a seamless transition for veterans seeking purpose
- The importance of offering veterans opportunities for self-expression
- The Veterans Trust’s reliance on donations and sponsorships for program support
- The significance of in-kind donations, volunteerism, and monetary contributions to sustain the initiative
- Fred Roger says despite mishaps, camaraderie and support among veterans remains strong
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Fred Roger on LinkedIn
- Stephen Kantarze on LinkedIn
- The Veterans Trust
- Mike Edge on LinkedIn
- Tread Partners
Transcript
Announcer:
Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now, let’s get started with the show.
Mike:
Welcome back to the Gain Traction Podcast. Thank you for joining us today. I am Mike Edge, your host. We have a special show for you today. Very excited about it. We are interviewing Fred Roger, Executive Director, and Stephen Kantarze, Program Director with The Veterans Trust, also known as TVT. The Veterans Trust organizes motorsports experiences for active duty veterans, first responders, and their families. We’re very excited about getting into this, but before we get started, we got our sponsorship.
This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners. Tread Partners is a digital marketing agency dedicated to multi-location tire dealers and auto repair shops. They are absolutely the most effective at acquiring new customers for maximum return on investment. If you aren’t working with Tread, I guarantee you something is slipping through the cracks. To learn more, visit treadpartners.com. So, recently, I interviewed David Bennett, Senior Automotive Manager for AAA. That’s the group that you all know as the roadside assistance group, but they also do so much more in regards to travel and assistance and even helping you find the right place to get your car fixed, but you can check out that podcast at gaintractionpodcast.com. That’s gaintractionpodcast.com.
So, as I mentioned, our guests today are Fred Roger and Stephen Kantarze with The Veterans Trust. These guys were introduced to me through Sonny McDonald with Toyo Tires. Sonny’s a great friend of the podcast. He’s always supported us, and he called me up one day and said, “I got a great idea for you. I think you ought to interview this charity organization dedicated to our veterans.” We were grateful that he thought of us. So, today, without further ado, Fred and Stephen, thanks for joining Gain Traction.
Fred:
Thanks so much for having us.
Stephen:
Thank you so much. Glad to be here.
Mike:
Let’s talk about Sonny a little bit and Toyo Tire, because they’re just great guys. We’ve become honestly really good friends in this industry and we met through another person that introduced us through the podcast, but this is the way this industry works and it makes it a lot of fun. It’s just a great group and Sonny’s one of those guys that you just can’t say enough accolades about.
Stephen:
Yeah, for sure. It was a pleasure meeting him. We actually met him up at PRI and he was just a ball of energy and excited for everything that we had told him and was really wanting to get on board with us.
Mike:
Well, I’ll tell you how we got introduced. There was a guy, Sam, he had introduced me to Mike Graber, the president of Toyo Tire. I was going to have him on the podcast, and Mike sent me back an email. He goes, “I’m not the guy, but I got the guy.” He goes, “And you’ll understand why when you meet him.” Boy was he right. I mean, Sonny was awesome. Sonny ended up having to do a training session near my hometown about 45 minutes away. When we realized that, I said, “When are you doing this?” He was like, “Next week.” I’m like, “Are you kidding me?” He goes, “Yeah, why don’t you come to it?”
So I went to his training session before I ever interviewed him and he made training for tires exciting. I mean, I’ve been through some trainings before and they’re just teaching you about the tire they have out for that year or a new set, et cetera. He was awesome. Just the way he presented, the whole class, everybody, he had everybody on the edge of the seat the whole time. He made it fun, but you can see why he’s got that electrifying energy.
Fred:
Absolutely. When we actually got to PRI, I actually challenged Stephen. I was like, “Hey, there’s a lot of tire manufacturers here. Let’s pick the top one and let’s see if we can make a relationship.” He was like, “I got the one. Toyo is definitely the one. They’re the highest energy, they’ve got the best athletes, they’ve got the coolest brand. So, let’s just see what happens.” We went over there and sure enough, we made the contact. Well, the rest is history and here we are today.
Mike:
That’s awesome. Well, so let’s talk about you guys. Talk about your service to the country first of all. When’d you guys get started? Go ahead, Stephen.
Stephen:
Okay. So, I actually joined the military in 2008. I was an infantryman in the US Army. I served about six and a half years. In that time, I did one tour in Iraq, did some time in Korea, and then I spent the last few years as a casket team leader in Arlington National Cemetery. Did over a thousand funerals and ceremonies and all kinds of stuff. It was during that time in the Arlington National Cemetery, I actually found out I was diagnosed with a rare type of muscular dystrophy and that concluded my military service, but here I am. I linked up with TVT and we’re continuing to serve outside of the military.
Mike:
Man, what a great story. What a great experience. Arlington Cemetery for all that time.
Stephen:
Oh, yeah, it was definitely an experience. We got to do a lot of cool things, meet a lot of cool people and somber moments, but it was also, like you said, as an experience.
Mike:
But somber moments, there’s something about honoring the dead that I have a great appreciation for. I mean, whether it’s another family member or anybody for that matter and especially somebody that’s been of service to the country, I think there’s a deep bond. I mean you can’t go through Arlington Cemetery and not feel some emotion. I mean, the sheer volume of graves give you an emotion.
Stephen:
Oh yeah, definitely. Especially once you start figuring out each grave plot, you got the 59 and 60 of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and it’s just you see the families out there and spending time with them and stuff like that. Like you said, it’s an experience for sure, 100%.
Mike:
Yeah. Well, Fred, how about you?
Fred:
Oh, I feel a lot older than Stephen. I was actually in high school when 9/11 happened and I actually had a couple friends in the tower. So, when those planes hit, I knew that was my call to serve. So, I joined the Marine Corps 18. I decided to join and went off and wanted to get some bad guys, because nobody can hit our country the way they hit our country without some repercussions. So, I joined my opinion, my humble opinion, not so humble, the baddest fighting force in the world, the United States Marine Corps. So, I joined, went off. I did a couple tours in Fallujah, Iraq. I try to get further than Iraq. I try to go on Muse. I try to go to the Koreas and Thailands the world. They’re like, “Yeah, no, you’re going back to the desert.” So that’s all my journey went.
So, it was a pretty unique experience. I got a chance to do some combat operations. I got a chance to do some technical stuff. I got a chance to meet with and really work up underneath some really amazing leaders and be able to serve and lead some really great Marines. So, I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be able to lead and be led and just mature as a human being, come back with some discipline. I decided to get out, because every six months, we were deploying and I had my first child then. So, I just felt like it was my time to get out and pursue another pathway. I ended up putting myself through school and getting involved in business after I graduated, but service has always been in my DNA. My father served, I served, my brother served, a lot of my friends served.
So, it’s always been in my duty and my calling to be able to do some good for the community. So, when the opportunity arise to be able to give back to the military veteran and first responder community, I was all about it. So, I actually started in the nonprofit space probably about 12 years ago, serving in a bunch of different capacities in education, entrepreneurship, and then ultimately morphing the foundation into serving military veterans, first responders through motorsports, which is actually one of my biggest passions in life. I just love it. I’ve loved cars and bikes and anything that goes fast since I was a little boy. So, to blend all of my past, my passions, my service into one foundation, it’s just really a blessing. So, I’m just honored to be a part of it.
Mike:
That’s so cool how that’s morphed that way. So, the motorsports, what gave you the idea to think, “Hey, this would be a cool way to really honor vets”? I know giving them back something that just takes their, let’s say, anxiety away or it takes a little bit of pressure off of them, allows them something to look forward to. I’m sure the anticipation of being able to participate in some of the events that you guys host are extremely exciting for these guys, and the buildup has got to be fun too.
Fred:
Yeah, 100%. So, we actually had no intention on getting into the motorsport space, but one of our donors, luck would have it, he was a race car driver. He was a pro driver years ago. He was an older gentleman, and he has been racing cars for a long time. He was just a cash contributor to our foundation. I got a chance to get to meet him and have some dinner with him. I really want to get to the bottom of why donors give because there’s a lot of people that contribute monetarily and in other ways, but I’d like to really understand why is it that they’re contributing a substantial amount of time and resources and wealth. This way we can get to the reason on why they’re doing it, but also be able to fulfill their purpose with their dollars and be able to serve the veteran community.
So, he said he was a race car driver. So, that intrigued me. I invited myself to the racetrack and I brought one of my army buddies with me. This guy that I’m referring to, he was a tank operator. He had seven combat deployments. As a tank operator, you can imagine he sees the thick of it. He’s frontline every day, every night. Those guys see some pretty horrendous stuff. So, he had a really tough transition getting out of the military. In fact, ended up homeless for a short period of time. So, he was just in a funk in somewhat of a depressive state just because he hasn’t really found his new purpose in life. Excitement is hard to come by when you’ve lived such a high speed life for the last 10 years.
So, when he went for a ride, just like I did around the Homestead-Miami Speedway, and when he came out of that car, boy, I tell you, when he throws both of his hands up in the air and he’s screaming to the top of his lungs, “This has been the best day of my life!” I’m like, “Man, that feeling, that emotion, that energy, that sense of life, we’ve got to recreate that.” So I came up to our donor, Joe Heck, and I was like, “Hey, do you mind that next time you guys come out to the track if we can invite a couple more veterans?” He goes, “Do you think veterans would like this?” I’m like, “Yeah, I do.”
Mike:
Hey, did you see that guy’s response?
Fred:
Right? So he ended up introducing me to the organizer of the event, which happened to be just by chance, luck, fate, call it what you want, he happened to be a Marine Corps veteran, recon Marine Vietnam air guy that turned his life into a life of motorsports. He’s been that for many years. So, when I shared with him not only my passion but my interest in being able to serve the veteran community through motorsports, naturally, he was in. Well, I mean our foundation, we had a lot of friends at that point. We invited key influencers and really people within the veteran community that are actually doing meaningful work. Not the guys that are saying they’re doing the work and wanting to do the work, but that are actually doing the work.
This is our way of giving back to them because they’re serving other people. So, this motorsports channel gave us the ability to be able to serve them and gave them the ability to then invite their own constituent base, because a motorsports park, whether it’s a racetrack or a private venue, usually is a venue that you can invite a lot of people. This isn’t a small social of 30 or 40 people or a dinner for a handful of people. Homestead-Miami Speedway, I think the capacity is, don’t quote me, 60,000. So, you can invite quite a bit of folks.
So, the first outing that we had, we had about 40 people come out. These are all leaders within the South Florida community, and we asked them three simple questions. Just like Tread Partners, it is an amazing marketing organization. We asked them three simple questions. Did you enjoy yourself? They’re like, “This has been one of the coolest experiences we’ve ever had a chance to be a part of,” because we were giving them all rides in race cars.
Mike:
Awesome.
Fred:
So they’re doing 150, 160 miles an hour. It’s easy to say that and it’s easy to watch it on TV or even from the spectator stand, but when you’re in that car, it’s a whole another animal. So, anyway, so they all said it was the best thing that they’ve ever been a part of. I asked, “Would they come back?” That was the second question. They said, “Absolutely, we’d love to come back every time you did this. We’d come back.” Then the last and final question was, “Would you tell your friends?” They said, “We would tell everybody we know.” So that right away told us that we’re onto something. So, we then started doing more events and more events and more events.
Next thing you know, we had a lot of people that wanted to contribute, because a lot of people love motorsports. A lot of people have the capacity in the motorsports world to help, whether it’s financial or with vehicles or with parts or other things. We started really hosting some pretty special events. I remember the one event that was really near and dear to my heart was the 9/11 event that we hosted. It was the 15th year commemoration. So, now this is going back seven, eight years now at this point. We had about 1,800 veterans show up that day, and total event size is about 10,000. It was really special, because again, 9/11. Our generation, Stephen and myself, we’re considered post-9/11 veterans. That’s the generation of this current generation. That’s what we’re considered.
So, we said, “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this right.” So we honored first responders, the ones that were actually in the building, the ones that survived, families. We honored gold star families, so families of the fallen, active duty, veteran responders. We had parachute teams and tactical teams and helicopters and NASCAR came out. It was tremendous. It was a private event.
Mike:
That’s a big private event though.
Fred:
It was. We were really proud it.
Mike:
All right, so let me ask you a question. Did all 1,800 of these people get to participate in some capacity on a ride?
Fred:
So that day, we probably gave close to I would say 300 rides.
Mike:
That’s phenomenal.
Fred:
Unfortunately, we couldn’t give 800.
Mike:
Right, but that’s phenomenal, 300.
Fred:
To be honest with you, not all 1,800 even wanted to because it’s intimidating.
Mike:
Yeah. It’s almost like, “Who feels like going 200 miles an hour right now, right?”
Stephen:
Yeah, exactly.
Fred:
But there was a variety of engagement activities. We had helicopters on display and tactical vehicles on display. There was music and there was a race that was happening during the event. We actually sanctioned our first race with an organization called Farah. I think it was like eight retired cup cars that we created this old private NASCAR class just because we had guys that were interested and they wanted to be able to serve. We’re like, “Hey, this is a cool way to be able to do this.” So anyways, that was like the beginning of our expansion, I would say.
Mike:
That is absolutely awesome. So, you say that’s the beginning. Where are you at today? Let me ask you this. I guess what I’m saying-
Fred:
Yeah, please.
Mike:
Well, I guess the first track was Miami.
Fred:
Correct. Well, we did Miami. We did Sebring. We did Daytona.
Mike:
Okay. Are you expanding beyond that is I guess what I’m getting at?
Fred:
Yeah, so post that event, we actually partnered with an organization called Skip Barber Racing. During that time, Skip Barber was purchased under some new leadership and some new management. Those guys were amazing. Most of them are either veterans or first responders or family of veterans or first responders. They got it, right? They got it. When organization like that not only gets it but then also has the operational bandwidth, it’s a match made in heaven. So, they ended up coming to us and said, “Listen, we love what you’re doing. We’d love to expand your program nationally.” So within the next year, we were doing events in California, New Jersey. Where else did we go? We went to probably almost 10 tracks across the country.
Mike:
Oh man, that’s so cool.
Fred:
It was awesome. It was so cool.
Mike:
Then you guys, what do you do, dive into the local community, get the local community to support it in each area?
Fred:
Exactly. So, the model is we don’t necessarily claim to be the experts in those respective areas. There’s a lot of amazing organizations, let’s not kid ourselves. There’s thousands of amazing organizations that serve veterans in different capacities, whether it’s homelessness or mental health or legal or financial aid. Just the list goes on and on. My hat’s off to those organizations because we are where we are as a nation because of those type of organizations. Can we do more? Yes, absolutely. That’s going to be the case I think in forever, but we have to be able to give credit where credit is due. That is to a lot of those organizations that are actively serving in the local area. The challenge with a lot of those organizations is their outreach sometimes is a challenge.
So, I’ll give you an example. If an organization hosts a mental health fair or a job fair or whatever other resource fair we do, it’s not very sexy. So, yes, they’ll have a good turnout. They’ll have 20, 30, 40, 50, heck even 100 people that turn out. But can we reach thousands? Can we reach tens of thousands? Well, without an exciting marketing strategy, an exciting offering to a veteran, especially a combat veteran that thinks they’ve got everything figured out, yet they’re still isolating themselves from their family, from their life, from the outside world, this initiative, the motorsports initiative allows these veterans and gives them, shall we say, an excuse to get out of the house.
I can’t tell you enough, Mike, how many times wives and girlfriends have come up to me and said, “The moment you guys announced that you’re coming to our city is the same moment that he’s been excited for the last six months to come see you guys.”
Mike:
That’s awesome. See, that’s what I was thinking about. That anticipation’s got to be very helpful when you have something to look forward to.
Fred:
Absolutely. In fact, I learned this from Stephen about giving them something to do.
Stephen:
All right. Yeah. I mean, like you said earlier, that high speed life when you’re in the military, it’s go, go, go. Your purpose and your drive is pushed down your throat every single day, whether you want it to be or not. So, a lot of these guys, they get out of the military and they’ve lost it, right? They’ve got no purpose behind them, nobody driving anything down their throat. They lose all of that. So, what I’ve found in the motorsports world is that it is such an easy transition from the military to motorsports. I’ve learned this. I’ve got a buddy that actually, he’s the fueler for the Reece competition team for Ferrari. He put it simply, he said that everybody in the military and on a race team has a time specific job.
They have their specific job, whether it’s their front right tire, whether they’re fueler or whatever. If everybody doesn’t do their job specifically, then the whole team falls apart whether you’re on a race team or in the military. They’re so cohesive together that trying to help these guys find a purpose in motorsports, whether it’s just being a fan or wanting to maybe even get in the driver’s seat at some point in time. That’s what we really try to do is try to help them find that purpose again outside of the military and just give them something to look forward to. In building our race camp program, there was a doctor, a psychologist up in the VA in DC and she told me the best thing you can do to combat PTSD or suicide or any of those things is just give them something else to think about.
Because you get out of the military and you’ve got your job, but now you’re out of the military under whatever circumstances it may be. You lose that, whether you hope that guys go to school or fall into a career. But a lot of these guys that get in so young, like me, I joined the military at 17 and a half. My 18th birthday was in basic training. So, it’s like I don’t have a whole lot of skills to fall back on. I know how to shoot, move and communicate, and that’s about it.
So, getting out of the military, I didn’t really have a purpose. Tried selling real estate, tried going to school, tried doing all kinds of things, construction and this, that, and the other. It wasn’t until I got linked up with Fred and The Veterans Trust a few years ago that I really started to feel like I had a purpose again. That’s the most important thing, I think.
Mike:
No, that’s awesome. That’s a beautiful explanation there, Stephen. I like that. Well, look, even in life, I can think about… I just use my mom as an example. We’re going to take her on a trip this summer, my wife and I are. She is so excited. She’s 81 years old. She suffered a stroke about two years ago, so she really hadn’t had a lot in front of her to get her going, I think. But she had been a very active person her whole life. So, now you slam into a wall, you’ve had a stroke, and you can’t do a lot. Well, man, I’m telling you right now. I bet you she’s told us five times in the last two weeks how excited she is about going on this trip in June. All we’re going to do is go see her granddaughter, my daughter down in South Carolina, but what’s awesome about that is just that anticipation.
I love that for her. But I can’t imagine being in the military and you face combat, which is the highest adrenaline that you could have, and then all of a sudden, the brakes are on. You’re back home. Now, what do you do? Well, I love you all’s connection with motorsports, because it brings back some form of, call it, adrenaline rush or something that gives them a little spark. I’m excited for you guys. I think this is awesome.
Stephen:
Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead, go ahead.
Fred:
I just want to share a learning moment that I had. Again, I think we can all learn something from someone anywhere anytime. This lesson specifically came from… It was a Marine Corps veteran turned psychologist, and it was actually at a Home Depot parking lot. So, we were just chatting.
Mike:
Now this is you and this gentleman in a conversation.
Fred:
Yeah. I mean this guy’s name is Drew Phoenix to give him fair credit, right? He’s an amazing friend, amazing colleague. He’s a social worker, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. I mean, he’s a badass, right?
Mike:
Nice.
Fred:
He’s spent a lot of time in the Marine Corps, fighting bad guys. So, he shared this with me and it really stuck. It was a question that he posed to me. I posed the same question to a lot of people. He says, “What’s the opposite of depression?” Mike, I’ll just ask you the same question.
Mike:
The opposite of depression, I would say a belief in something maybe.
Fred:
Okay. So, he says, “Think about the word, depress. The opposite is express.” Then he starts expanding on this. He says, “Think about an infantryman. Four years or 30 years, whatever it is, they operate in the military in a way of self-expression. If they express themselves well, the best thing, they get to go home. Their families get to go see them, and their colleagues get to go home. They express themselves well in the PT field, they get more points, they get promoted.
They express themselves on the rifle range, they shoot well, they get promoted, they get more accolades. They get all of these things that come with expressing yourself as a soldier or as a Marine or as a sailor, as a badass, as a warrior. Well, the moment that you get out of the military, all of those things technically are illegal. So, if they can’t express themselves like that, then they have a tendency of depressing.” Now, obviously, there’s chemical imbalances. We’re not going to get into all that.
Mike:
I understand that.
Fred:
But just the general purpose, he says, “If guys and gals that are getting out of the military can find out their way of self-expression, the faster they can find that, the less likely they can fall into depression.” That can be anything. That doesn’t have to be motorsports. It could be art, it could be business, it could be whatever it may be. But that piece is so critical for somebody’s sanity. Again, my opinion, one of the easiest ways to avoid depression is to find something that you’re passionate about and express yourself in that way. Now, again, it may not be your ultimate. For example, if somebody wants to express themselves as the fastest driver, well, if they don’t have the skills for it, well, that’s okay.
There’s still supporting elements to the motorsports world, whether Stephen’s buddy, whether it’s a tire changer or a fuel or a marketer or an event host or whatever it is. It could be the guy that’s parking cars at the motorsports event. I think we had 18 guys working at Sebring 12 hours this week. They love motorsports. So, they’re parking cars. Cool. As soon as they’re done parking cars, they get full access to the track. So, their way of self-expression is a self-healing mechanism as well.
So, we’ve realized that the people that are passionate about motorsports and get involved with us, it may not be the ultimate thing that they end up with, but if we can spark that little bit of passion in them and they realize that this is an industry they want to be in, they can. All of a sudden, now, they have less likely of falling into depression.
Mike:
Man, that’s awesome. Well, let me ask you a question. Let’s say some listeners are out there right now, if they want to support you guys, what’s the best way to do it? Go to the website?
Fred:
Yeah, our website is pretty awesome. It’s definitely explanatory about what we do. There’s donate button there. If you go to the support button, there’s also our sponsorship deck. If people want to get involved in a more meaningful way, whether it’s monetary or in some collaboration, we always take in-kind donations. If people want to host us or they want to host our veterans, we can do that. The funds go directly towards our programming. So, it goes towards tires, it goes towards fuel, it goes towards flights. That allows us to be able to fly in people and families and host those people.
We’re a really low frills type of organization. We’re not out there frivolously spending stuff. We operate mainly on volunteers. We have an immense amount of volunteers that have contributed their time and energy over the last 10 years. But easiest way, go to the website, go to the support button, and get in touch with us by any means you’d like.
Mike:
That website is theveteranstrust.org, theveteranstrust.org, just the way it sounds. All right, guys, just on a personal level, let’s talk about something about who you are and give a little bit of an expression. Everybody knows that I always ask my guests to share a humorous story.
Fred:
Oh God.
Mike:
Now it can be self-deprecating. We love those. Sonny actually gave us one of the best ones of all time last year, about 10 months ago. But anyway, yeah, who wants to go first or it is just one of you guys that have a good one?
Stephen:
Go ahead.
Fred:
Oh God. So, this story somewhat haunts me, but it is somewhat funny. I should have knew better. So, going back just a tiny bit, back to our 9/11 event where we had all these NASCAR showed up, we partnered with about 40 different service organizations. One of them brought out about 15 or so handicap guys in wheelchairs. So, now these guys roll up literally inches from these NASCARs. These NASCARs are all equipped with passenger seats. So, they’re like, “Yeah, NASCARs,” but we can’t get in because NASCARs don’t have doors and they’re not capable of getting into this through the window. So, long story short, we as a foundation ended up buying a cup car. It’s the old Bass Pro Shop car, the retired car.
We ended up modifying it and building a passenger side panel that comes out, so we can get guys and gals that are handicapped into this car and onto the track. Well, one of the guys, part of our organization, Marine Corps master sergeant, he ended up becoming a pro level driver, got all his licenses, and we started giving rides all around the country. It was great until Road Atlanta. We were there. We had about seven cars out there running. He had some family emergency and he couldn’t show up. But the team was like, “Fred, why don’t you drive?” I’m like, “Yeah, no, hold on a second. I’m good at maybe I’ll strap the car down or something like that.” They’re like, “No, no, no, it’s fine. Just don’t worry. Just take it slow. Follow the guy in front of you. Follow his line. He’ll go slow.”
Yeah, well, that’s where I screwed up. He’s a NASCAR driver. He’s not going to go slow. So, here I am on Road Atlanta, first time on the track, didn’t study the track, don’t know the car. Cold tires, cold brakes.
Mike:
Oh, my goodness.
Fred:
So for those of you that have ever been to Road Atlanta, it’s a pretty awesome track. A lot of elevation, a lot of twisties and turnies. So, one of the turns, when you go under the bridge, you’re supposed to go right. I didn’t know that. So, I ended up just committing to going straight. Now I’m driving through the grass like an off-road truck and people are laughing at me. Yeah, I mean it was quite a good time. So, I finally straighten it up and I get back on the track. I get seven more good laps in me, and they call us in on lap eight. They check out the car and they’re like, “All right, car is dialed in. You’re good to go.” I’m like, “I’m done. I’m happy. I did what I had to do here.” They’re like, “Dude, you’ve got fresh tires, a full tank of fuel, a wide open road. Are you kidding me?”
I’m like, “Well, now that you put it like that, you’re right.” So off I go, and we had our marketing guy with us. He was hanging over the front straight with his camera, and I look over at him and I give him a thumbs up. Well, that’s a terrible idea. So, turn one, I’m seeing it. It’s coming up way too fast. So, brakes, brakes, brakes, not enough. I downshift, spun the car, slammed it into a wall. I mean, I’m an imbecile, right? I mean, it was just a pure classic case of I ran out of talent.
Mike:
You should have quit while you were ahead, right?
Fred:
I knew it. I mean, that was my sign to do it, but I didn’t listen.
Mike:
That’s great.
Fred:
So now I’m facing oncoming traffic and these NASCARs are ripping past me and I’m thinking, “This is my day to go. But if I go, this is a cool ass way to go.” So tow truck comes out, tows me in, and I’m thinking, “These guys are going to bust my balls for the rest of my life.” They still do, but they pull me into the pits and they’re like, “Welcome to the club.” I’m like, “What the hell?” He’s like, “Oh, yeah, this guy crashed in Texas. This guy crashed in Daytona. This guy crashed there. This guy’s crashed there.” So long story short, stay in your lane. Yeah, but you know what? I haven’t been in the track since.
Mike:
I don’t care. I think that’s a cool club to be in. That’s awesome that you crashed a car.
Fred:
Yeah, man.
Mike:
Stephen, you got anything for us?
Stephen:
I’ve got one. It’s not race related. So, I just got to Arlington National Cemetery from Korea, brand-new E-5 sergeant. So, I was in charge of a casket team and it was a few months in. I had done quite a few funerals and stuff like that already. Well, this specific one was a double interment, which means that the husband was going in and the wife had already passed away, but she was going into Arlington as well. They’re both service members, so they both get a flag fold. Well, the Arlington rep that comes out and makes sure the family’s all in the right spot and everything, her name is actually Christine, but everybody called her Big Booty Judy.
Mike:
Oh, my.
Stephen:
So we get there. I’ve got both of my casket teams set up. She comes out 10 minutes before the family gets there and she’s trying to tell me how the funeral’s going to go. She wanted us to do both the flag folds at the same exact time, which it would’ve been a nightmare because you got to stand on these metal railing. So, your shoes are really loud, because in the cemetery, you wear shoes with metal on the bottom of all of them. So, in order to get those flag folds perfectly, it would’ve been impossible. So, I’m arguing with her and going back and forth. We’re not going to do it that way. We’re going to do one flag at a time, because I got to hand the flag off. I accidentally called her Judy and she looks at me like she wanted to just stab me right on the spot.
So, we went our separate ways. We did the funeral the way we wanted it to. So, we’re loading back onto the bus after the funeral and I get a call as the Command Sergeant Major. Hey, we need you in the office. So, I went down, got out of my blues, went up to the battalion. I was sitting there and not the Brigades Sergeant Major, but the next guy under him, Sergeant Major Sims was his name. He comes in. He is like, “Are you the guy from the cemetery earlier?” I was like, “Oh, roger, Sergeant Major.” He was like, “Ah, I just get out of here, man. You’re good. You’re good.” So I thought I was going back to the worst duty station you could ever think of.
Mike:
He just called you in there to act like he’s disciplining you maybe a little bit.
Stephen:
Yeah, pretty much.
Mike:
That is funny. I’m just glad you didn’t say her full nickname. Oh, my gosh.
Stephen:
Yeah, me too. But yeah, the guys across the street, because you got to align your casket teams up and everything, they heard me and I could hear them snickering out of the corner of my ear. I’m looking over. I’m like, “Is it really not her name?” They’re like, “No, it’s not her name at all.”
Mike:
I love it. I love stuff like that. Oh, that’s priceless.
Fred:
That’s great.
Mike:
All right. Well, another question, what’s you all’s favorite movie? Anybody got one or movies? It could be a genre if you got a genre.
Stephen:
My daughter and I, we’re big Harry Potter fans.
Mike:
Okay.
Fred:
I like The Bad Boys series, but I specifically like Bad Boys II.
Mike:
All right, cool.
Fred:
I love that movie for whatever reason. We’re going to plan B. Plan B? What’s plan B? Man, you never listen. Wait, there is no plan B. Damn it. Yeah.
Mike:
That’s awesome. All right. Any words of wisdom that you live by or you would leave somebody with?
Stephen:
I would say consistency. I find you can be successful at anything in this day and age, in this era, if you’re just consistent with what you’re doing. If you follow through and you stick to it, stick to your guns and you just consistently perform, you’ll be successful.
Mike:
I like that. That’s simple, straightforward. Fred, you got anything?
Fred:
Yeah, I had a CEO tell me one time, he says, “Sometimes you’ve got to take a step down to take two steps up.” So when we’re going through tough times or you’re doing a career shift or something happens in your career and you get knocked down, just understand that sometimes God’s telling you that that one step down is going to be your ability to take two steps up.
Mike:
That’s good. That’s good stuff. I like that. Well, guys, so one more time for anybody that wants to reach out and support you guys, the easiest way is theveteranstrust.org, correct?
Fred:
Yes, sir.
Mike:
Okay.
Fred:
Yeah, or our social media. We’re pretty active on Facebook and Instagram, but our website is definitely more explanatory. There’s a sponsorship deck that you can download pretty easily on our support page.
Mike:
Now, for the social media, is anything abbreviated like TVT or is it The Veterans Trust?
Fred:
It’s all The Veterans Trust.
Mike:
Perfect. Well, Fred, Stephen, thank you all for being part of Gain Traction. This has been awesome. I’m glad we got introduced.
Stephen:
Thank you.
Fred:
Absolutely. Thank you for the time.
Mike:
Awesome. To all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of this podcast. If you’d like to recommend a guest to us, please don’t hesitate. Email me at [email protected]. Until next time, be safe and have a great day.
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