Within just a few months, Spc. Lyndon Amick will be in the heart of Afghanistan, deployed there with his South Carolina National Guard unit, Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion — 118th Infantry Regiment based out of Fountain Inn. A former Busch and Craftsman Truck Series driver, Amick once lived the life of a young up-and-coming racer. He gave up his NASCAR career to join the Guard, and by May, Amick will be on the ground in a country that has been ravaged by war for centuries. Amick is trained as an airborne infantryman, and in Afghanistan, will serve in security details that may range from patrols in and around the Kabul area to protecting various VIPs. The life he will lead will be light years removed from the one he is leaving behind at home. A member of what’s surely one of South Carolina’s wealthiest families and a successful real estate developer in his own right, Amick was most definitely not forced into joining the military in order to make ends meet. But he did it anyway. Racing had been a part of Amick’s life for more than a decade. At just 18, he became the youngest winner in the history of Daytona International Speedway by taking his family owned machine to Victory Lane following the track’s February 1996 Goody’s Dash Series event. After capturing the now-defunct division’s championship that season, Amick and his father, Bill, moved their team to a limited Busch Series schedule in 1997. The younger Amick would eventually run a total of 93 Busch Series races between 1997-2003, with best finishes of fourth in 1998 at Myrtle Beach and fifth a year later at Talladega. In four career Craftsman Truck Series events split evenly between 2000-2001, his top showing was an August 2000 runnerup effort at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Amick is a team leader who oversees four men in a squad of nine. As military commands go, it’s as small as it gets. But it’s one that Amick takes very seriously.(see full story at NASCAR.com)(12-8-2006)
