Some seven hours before Saturday night’s Sharpie 500, NASCAR drivers #07-Casey Mears and #31-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.”(Bristol Herald Courier)(8-23-2009)
