U.S. Marine and Hero, USMC Staff Sergeant Charlie Linville, will serve as Honorary Starter for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. As Honorary Starter, Staff Sergeant Linville will wave the green flag to start the Auto Club 400, and watch the stock cars take their first lap on one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR circuit. As an Honorary Race Official, Linville will be involved with pre-race ceremony activities including driver introductions and special NASCAR awards. On January 20, 2011, while conducting an IED sweep in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, USMC Staff Sergeant Linville was blasted several yards into the air by a tertiary explosive device. By the time he landed in the blast crater, he had suffered devastating injuries to his right foot and hand. By summer of 2013, despite over a year of attempts at rehabilitation, he lost his right foot to an amputation below the knee. After the NASCAR Auto Club 400, he will climb Mount Everest in April and will become the first combat wounded veteran to summit the world’s biggest mountain. Linville partnered with The Heroes Project that leads mountaineering expeditions with gravely wounded veterans and active service members, enabling them to rediscover their strength and pride by scaling the world’s most challenging summits. To purchase tickets to race weekend call 800-944-RACE (7223), log on to autoclubspeedway.com, or visit the Auto Club Speedway Ticket Office.(ACS)(3-17-2016)
