Marine Staff Sgt. Blake Hammack thought his eyes were fooling him.
“I keep looking over there because I can’t really believe it,” he said as he stood back to take in an eyeful of NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Brandon Brown’s number 86 Camaro adorned with his unit’s crest, color scheme and Hammack’s name.
Hammack was on hand Monday morning at Brandonbilt Motorsports garage off of U.S. 17 in southern Stafford County as the team rolled out the car that Brown will drive at Daytona International Speedway this Friday during NASCAR’s Xfinity Series Circle K Firecracker 250.
Each car participating in the race will display the name of an active-duty military unit across the top of its windshield as part of NASCAR Salute, a program that shows appreciation for the U.S. armed forces.
The Marines chose HMX-1 as the unit to be recognized on Brown’s car.
HMX-1, which provides direct support to the president, operates a fleet of “White Top” VH-3D Sea King and VH-60N White Hawk helicopters, as well as MV-22B Ospreys.
— Free Lance-Star —