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thedrifter
08-20-04, 06:03 AM
NHRA family welcomes home Marine war hero
Submitted by: Marine Forces Atlantic
Story Identification #: 2004817121044
Story by Mr. Rob Geiger, NHRA.com



SONOMA, Calif. (Aug. 5, 2004) -- From private jet rides, to a fancy dinner in Lake Tahoe, from meeting the best and brightest NHRA stars, to hanging with real-life movie stars, from starting line passes, to being selected as the Honorary Starter of the race, the NHRA pulled together this past weekend in Sonoma and gave one of this country's true war heroes a welcome home he will never forget.

I first met Major Phillip A. Toretti through an old college buddy who had been recalled to the United States Marine Corps last year. When he arrived in the Middle East, my buddy Frank Bellini and I began a regular exchange of e-mails, him telling me what it was like over there and me filling him in on what was going on at home.

One day Frank told me that he and his commanding officer, Major Toretti, had been talking and that he learned Toretti was a huge fan of NHRA drag racing. "Hey, my buddy writes stories for the NHRA," he said. "You'll have to meet him one day."

The next time Frank e-mailed me he told me about the Major and immediately I asked him to find out who his favorite driver might be. He later told me it was John Force, so I zipped over to Force's pit and had him sign a few mementoes which I shipped over to Frank along with the usual package of cookies and other goodies I'd send him from time to time.

The next e-mail I received was from the Major himself. He was blown away that he was sitting on the other side of the world holding the hat that was on the head of our sport's No. 1 guy just a week earlier. "It even has his greasy fingerprint on it," he wrote. He thanked me profusely and our friendship began. That was in Brainerd one year ago.

Since then, Major Toretti and I have communicated several times. I have to admit, it was a bit scary for me. Our e-mails had no pattern because Major Toretti was limited in the time he could spend online. Oftentimes, I'd hear from him a bunch of times in a few days, and then suddenly it would be three weeks before he'd write back. I always had a feeling that something bad might happen to him.

I've only been given a glimpse of what Major Toretti and the 4,000 men that served under him went through on a day to day basis. In his e-mails, which were limited in scope due to security concerns, he'd simply say he was "out to get some bad guys." When we finally met in person this past weekend, I found out more details than I care to mention. Suffice to say there are a lot of people who don't like the U.S. military being there.

Major Toretti, a 23-year veteran of the Corps, signed up for two stints this time – pushing his total number of tours in a war zone to four – and he could go back as soon as January.

So how do you thank a person like this? How do you repay the debt we all owe to a Marine who has put himself in harm's way for us so many times he can't remember all of his combat encounters? How do we welcome home a guy who has spent, as he would say, "a lot of time in countries that end in 'stan?' "

Believe it or not, somehow, someway, I think we pulled it off. And when I say "we" I do mean all of us in the NHRA family – the drivers, the sponsors, the fans, the NHRA itself – all of us contributed in making the Major tell me on several occasions that, "this was by far the most outstanding homecoming a Marine could ever have."

In a nutshell, here's how it went. By the time the Major finally was sent home, I had already decided we would give him a VIP weekend at the races. Over dinner one night a few months back, I told Top Fuel driver Doug Herbert about my pen pal and he immediately offered to take the Major to whatever race he wanted to go to on his private Lear Jet. Okay, this was off to a great start.

We quickly decided on the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals because it's a cool race in a neat part of the country and it would allow for Major Toretti to really experience a jet ride and get to know Doug and his wife Sonnie. In the meantime, Steve LaVallee of Fram suggested that we should make Major Toretti the Honorary Starter of the race. Throw in a free room from Laurie Frazier at Motorsports Travel, who books rooms for all of the top teams, and the weekend was seemingly set.

But it turns out that was just the beginning. When the Herberts and Toretti arrived in Sonoma, they picked up a few Snap-on distributors and turned right around for a quick flight to Lake Tahoe for dinner at the top of one of the resorts overlooking the lake. A nice bonus to be sure. "I've never had a meal like that," Toretti said. "It was sure better than the MREs (Meals Ready to Eat, the modern day equivalent of C-rations) I've been eating." An hour of casino fun topped off the evening.

The following day Major Toretti was made Honorary Crew Chief of Herbert's Snap-on Tools team and he traded in his camouflage fatigues for a new crew uniform, which he wore with equal pride. "He's a part of this team now," Herbert said. "He'll always have a place here."

Having arrived late due to a prior engagement, I didn't actually meet the Major until just after lunch. Not surprisingly, we somehow knew each other the minute I spied him across the pit. It was like welcoming home a long lost brother. We spent the rest of our free time that day and the next just hanging out, going from pit to pit so I could introduce the Major to all of the top pros on the circuit.

"For a kid growing up in Philadelphia, who used to go to Maple Grove Raceway to see these guys whenever I could, this was beyond a dream," Toretti said. "I've been to races on that side of the ropes, but to see it from the inside was something special."

Toretti was blown away by the kindness shown to him by the drivers. Many of them stopped whatever they were doing and spent as much time as possible just shooting the breeze with the Major. There seemed to be an instant connection between driver and soldier, perhaps because they both volunteer to put themselves in harm's way to do what they love. Everyone wanted to know what the Major's experiences were like and he in turn wanted to know what it felt like to go 325 mph. We even spent a few minutes with movie star Christopher Titus in the U.S. Army camp.

The buzz of the Major's visit seemed to float through the pits and before long several fans had caught on to the fact we had a genuine war hero in our midst. Major Toretti ended up signing several copies of National DRAGSTER next to the short story of his exploits we had printed in the souvenir issue, and spontaneous applause broke out along the ropes on more than one occasion. "This is unreal," Toretti said several times.

We came across Vice President of Racing Operations Graham Light and he suggested a trip to the starting line was in order so he made sure Toretti was cleared to stand right next to Chief Starter Rick "the Iceman" Stewart at the Christmas Tree. With a huge smile on his face, Toretti explained what it's like to stand next to two Top Fuel dragsters when they launch. "It's like being next to a hand grenade when it goes off, only it lasts a lot longer," he said. Okay, now we understand.

Toretti was interviewed by Lewis Bloom and Bob Frey on the public address system and he got some serious air time on ESPN. He also got a nice plaque from the folks at Fram and was a big part of pre-race activities on the starting line, where he received a standing ovation from the capacity crowd.

One of Toretti's favorite memories occurred after Round 2 when he was walking back to the Snap-on pit only to be stopped by legend Kenny Bernstein, whom he had met earlier in the weekend. "Kenny said he just wanted to thank me for my service," Toretti said. "I told him I was just doing my job, but he said that everyone in this country owed me and all the others over there a huge debt of gratitude. Then he took the hat off his head, the hat he told me he had worn all year, his lucky hat, and he signed it and gave it to me. It was a fitted hat and he said it probably wouldn't fit me but it was my size exactly. Can you believe it?

"This entire experience was phenomenal. I was taken in like family. I thought I'd get a couple tickets to the race and that would be it. Instead, I got treated like the president. I could never thank everyone enough for this weekend. I simply don't know what to say. From Doug Herbert and the entire Snap-on team and all their distributors, to the folks at Fram, the drivers, the NHRA, everyone at the track, the fans, Rob Geiger, you made this old Marine feel so special.

"If I had to serve a year in the desert for this then sign me up for another year. I'd go back in a second if I got to spend another weekend like this. I will never forget this, ever. Thank you all so much."

No Major, thank you, from all of us in the NHRA family. You're always welcome here.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004817122855/$file/sonoma.jpg

Major Phillip A. Toretti stands with Doug Herbert, Snap-on Tools Top Fuel Drag racer during the recent Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals in Sonoma, Calif. Toretti was invited out to Sonoma to be the Honorary Starter of the race, and Herbert's Honorary Crew Chief. Photo by: Les Welch

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/9F8B6AB519526E4585256EF30058DFA4?opendocument


Ellie