thedrifter
02-21-09, 09:12 AM
dailypress.com
Gimmick for RIR promotes soldiers
Dave Fairbank
February 21, 2009
Russell Friedman — Marine, NASCAR fan, contest winner — was permitted no more than 50 words to make his case to the Crown Royal whiskey folks why his name should be attached to the May race at Richmond.
In keeping with the spirit of the contest, we'll play along and attempt to summarize his entry and his life, under the same restrictions. Think of it as haiku on steroids.
Russ Friedman joined the Marines and received two Purple Hearts for service in Iraq. He thinks the people who serve our country should be recognized and honored. He is a longtime NASCAR fan studying to be a history teacher. He is stunned he won this contest.
That's 46 words. Four to spare. He would approve of these four: Please drink responsibly. Thanks.
"An amazing experience," Friedman, 27, said earlier this week, when he swung through Richmond as part of the contest promotion that resulted in the Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400.
The purple bag whiskey folks flew him and the other finalists to Daytona last week for VIP treatment. By winning the contest, he gets face time with driver Jamie McMurray, his name on posters and the pace car, and a bunch of commemorative photos of him wearing a crown and cape — a little dorky, but nowhere near as creepy as the Burger King dude in the TV commercials.
"I'm hoping to bring as much attention as I can to our troops," said Friedman, an engaging chap with far more metal in his body than doctors typically recommend.
"With the economy and everything else going on in the country," he said, "you don't hear as much about the troops and what they're facing anymore. You hear more about Michael Phelps smoking marijuana than you do about our men and women overseas."
This is the third year that Crown Royal staged the contest in conjunction with Richmond International Raceway. They ask people to submit a short entry of an occasion in their lives that was a toastable, "Crown-worthy," moment.
Friedman has been a NASCAR fan since he was a teenager and regularly goes to the Pocono and Dover races. He attended the May race at RIR last year — the Dan Lowry 400 — and thought it was a pretty neat deal. He and his fiancee, April Willmott, had a blast as regular spectators. Afterward, he had an idea for an entry.
He began by mentioning himself, his service in Iraq and the two Purple Hearts. Then he talked about the servicemen and women still on the front lines, those who put themselves in harm's way and make sacrifices for the rest of us back home. They deserve to have a glass raised in their honor.
"It's not about me, it's about them," Friedman said.
He submitted the entry and then forgot about it. He received a call just before Christmas from the Crown Royal people, coincidentally, while at the VA hospital near his hometown of Huntington, N.Y., informing him that he was a finalist.
"I was like, you've got to be kidding me," he said. "I thought there had to be better entries. The country's full of great people doing way, way more noble things than I've done."
Maybe. You decide.
Drifting a bit after high school, Friedman enlisted in the Marines at 20 just before 9/11, following the lead of a friend's brother who embraced the Corps' direction and motivation.
When terrorists crashed airliners into the Twin Towers, however, Friedman said he took it personally and asked to fight overseas. He did two stints in Iraq, in 2003 and 2004.
His second tour lasted only five weeks. Based out of a small town called Husayba near the Syrian border, he earned his first Purple Heart when he took a bit of shrapnel in the arm and leg from a roadside bomb while on patrol. Nothing major, he said.
A few days later, though, he and his unit were ambushed by insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades. Shrapnel severed a nerve in his left arm, and he caught fragments in his shoulders, back, buttocks and lower leg. His vest, he said, saved his life.
Friedman said he might have been able to beg and plead his way back to his unit, but the injury to his left arm made him unable to handle a weapon. Desk jockey, he said, didn't suit him.
To add injury to injury, while rehabbing stateside from his combat wounds, he was in an auto accident in which the results were more severe than his Iraq experiences. Broken ankle, broken knee, dislocated hip, broken wrist, multiple screws inserted.
"2004," Friedman said, "wasn't a great year."
Still, Friedman feels a kinship to the troops, anywhere and everywhere he sees them. Before his flight out of Daytona last Monday, he noticed a couple of new Marines sitting by themselves, as anonymous and invisible as most airport travelers.
After a few minutes, he walked over and introduced himself. Thanked them. Encouraged them.
"When someone does that, it makes you feel good," Friedman said. "Back in 2003, people used to do that a lot. I've noticed that it doesn't happen as much anymore. That's not the reason you join the service, but it means a lot when people do it. Morale is what keeps you going."
Friedman has mostly recovered physically, though he still has several chunks of shrapnel inside him that make for interesting X-rays. He returned home to Long Island and attends a local community college, where he is studying to be a history teacher. He hopes to inspire students and maybe share the first-hand experiences of someone who lived a little history himself.
But first, there's the May race at RIR, the one with his name on it. He inquired about whether they would sub out his name and instead call it the Armed Forces 400, but was told that was a no-go. Not that he's complaining.
"There's a lot of military in your area," Friedman said. "I hope a lot of them can make it to the race. I'd love to meet as many of them as I can and shake their hands."
Next race
WHAT: Auto Club 500.
WHERE: Fontana, Calif.
WHEN: 5 p.m. Sunday.
TV: Fox 35 43.
Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or by e-mail at dfairbank@dailypress.com. For more from Fairbank, read his blog at dailypress.com/fromthetarpit.
Ellie
Gimmick for RIR promotes soldiers
Dave Fairbank
February 21, 2009
Russell Friedman — Marine, NASCAR fan, contest winner — was permitted no more than 50 words to make his case to the Crown Royal whiskey folks why his name should be attached to the May race at Richmond.
In keeping with the spirit of the contest, we'll play along and attempt to summarize his entry and his life, under the same restrictions. Think of it as haiku on steroids.
Russ Friedman joined the Marines and received two Purple Hearts for service in Iraq. He thinks the people who serve our country should be recognized and honored. He is a longtime NASCAR fan studying to be a history teacher. He is stunned he won this contest.
That's 46 words. Four to spare. He would approve of these four: Please drink responsibly. Thanks.
"An amazing experience," Friedman, 27, said earlier this week, when he swung through Richmond as part of the contest promotion that resulted in the Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400.
The purple bag whiskey folks flew him and the other finalists to Daytona last week for VIP treatment. By winning the contest, he gets face time with driver Jamie McMurray, his name on posters and the pace car, and a bunch of commemorative photos of him wearing a crown and cape — a little dorky, but nowhere near as creepy as the Burger King dude in the TV commercials.
"I'm hoping to bring as much attention as I can to our troops," said Friedman, an engaging chap with far more metal in his body than doctors typically recommend.
"With the economy and everything else going on in the country," he said, "you don't hear as much about the troops and what they're facing anymore. You hear more about Michael Phelps smoking marijuana than you do about our men and women overseas."
This is the third year that Crown Royal staged the contest in conjunction with Richmond International Raceway. They ask people to submit a short entry of an occasion in their lives that was a toastable, "Crown-worthy," moment.
Friedman has been a NASCAR fan since he was a teenager and regularly goes to the Pocono and Dover races. He attended the May race at RIR last year — the Dan Lowry 400 — and thought it was a pretty neat deal. He and his fiancee, April Willmott, had a blast as regular spectators. Afterward, he had an idea for an entry.
He began by mentioning himself, his service in Iraq and the two Purple Hearts. Then he talked about the servicemen and women still on the front lines, those who put themselves in harm's way and make sacrifices for the rest of us back home. They deserve to have a glass raised in their honor.
"It's not about me, it's about them," Friedman said.
He submitted the entry and then forgot about it. He received a call just before Christmas from the Crown Royal people, coincidentally, while at the VA hospital near his hometown of Huntington, N.Y., informing him that he was a finalist.
"I was like, you've got to be kidding me," he said. "I thought there had to be better entries. The country's full of great people doing way, way more noble things than I've done."
Maybe. You decide.
Drifting a bit after high school, Friedman enlisted in the Marines at 20 just before 9/11, following the lead of a friend's brother who embraced the Corps' direction and motivation.
When terrorists crashed airliners into the Twin Towers, however, Friedman said he took it personally and asked to fight overseas. He did two stints in Iraq, in 2003 and 2004.
His second tour lasted only five weeks. Based out of a small town called Husayba near the Syrian border, he earned his first Purple Heart when he took a bit of shrapnel in the arm and leg from a roadside bomb while on patrol. Nothing major, he said.
A few days later, though, he and his unit were ambushed by insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades. Shrapnel severed a nerve in his left arm, and he caught fragments in his shoulders, back, buttocks and lower leg. His vest, he said, saved his life.
Friedman said he might have been able to beg and plead his way back to his unit, but the injury to his left arm made him unable to handle a weapon. Desk jockey, he said, didn't suit him.
To add injury to injury, while rehabbing stateside from his combat wounds, he was in an auto accident in which the results were more severe than his Iraq experiences. Broken ankle, broken knee, dislocated hip, broken wrist, multiple screws inserted.
"2004," Friedman said, "wasn't a great year."
Still, Friedman feels a kinship to the troops, anywhere and everywhere he sees them. Before his flight out of Daytona last Monday, he noticed a couple of new Marines sitting by themselves, as anonymous and invisible as most airport travelers.
After a few minutes, he walked over and introduced himself. Thanked them. Encouraged them.
"When someone does that, it makes you feel good," Friedman said. "Back in 2003, people used to do that a lot. I've noticed that it doesn't happen as much anymore. That's not the reason you join the service, but it means a lot when people do it. Morale is what keeps you going."
Friedman has mostly recovered physically, though he still has several chunks of shrapnel inside him that make for interesting X-rays. He returned home to Long Island and attends a local community college, where he is studying to be a history teacher. He hopes to inspire students and maybe share the first-hand experiences of someone who lived a little history himself.
But first, there's the May race at RIR, the one with his name on it. He inquired about whether they would sub out his name and instead call it the Armed Forces 400, but was told that was a no-go. Not that he's complaining.
"There's a lot of military in your area," Friedman said. "I hope a lot of them can make it to the race. I'd love to meet as many of them as I can and shake their hands."
Next race
WHAT: Auto Club 500.
WHERE: Fontana, Calif.
WHEN: 5 p.m. Sunday.
TV: Fox 35 43.
Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or by e-mail at dfairbank@dailypress.com. For more from Fairbank, read his blog at dailypress.com/fromthetarpit.
Ellie