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NEWMAN: Fort Benning, We Salute You
The No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet pit crew and I had an awesome opportunity when we traveled down to Fort Benning on Wednesday...
Ryan Newman  |  Posted May 07, 2010   Darlington, SC
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing writes Voices of SPEED on SPEED.com. (Photo: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Representing the U.S. Army over the past year and a half, I have had some pretty cool experiences visiting with soldiers at different bases and at the racetrack. On Wednesday, my pit crew and I had an awesome opportunity when we traveled down to Fort Benning.

We took the pit crew of the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet and some of our other Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) pit crew members to the base. The goal of the visit was to showcase the similarities between our pit crews and the soldiers.

There are a lot of similarities between the two groups – their training regimen, their determination and, most importantly, how crucial teamwork is.

I didn’t have an active role during the day other than providing moral support for the pit crew. I also had the opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with our soldiers.

You know, it will never cease to amaze me how excited they are to meet me or other people with the No. 39 crew. They are so welcoming to us, and they are so pumped to have the opportunity to talk to us about what we do, and they tell us how cool it is for us to represent them on the racetrack.

And it’s kind of funny, because all we want to do is hear about their role in the military and to thank them for their service. It’s very humbling to spend time with the soldiers, and I do my best to thank every one of them I talk to for allowing me the ability to do what I love.
Stewart-Haas Racing crew members change a tire on an M-88 at Fort Benning in Fort Benning, Georgia. (Photo: Image.net)

Anyhow, I have to tell you that I was very impressed with what the No. 39 pit crew did at Fort Benning. When we got there, their first mission was to change a tire on an M-88. That is an impressive piece of machinery. After watching the soldiers change a tire, my No. 39 guys jumped right in there and did the same task. They even performed it a little bit quicker, although I think the soldiers were taking it easy on them.

Afterward, the pit crew showed the soldiers how to perform a pit stop on the No. 39 Chevy. They did a pit stop in less than 13 seconds. The No. 39 pit crew gets better and better each week, and they showed how good they are in front of the soldiers. I was very proud of them. The soldiers tried their hand at a pit stop, too. It was so cool to see their faces.

Following our pit stop challenge, we headed over to the obstacle course, where the Army Rangers train. Just looking at the course will give you a whole new perspective for how mentally and physically tough our soldiers have to be. The pit crew participated in a portion of the course – extensive warm-ups that involved rope climbing and jumping, climbing a cargo net, pulling a 180-pound object, among other things. They were pretty beat up at the end of the day, but they did one heck of a job and I was proud of them. In my opinion, they exemplified the idea of what “Army Strong” is during the day.

I think we all left the base with a new appreciation for our soldiers, and we will think a little bit more about how proud we should be to represent the U.S. Army on track. That was a cool experience I’m really glad we all got to have.

This weekend, we head to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Darlington has always been one of my favorite racetracks and the Southern 500 is one of the most legendary races in NASCAR history. This is one of the races that every NASCAR driver wants to win, including me.

SHR finished third (Tony Stewart) and fourth there last year, so we’re looking forward to our return trip to the track.

Ryan Newman is in his ninth full season as a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and he’ll spend it with two-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart. Newman drives the No. 39 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing, the team co-owned by Stewart and Haas Automation, the world’s largest machine tool manufacturer. In 2010, Newman will be sponsored by Tornados, Haas Automation and the U.S. Army. Newman is a graduate of Purdue University, where he has a degree in vehicle structure engineering. In his first eight seasons, Newman has collected 45 poles and 13 wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, including the 2008 Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. When not racing, Newman enjoys fishing and restoring his classic cars. The avid outdoorsman, along with his wife Krissie, play an active role in the Ryan Newman Foundation 501(c)(3), which they founded in 2005. For more information on Ryan Newman, please visit www.ryannewman.org or www.stewarthaasracing.com. Information on the Ryan Newman Foundation can be found at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.

2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Week • The Stars Come Out. The Gloves Come Off. • Saturday, May 22nd at 7 pm ET
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