Posts tagged Brickyard 400
Capture the Crown 2014
I’ll admit that I’m a city boy. Being born in Massachusetts and living in Los Angeles
will do that to you. I’d go so far as to call myself a Yankee but I’m a Red Sox fan and can’t stomach it. In the northeast you root for professional team sports. You speak quickly and directly and regularly offend others. Distance is measured in minutes, time is currency and watching NASCAR and listening to country music is something that other people do. I do not say things like “y’all”, “race day” or “we have to get to the start line before they wave the green flag”.
At least I didn’t before this week.
Indianapolis isn’t exactly Arkansas but when NASCAR comes to town you’d never know it. Biscuits, gravy and twang for breakfast, smoked meat and greens for lunch. Country music and freedom rock ride the breeze and shirtless men with denim cutoffs are everywhere you look. Had she been there I would have had to restrain my beautiful wife from applying sunscreen to strangers.
I’m not joking.
Yet when the news came down that MANjr founder Chris Stout was unable to attend his 3rd consecutive Crown Royal 400 I leapt at the chance. If you’re even a casual follower of the lifestyle blogosphere you know that this annual event is one of the biggest invites of the year. Cryptic messages and hashtags bounce around twitter for months prior to the race. A #ReignOn here, a #teampurplecup there. Pictures and videos from trackside bubble up from some unlikely sources as dozens of bloggers descend upon the Indy Motor Speedway with fully credentialed hot passes hanging from their necks.
The purpose of this trip is to highlight Crown Royal’s sponsorship of the Brickyard 400. More importantly, Crown Royal’s “Your Hero’s Name Here” contest and winners. Every year Crown Royal holds a nationwide search for an everyday hero in someone’s life. They then name the Brickyard 400 after this person and help them tell their story to the world. This year’s winner was a man named John Wayne Walding. His story is one that deserves to be told.
John was a Green Beret. He fought in Iraq and then returned to combat duty in Afghanistan for another campaign. His medal chest holds a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Should be enough, right? Not quite. While being a total bad ass in Shok Valley, Afghanistan, John took a snipers bullet to his leg with such force that it severed his leg below the knee.
Damn.
John proceeded to tie his severed leg to his thigh and return fire for over 4 hours before he and his unit were extracted.
You got that right. Instead of laying on the ground and clutching at the space where his leg once was John tied his leg to his thigh and continued firing at the enemy for over 4 hours.
John’s heroism doesn’t stop there. Upon rescue and rehabilitation, John took his prosthetic leg and graduated from Special Forces Sniper School. He hand cycled the Boston Marathon in under two hours.
Did I mention he was born on the 4th of July?
John proceeded to start a rifle manufacturing company in Texas that hires wounded veterans and become an advocate for veterans with PTSD.
After seeing this man in action I came away impressed by more than a list of his achievements. John is a funny and generous man. His charisma and authenticity was on full display and he carried the day with grace and humility. A fine and worthy choice by Crown Royal as a hero among us.
The Race? As in the annual scavenger hunt and race I had been invited to attend? Well #TeamHailey was pretty stacked. We won the first challenge on the strength of Z Smith’s extensive NASCAR knowledge and finished second in the next thanks to DJ Foothill and Victor Macias leading us on a half mile jog back to the cart. So much for sitting behind a keyboard in safety, this years Capture the Crown was full contact. Don’t buy it? Ask Katherine Fotinos about her run in with a moving golf cart. By the time we were eliminated I was grateful for the rest.
Ohhh… that race. Right. Well now that I’m this big time NASCAR reporter I can tell you that Jeff Gordon won for the fifth time at the Brickyard, overtaking Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne on a restart with 17 laps to go. The visibly pumped Gordon later said that winning the race was “as good as it gets”. He lingered over the traditional kiss of the brick finish line with his family and seemed to relish the moment. The day itself was blessed by weather as violent thunderstorms spared the region. The sun even poked it’s head out for a spell.
A successful trip to say the least. Good times, great people and all the Crown Royal I could drink.
Responsibly of course.
Got a hero of your own to nominate? Keep your eye on MANjr for information on next years “Your Hero’s Name Here” contest.
Jul 30th
Custom Crown Royal Cocktail – The Five Toes Texas Cooler
Crown Royal is honoring another hero at this year’s Brickyard 400, and like previous recipients of the “Your Hero’s Name Here” program, this year’s honoree is quite deserving of the recognition he’ll receive next month on race day in Indy.
John Wayne Walding is a Green Beret who served our country for 12 years and completed tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2008, during a mission to capture a high value target, Walding was involved in a firefight and lost part of his right leg. Walding went on to become the first amputee to graduate from the Special Forces Sniper School. This father of four, who was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge, continues to serve his country. Walding is the founder of Five Toes Custom, an organization the employs wounded veterans in an effort to provide these vets with positive direction and ongoing support.
In honor of Mr. Walding, we’ve created a custom Crown Royal cocktail recipe and a toast to celebrate the man whose name will be featured at the top of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Crown Royal Presents John Wayne Walding 400 at the Brickyard Powered by BigMachineRecords.com.
The Five Toes Texas Cooler
Ingredients:
- 1 ounce freshly squeezed red grapefruit juice
- 1/2 ounce simple syrup
- 2 slices of cucumber, plus 1 thin slice for garnish
- 4 dashes of Angostura bitters
- 2 ounces of Crown Royal Black
- Ice
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the 2 cucumber slices. Add ice and all of the ingredients except the garnish. Shake well and strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with one thin cucumber slice.
And here’s the toast:
Life can be bitter and life can be sweet,
But some people know how to handle the heat.
We are all in agreement, we have a consensus,
So let’s raise a glass to our hero from Texas.
Let’s toast to his courage, his sacrifice, his ongoing service,
With a custom cocktail that won’t make you nervous.
It’s got red grapefruit from our hero’s home state,
Crown Royal Black, bitters and simple syrup for taste.
It’s called the Five Toes Texas Cooler,
And features quality ingredients, five in number.
And with this drink, we toast our hero of the hour,
John Wayne, you are cooler than a cucumber!
Jun 23rd
Crown Royal to Rename NASCAR Race After American Hero
Imagine seeing your name all over one of the country’s largest sports venues, and having an event officially renamed in your honor. For the eighth year, Crown Royal will make that dream a reality, as they rename one of the season’s biggest NASCAR races after an adult consumer.
The brand is teaming up with Phoenix-based charity Packages From Home, which is dedicated to sending care packages to active-duty troops stationed overseas, this weekend to launch their annual “Your Hero’s Name Here” program. The program honors a deserving American hero by re-naming the July NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at 
Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his or her honor.
Packages From Home and Crown Royal will treat a group of local heroes from Luke Air Force Base to a VIP experience at this weekend’s NASCAR race. In addition to sending 20 military members to the race, two individuals will be recognized as the inaugural program nominees and will have the chance to have the legendary Indianapolis race named in their honor.
Consumers 21+ can visit CrownRoyalHeroes.com to nominate their own heroes, for a chance to win naming rights to the race. Nominations will be accepted through April 13th, with finalists being announced at the end of April.
Feb 28th
2013 Capture the Crown Recap
Okay, okay, so I wasn’t part of the team that won this year’s Capture the Crown event in Indy, but hey, you can’t win ‘em all, right? It was an epic scavenger hunt and a valiant effort from my squad, but we didn’t capture the ultimate prize – tickets to the Super Bowl (I know, I know – crazy huh?). So no repeat this year, but I did get to enjoy an amazing weekend of purple cup parties with friends, heroes, country music stars and bow season enthusiasts.
Say Samuel Deeds 400 at the Brickyard…
This year’s NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was another mouthful of a title, but for very good reason. Crown Royal presents the Samuel Deeds 400 at the Brickyard Powered by BigMachineRecords.com was the full official title of this year’s Brickyard 400. Samuel Deeds was awarded the naming rights to the race after beating out four other finalists in Crown Royal’s “Your Hero’s Name Here” program.
We wrote a bit about Deeds before the race, but the dude was truly taking it all in this weekend. A diehard NASCAR fan, Deeds must’ve loved every minute of dominating the Indy scene. Hats off to him for his much deserved honor.
Art Makes #BowSeason Happen
Frequent MANjr contributor, everyday angel and all-around badass Art Eddy III was not only a member of the winning Capture the Crown team (hey, I make a super good plus-one, bro!), he was also responsible for making #BowSeason a trending topic on most major social media channels. After speaking to some local NASCAR fans during the Justin Moore concert that took place at the track on Saturday night, Art discovered that hunting with a bow and arrow is not only a thing, it’s a way of life, really. So Art proceeded to toss around the term Bow Season fairly hard for the rest of the evening. And man, #BowSeason took off. It came to encompass so much more than deer huntin’ the old fashioned way. It became a rally cry. It became a legit hashtag, a lyric placement, a photo pose and oh yes, a dance move (hat tip to Tracy Pendergast for that).
You’re Welcome, Ryan Newman
One of our scavenger hunt tasks was to secure an autograph from a NASCAR driver. So I saw a driver dressed in red walking with some serious swagger and I approached him with my hot pass in hand and requested a signature. What happened next was something to be remembered, as you can see from this photo, the meeting was, in a word, special.
I clearly had some sort of impact on his racing performance, because it just so happens that shortly after meeting me, Ryan Newman set a new track record at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And then he, you know, went on to win the race the next day. Coincidence or the result of positive Stout juju? You decide.
Justin Moore Wins Me Over
I love music, but I’m not really a country fan. It just happened that way. Some people are a little bit country, some are a little bit rock and roll, and some people lean soul, funk and disco. It’s just how things shake out.
Anyway, when Justin Moore was performing this weekend, something clicked. It wasn’t necessarily the lyrics (I can’t really relate to a song like, “Guns,” for example), but the dude’s a good performer. And his band mates were cool, too. I found myself transitioning from “I’m not sure if I’m going to be into this,” to “this isn’t so bad,” to “oh damn, I’m actually singing along now,” to “let me look this guy up on Spotify while I’m chilling at the airport.” So yea, it was a pretty big swing for me musical-taste-wise.
And it didn’t hurt that the guy was super cool and approachable as well. Saturday night he showed up at our hotel bar wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers hat on. That’s all it took for me to buy him another Michelob.
Later that night I found myself talking to an older dude named Curt, a farmer and Chiefs fan from Missouri. Curt mentioned that he was a big Justin Moore fan. I said that’s cool cause Justin was sitting right across from us at the bar. Curt objected. He said he had been to like six Justin Moore concerts and that wasn’t Justin Moore. I said it’s totally him and c’mon I’ll introduce you. So I did. And Curt was super stoked about it and he got an autograph, a handshake and a big smile out of it. I saw him at the track the next day and his buddies knew all about the guy who introduced Curt to Justin Moore. Fun times!
Good People
There were too many good people on this trip to list. I mean walking into a group like that after arriving late Friday night was just overwhelmingly awesome. My teammates were all cool. The competitors were cool. Just tons of good memories. I mean who the hell orders a salad at a Steak and Shake? Who knew about Deer Fest 2013? Or that country music could be tolerated to the point of enjoyment? Who knew I’d be the key to victory for Ryan Newman? And who knew that sipping Crown Royal responsibly for an entire weekend would make for such great times?
Okay, we probably all knew about that last bit. But seriously – sipping Crown and Coke for days is a really solid way to maintain a fun vibe. I highly/responsibly recommend it.
Thanks again to our friends at Crown for another memorable race weekend at the largest sports venue in the USA. Good company, flawless weather and a well-planned event made for another successful Capture the Crown experience. I look forward to redeeming myself next year and taking back that title!
If you want to support the Crown Royal Heroes program and get a free Justin Moore song in the process, visit CrownHeroesSong.com and score your free download of Moore’s son “Heroes.” Crown Royal donated $1 for every free download leading up to the race and presented a check for $10,000 to the Armed Forces Foundation. It’s a good song so go grab it!
Aug 1st
Going Back to Indy to Capture the Another Crown
Last year Crown Royal sent me to Indy to participate in the Capture the Crown event at the Brickyard 400. It was a fun-filled weekend packed with music, purple cup parties, fast cars, a celebration of Curtiss Shaver, an elaborate scavenger hunt at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and of course, an ultimate victory for Team Win. With the help of David Dennis from TheSmokingSection.com and Nick Evans from StraightPinkie.com, we dominated the competition and took home some purple iPads and a trip to the 2013 NBA All Star Game. So yea, good times.
But this year is different. To make it fair for everyone, the Crown Royal folks decided to break up Team Win and distribute our talent to other teams competing in this year’s Capture the Crown scavenger hunt. Despite the loss of my quality teammates, I’m looking forward to defending last year’s title with my new squad.
And this year Crown Royal is honoring another hero at the Brickyard 400. Gunnery Sergeant Samuel Deeds was awarded the naming rights for this year’s Crown Royal “Your Hero’s Name Here” program. By all account, Deeds, a die-hard NASCAR fan from Erlanger, Kentucky, is more than deserving of the honor. While deployed in Iraq, Deeds put himself in harm’s way by exposing himself to an IED blast while other marines were approaching his position. After 30 surgeries and lots of rehab, Deeds saw fit to save the lives of three people caught in a rip tide off the coast of North Carolina. I don’t know too many people who make it a habit of saving lives on the regular, but I look forward to meeting Deeds and shaking his hand.
Should be another fun weekend with good people, plenty of action, of course, purple cups of Crown and Coke in hand at all times (responsibly). Can’t wait to get out there again!
Jul 26th
Crown Royal Presents the “Your Hero’s Name Here” 400 at the Brickyard
Every year, Crown Royal runs a program that provides naming rights to a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race to a deserving hero. The winning servicemen and servicewomen are selected by fans. You can submit stories on the “Crown Your Hero” tab on the Crown Royal Facebook Page. If you want to nominate a firefighter, police officer, first responder, volunteer, soldier or other service person, make sure to submit an essay (100 words or less) by April 30, 2012. The essay must answer the following question: “Describe a personal achievement, unselfish act, or honorable act that is worthy of a toast with Crown Royal?” Finalists will be selected in May and fans will get to vote on the grand prize winner.
This year’s grand prize winner will receive an ultimate race experience at the 2012 Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where they’ll drop the green flag to start the race, tour pit row, get infield access and access to the Crown Royal suite and RV during the race. The grand prize also includes access to Victory Lane at the end of the race, room accommodations for two, roundtrip airfarem ground transportation to the race and a per diem. Five finalists will also receive tickets to the race, roundtrip airfare and accommodations in Indianapolis.
To learn more about the program, check out this video that showcases the experience of past winners:
Apr 13th
