Legion's place in INDYCAR: 'It has a real future for us'

When Tom Bock, past national commander of The American Legion, attended last September’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach NTT INDYCAR SERIES race, he marveled at how the city streets had been turned into a race course.

To Bock, a Vietnam War veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966-70, it looked like an Army Corps of Engineers project.

“This is so exciting to be here,” Bock told The American Legion at the time. “We went to the Indianapolis 500 once to watch it from the stands but being on the inside of the fence is different.

“To do this on the city streets, wow, that’s amazing. I was talking to Jimmie Johnson yesterday and he told me there are manholes out there and utility covers out there and some rough spots. It’s city streets. I’m impressed.

“They converted this city into a race and it’s incredible.”

Bock is a member of Post 209 in Colorado Springs, Colo., and was national commander of The American Legion from 2005-06. During his tenure, he traveled to all 50 states and 13 foreign countries in 12 months. He even attended the Indianapolis 500 as national commander.

But it was a trip to Tennessee that piqued Bock’s interest in auto racing.

“I didn’t really get into auto racing until after I was national commander,” Bock explained. “It was a weird situation. I was sitting at an American Legion post in Nashville, Tennessee, and they had a race on the television. They were chatting and I started watching it. Then, I started following the drivers.

“That’s the key to getting engaged in racing. If you don’t have someone to follow, it’s a lot of people running around the track.”

Now that The American Legion has a partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Legionnaires from all over the world have become engaged with the sport.

The American Legion is the major associate sponsor on Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. The Legion will be the primary sponsor for one of the two doubleheader races at Iowa Speedway in July and will be the primary sponsor for Tony Kanaan’s Honda in the 106th Indianapolis 500 while maintaining its major associate presence on Johnson’s No. 48 Honda.

Throughout the season, The American Legion will rotate sponsorship with some of the other drivers on the team. Details on that will be announced at a later date.

“I’m fascinated by this program,” Bock admitted. “I think it’s wonderful. The American Legion got involved with a lower-level NASCAR race a few years ago and that didn’t really pan out for us. But this one with Jimmie Johnson driving and the Chip Ganassi Racing Team, it’s incredibly different. I think it’s going to pay off for us.

“I met with Jimmie Johnson the day before the Long Beach race, one-on-one. I got to ride around the track at Phoenix during The American Legion National Convention. That was incredible. He’s on board. He understands what The American Legion is. He understands our purpose with veterans and kids and patriotism and our support for the military and he’s right on board with it.”

Johnson, Kanaan and Chip Ganassi Racing have helped create awareness for The American Legion in three key areas.

The most important is the need to help prevent veteran suicide. The second is to drive membership to the Legion and the third is help diversify its membership with younger members that will guide the Legion into the future.

“In the past, everyone thinks, ‘Wow, 22 veterans a day commit suicide. We have to do something about that. This is terrible. We have to do something,’” Bock said. “Finally, our national commander said let’s stop talking about it and let’s start doing something about it.

“Now, we are working on that through educating about recognizing systems. We also have Buddy Checks where we reach out to our veterans and engage with them. That’s going to make a difference.

“I work in our state headquarters in Colorado and I’m in charge of our Veterans Assistance Fund. Every week I see four or five to as many as 10 veterans coming in needing assistance. We talk about rent assistance, utility assistance, food. One of the first questions I ask is what do they have going with the VA. Has anybody helped you? Nine out of 10 of them will say they have done something but never heard back.

“I immediately get them in touch with our service officers in Colorado and tell them these guys can help you. They do a wonderful job, but they don’t know where to go. We need to help them do that.”

According to Bock, the best way to decrease the number from 22, is working with one veteran at a time.

“It’s 22 a day, but you have to start with one,” Bock said. “You have to listen to them. Don’t lecture them. Listen to what they have to say because they have a lot built up inside.

“This PTSD and TBI from the current war, it’s bubbling inside, and it is going to come out sooner or later. It’s best that we engage, talk to them and listen to them.”

Increasing membership has become vitally important, especially as the United States has had various restrictions that were put in place when the COVID pandemic began in March 2020.

“It’s a slow start, but we are recovering from COVID,” Bock said. “That knocked the wind out of every volunteer organization in the country. Our volunteers were locked down, so they couldn’t do anything.

“Now, we are reaching out to ourselves, our own volunteers, and asking, ‘What are you doing? We still have our programs out here. Let’s come out.’

“I was really impressed with our Phoenix National Convention. Not that it was the biggest ever, because it wasn’t. It was really reduced. But we were getting back together. We had the handshakes. We had the comradery to say, ‘Let’s start going again.’”

Important elements in a membership drive included bringing in younger and more diverse veterans.

“We need to be aware of that and use that,” Bock explained. “I’m 74 years old, but when it comes to engaging the younger veterans, the most important thing is to find what they are interested in. They care about their family. They care about each other. They care about the military. We need to find ways to engage them in some type of program they are interested in.

“We were talking with the past commander of Hollywood Post 43, Jennifer Campbell, a young woman who is really excited. She got engaged with that post and they have done dramatic changes in the last 10 years there and now she is moving up in the district. She has found her passion. That is what it takes.”

Bock explained when he returned from the Vietnam War, he became a member of The American Legion, but didn’t really become seriously involved in the organization and its activities until later in life. It’s a tale he believes is consistent with today’s younger veterans, who have to juggle many priorities before realizing the importance The American Legion can play in their lives.

“I was encouraged, and I say that lightly, by my father-in-law when I got out of the Air Force and came home,” he said. “He drafted me into The American Legion. He made me join and told me I was going to do this and do that. For five years, he held my hand. After five years, AT&T transferred me out of Colorado. I had a family. I raised four kids. That became my focus.

“For 12 years, I had no real contact with The American Legion. Then we moved back to Colorado, I came home from work one day, and I told my wife, ‘I think I’m going to The American Legion meeting tonight.’ She asked, “Did Dad call?’ I said, ‘No, he didn’t. But I’m going there any way.’

“I went there, and it was like I had never left. The fellowship was still there.

“There is a time in your life where family comes first and that is really important. To expect a 20-year-old to jump into the organization and maybe get married and develop a family and maintain that intense involvement in The American Legion, it’s difficult to do. So, you have to be patient with them because they will be back.”

Diversity is important to the future of the Legion, according to Bock, because despite differences in backgrounds and ethnic origins, members all have one thing in common: Their service to the United States.

“The American Legion is one of the most diverse organizations in the country,” Bock said proudly. “We were all in the military. When you are in the military, you don’t care what color somebody is, what ethnic background they are, whether they are male or female. We are all together. We want to make sure they are covering our backs.

“For people that think we are a bunch of old guys sitting around drinking beer, that’s not the truth. We have always had female veterans. We have specialty posts and all female posts. We have police and fire posts. But when we all get together, we are all veterans and all Legionnaires.”

When it comes to giving current members fellowship and comradery, or if it entices younger veterans to become members, the Legion’s partnership with INDYCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing has already created benefits.

“This is an incredible deal for us,” Bock said. “This is going to help our organization reach out to a new audience, a younger audience.

“We need to let our members know and understand this is a whole new endeavor with such incredible potential. We’ve got some great people supporting us, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Kanaan and the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Chip is doing a great job engaging everybody.

“We have received publicity that far exceeds our total investment in our contract. If it keeps going like this, it has a real future for us.”