American Legion activation display revealed for INDYCAR Series

It was already a big week for The American Legion and its involvement in INDYCAR. The Legion was named the “Official Charity Partner of INDYCAR” on March 17. The Legion’s driver, Jimmie Johnson, competed in his first oval race in an Indy car and delivered with a sixth-place finish in the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway on March 20.

The centerpiece was the unveiling of an impressive activation display that will be part of INDYCAR’s fan area at every NTT INDYCAR SERIES race weekend, with the exception of the Honda Indy Toronto in July.

Johnson helped take part in the “christening” of the activation unit after he qualified on March 19. The American Legion has a flag-raising ceremony every day of an INDYCAR race weekend. Shortly after Johnson arrived, the U.S. flag was raised by American Legion National Sergeant-at-Arms Mike Griffith, a member of American Legion Post 231 in Lake Texoma, Texas.

Afterwards, Ray Charles’ version of “America the Beautiful” was played while a group of fans and potential Legion members looked over the new unit. Johnson was in the back meeting with local members of The American Legion.

“It’s a real thrill to get to do this,” Griffith said. “You get to travel, meet other veterans, help out in your community, and continue serving your country after you served it the first time. It’s a thrill to be able to do it and support the sport. The American Legion is now part of his team. It’s just a real thrill. That’s very important because it puts us in the community eye, it spreads the word about what the Legion does and encourages membership across the nation.

“I was never a diehard fan, but I watched Indy cars often. Now, I’m a diehard fan and I’ll be attending the Indianapolis 500 this year.”

Johnson visited with members of the Legion, who came from around the country for the unveiling of the activation unit.

“The increase in support from The American Legion shows how strong INDYCAR is and what INDYCAR racing means to so many men and women that served,” Johnson said. “They made a major commitment last season to me and Tony Kanaan. They stepped it up this year and have at-track activation and are an official charity of the INDYCAR SERIES. I appreciate the management at The American Legion for getting involved in motorsports.

“More than anything, I’m honored to be at the pointy end of the spear in helping and being a part of this. I had two grandfathers that served and a brother-in-law that served. I carry a lot of pride with this as well.”

The outside of the activation unit features Johnson and Tony Kanaan standing side-by-side next to the logo for The American Legion.

“I think Tony was involved in the design because it makes him look a lot taller than he is,” Johnson quipped.

Department of Texas Commander Bret Watson, a member of Post 163 in Weatherford, served in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 1985. He admitted to an extra dose of “Texas Pride” to see the Legion unveil its activation unit in what the locals call “The Republic of Texas.”

“It’s real important to have this in Texas,” Watson said. “Texas, as large as it is and as many veterans as we have in Texas, the growth of the INDYCAR race, we can grab a lot of veterans. The recognition The American Legion can have at these races is hopefully a great influence for our younger veterans to get involved.

Watson said he has been surprised “how fast this has grown. When it first came out that The American Legion was going to be sponsoring an Indy car, I heard a lot of comments from members. But seeing how much influence and recognition we have gotten from it, especially all of the commercial advertising from the Indianapolis 500 last year, it has well paid off.

“It is going to be beneficial in the future. It will get individuals a chance to sign up and become a member easier. We can sign them up right here, right now, and they can leave here as a member.”

Watson has been coming to INDYCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway since the very first race in June 1997. He loves the speed of the Indy cars and spent the weekend with his son, who is also a member of the Legion.

“This is going to be beneficial to the Legion,” Watson said. “We have the team already in place for every INDYCAR event. This will be beneficial for every veteran to see what The American Legion is all about, get the information and get them hopefully into a local post.”

American Legion Chief Marketing Officer Dean Kessel said seeing the relationship between the Legion and INDYCAR grow is part of the plan of the ambitious program. “It’s a big day for us as we evolve this program,” he said. “This is what we call our 2.0 version of INDYCAR involvement. The announcement earlier this week of our official charity partner status with INDYCAR and now our mobile marketing activities here in Texas, it’s a nice way to kick off our 2022 for us. We look forward to interacting with a lot of veterans, and a lot of folks interested in veterans causes, joining or donating to our organization.”

Kessel said the new activation unit was completed in six weeks by Aardvark Customs. “I love it,” he said. “It has very much exceeded our expectations as far as the build quality, what it looks like, it’s useability. We will continue to tweak it throughout the year and add some new graphics as we go along. We’re proud of the work they did and think the fans will love.”

Inside the unit is a “Wall of Honor” that features signatures on a wall for a very good cause.

“The Wall of Honor is if you join us while you’re here, if you donate while you are on site or come and tell us you’re a Legionnaire, you can sign the Wall of Honor,” Kessel continued. “We hope to fill that up throughout the year. It’s a nice memento as we move throughout the season.”

There have been a lot of key moments between INDYCAR, Chip Ganassi Racing, Jimmie Johnson, and The American Legion. Last week, though, included some monumental moments.

“We’ve been a part of a lot of Jimmie’s firsts,” Kessel said. “His first INDYCAR race, now his first INDYCAR race on an oval. We’ll be part of his Indianapolis 500 along with what we are doing with Tony Kanaan. The timing of everything worked out really well.

“Bringing it to the local level is important to us as well. We have 1.8-million members and 12,000 posts, and we want to activate those folks on a local level, too.”