Toast To The Troops
Montgomery Gentry and Robby Gordon kick off NASCAR season with concert for military families.
By Matthew Pavelek
What’s more American than country music and NASCAR? How about putting the two together? That’s what bourbon-maker Jim Beam® did in February when the company kicked off the NASCAR season by hosting the second annual “Beam Bash” during Daytona 500 weekend. The concert featured multi-platinum country-rock music duo Montgomery Gentry and NASCAR star Robby Gordon.
More than 5,000 screaming fans attended the Friday the 13th show at Bruce Rossymer’s Destination Daytona in Ormond Beach, Fla. The event did a lot more than just entertain country music and stock car racing fans, however. Proceeds from the show were donated to the Florida chapter of Operation Homefront to support military families.
Fred Noe, seventh generation distiller and bourbon ambassador for Jim Beam, said it’s a great way to show support for the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces.
“It’s a nice event to give something back to those who give so much for us,” Noe said. “So many Soldiers are giving so much for us to be able to do what we do and so it just seems like a great way for us to give back to the military.”
“This will help a lot of families with rent, mortgage and utilities and other sorts of things,” said Amy Palmer, chief operating officer for Operation Homefront. “Montgomery Gentry has been great. And it’s not just an event for them. It really is an opportunity to support the troops.”
G.I. Jobs caught up with the stars of the show to find out why they do so much do to support our military.
Robby Gordon, son of Baja racing legend “Baja Bob” Gordon, has been racing since he was 7 years old. He currently owns and races the #7 car sponsored by Jim Beam in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He won five consecutive SCORE International off-road championships from 1986 to 1990 and again in 1996. Gordon is a three-time Baja 1000 winner with three NASCAR wins, one NASCAR Nationwide Series win, two CART series wins in Phoenix and Detroit in 1995 and two Central Europe Rally Special wins.
GIJ: What makes the Beam Bash such an important event for you?
RG: There’s a couple of things. Obviously, hanging out with Montgomery Gentry and Fred Noe and all the guys there. Plus all the fans that come out and enjoy it as well. Plus, our Operation Homefront donation. There’s all kinds of cool things that Jim Beam does for the fans.
GIJ: Do you have any connection with the military in terms of family or friends who’ve served?
RG: Yes. My father served a long time ago in Vietnam with the Army.
GIJ: How did you get your first opportunity to race in the Daytona 500 in 1991?
RG: Actually, it was a little different how I got my opportunity. Through Ford Motor Company, they hooked me up with a guy named Lee Morris who was really pushing me to NASCAR. So when I got to do the Daytona 500, that was a huge opportunity for me. That was way before my Indy 500s even happened. I realized at that point that I wanted to do stock
car racing.
GIJ: Daytona is one of, if not the biggest race of the year. What was it like seeing all those fans and the circus that surrounds the event?
RG: We are a traveling circus that’s for sure. We roll into town and set up our tents and put on our show and roll back out. But, Daytona for us is an important race. It’s the biggest race of our year. And it starts off first. There’s a lot of chaos that goes on around here and you’ve got to avoid the big one. Hopefully we can avoid the big one and find ourselves in a position to make a run for it at the end.
GIJ: What was it like when you won your first race?
RG: I raced motocross at a very young age, so winning became pretty routine. We won a lot. I won Indy car races and some stock car races but it hasn’t been as routine in stock car racing obviously. The competition level is much more difficult here. Once I started my own team, we haven’t won yet. I’m hoping 2009 will be the year when we put a Jim Beam car in victory lane.
GIJ: You’ve had a very successful career in off-road racing. How do you adjust between NASCAR racing and what you do off-road?
RG: You know, racing is racing. There are obviously things you gotta do to set up the cars differently but at the end of the day, it’s still racing. The more I can do it, the better we get. Our off-road teams are extremely strong right now. We finished third in the Dakar Rally this year and we won the first opening race at Laughlin. So as far as Robby Gordon Motorsports off-road program, it’s on its game right now. And I believe the switch to Toyota is going to help us on the stock car side as well.
GIJ: Have you ever spent any time with military families?
RG: I have. We live in an unbelievable country. I’ve been fortunate enough to go and race in other countries. I’ve raced in Africa and Argentina and Chile. We’ve also done Hungary and Romania races. So, I’ve been fortunate enough to go to some different countries and I think us Americans take for granted what we have. We have that because of our military standing up for us and the right of freedom. I support the military for what they do. They give us the opportunity to live life to the fullest. We are very fortunate here in the United States.
GIJ: Did you ever think of joining the military?
RG: I know I’d make a heck of a tank driver. I would drive the tracks right off that thing. Probably the reason that I haven’t is because my racing career has been non-stop from the time I was 7 or 8 years old. I’ve been racing 40 or 50 races a year since then.
GIJ: Why do you think NASCAR is so popular with folks in the military?
RG: Well, I got my own opinion why stock car racing is popular. You look at the people involved in it and it’s different. It’s good old American racing. You know, pushrod V8’s, Firebird engines, I think that’s what Americans like. NASCAR in general has grown to the level it has because if you look at not only the races that happen but look at all the sponsors. Everybody’s promoting their brand and it happens five days before the race even happens.
GIJ: If you could say one thing to those who are serving and those who have served, what would it be?
RG: Thanks. Plain and simple, thanks.
GIJ: In addition to the Beam Bash, what other projects do you do to support the military?
RG: We’ve got our Fourth of July races that we do here at NASCAR where we get the troops out, as well as the Memorial Day weekend. And so there’s tons that goes on to support the military and I just enjoy it. I enjoy the people, helping them and helping them realize their dreams at the same time.
GIJ: Many young people in this country dream of being a race car driver. What’s it really like?
RG: To be a race car driver is the ultimate excitement that one could possibly have. Our stock cars make 800 horsepower. Being able to control something out of control is quite amazing. The tires are not that wide, we don’t make a lot of down force. You know you can spin the tires at 160 miles per hour in these things. The competition is fun.
GIJ: Do you think Americans in general support the military?
RG: I do. And I think we need to continue. The military gives us our freedom and I think it’s very important that we continue to support the military. I know we have a new president with Obama but we need to be careful about our spending. It does concern me quite a bit. A lot of these funds are set aside in case we need to defend ourselves. Hopefully as they’re looking at budget cuts they don’t cut our military.
GIJ: What are your keys to success?
RG: To go fast. Speed sells. We’ve got to build fast race cars. We want everybody to like us and we want to be fast.
GIJ: What is your greatest personal or career achievement?
RG: Owning a race team. I’ve won races driving for everybody else but to be able to be successful is probably the biggest thing. We’re in our fifth year in business and our fifth year with Jim Beam as a sponsor. To have a race team against Jack Roush and Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs, I feel very fortunate. And the only reason we have it is because of great sponsors like Jim Beam and the employees of Robby Gordon Motorsports. They’re dedicated and they put their heart and soul into it.
Montgomery Gentry is an award-winning country music duo composed of Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry. In 1999, the duo’s first album “Tattoos and Scars” was certified platinum. They’ve since released five more albums that produced five No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and 10 more singles that made the Top 10. In 1994, Gentry won the Jim Beam National Talent Contest. In 1999, the duo won the Academy of Country Music award for the Top New Vocal Duo/Group. In 2000, they won the Country Music Association Award for Vocal Duo of the Year and the group was nominated for a Grammy in 2008 for the song “Lucky Man.”
GIJ: Why did you decide to perform for the Beam Bash last year?
TROY: We just really felt like this was a great opportunity to do something for the troops. And hey, it’s Daytona!
GIJ: Do you have any connection with the military in terms of family or friends who’ve served?
TROY: My wife’s grandfather was a World War II vet and got a Purple Heart and my great-uncle Sam was in the Navy, and I had a cousin in Vietnam.
GIJ: Have you ever spent any time with military families?
Eddie: Just about every show we play we get to meet our military heroes and of course when we were overseas with the USO.
GIJ: Did you ever think of joining the military?
TROY: Both laugh and Troy answers: “I think we probably both feel like we do the military a lot more good by playing shows like the one in Daytona benefiting Operation Homefront.
GIJ: If you could say one thing to those who are serving and those who have served, what would it be?
Eddie: Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
GIJ: In addition to the Beam Bash, what other projects/performances do you do to support the military?
TROY: We’re putting out an album with Cracker Barrel this year that also benefits Operation Homefront and we’ve done USO tours that were a blast.
GIJ: What do you think of the opinion that the entertainment industry doesn’t support the military?
Eddie: Oh I don’t think that’s true at all. We see people like Toby Keith out there yelling the loudest about supportin’ the military. I think if you look closely at the country music industry anyway, you’ll see a lot of support for the military. We don’t worry about the rest of ‘em, we just do our part.
GIJ: Everyone dreams of being a star – what’s it really like?
TROY: It’s a lot of fun and a lot of hard work too. We work really hard so that we can play hard when we want to. And it’s nice to be in a position to help. We love being on stage, it’s such a rush, but we also love being in a position to help organizations like Make-A-Wish and the USO and Operation Homefront. We might not be able to help them on the level that we do if we weren’t country artists.
GIJ: Do you think Americans in general support the military?
Eddie: Yes, I think that whatever your political views might be, most Americans still stand behind our military because they are the ones that let us dream as big as we want to and be anything we want to be. I don’t ever want to hear anybody say, ‘I don’t know if this generation has got what it takes.’ ... We’ve got the baddest men and women in the world ... and knowing that they’ve got our backs reminds me every day why America is the greatest country in the world and will always be the greatest.”
GIJ: Do you have plans to appear on any
future albums for the troops?
TROY: Sure, we’d definitely consider another project for the troops if it is the right one. We don’t ever plan on not helping out however we can.