Race For The Wounded (RFTW) is going back to run the 1000 this year. We are working on getting two bikes running for the 1000, one pro and one sportsman. I am also working on getting some wounded vets into trucks. I am working with a team now that is talking about letting a vet navigate for the first part of the race. It seems to be working getting people into helping our wounded get into some good old racing!! Last year as some of you know we raised over $40,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project. This year we are taking it in a new direction, we are starting our own non profit that will put money raised to help get vets into off road racing. Not only driving but also providing medical coverage, or as part of chase crews. We have also been looking at sending them to mechanical schools in hopes of landing them jobs on teams. We have also updated our website with a volunteer page if any of you would like to help us out in any way. Being a new non profit we are not sure what we will be needing right now for help, please list your skills and I am sure that we can find something that we will need help on at one point or another. I would like to thank everyone in the ADV community that has showed us so much support in the last year.
I also want to add that we have a bunch of shirts from last years race. If anyone wants one for cheap send me a message. If there is enough people interested I will start another thread in vendors. Thanks -John
Hey in this year's 1000, are you going to have rider who falls a lot? Has that position already been filled? I might know a guy.
Made the drive from Ga. to Tx. to get the race bike to John. He made the drive for Az. It looks as if we are only going to run one bike again due to cost. Man that drive sucked, made it in just under 48hrs. This is a pic on the Hwy. at a stand still after a bad crash, after about an hour they turned us around. You can see the bike on the back of the jeep. John is going to be doing the prep this year. One thing that I know we are going to be doing is running Moose Bibs!! After Allan having 3 flats within 200 miles we won't be taking a chance again. "live and learn"
Thought I would add some pics of Roger Normans shop. Took them when John and I went to the Dirt Live show. It was something, I can just dream about having a shop like this. I would like to say thank you to Roger, and George for having us on so we can tell people how to help wounded guys get into racing.
Looking at Roger's place you'd have to wonder if there any animals left in Africa. Been there though & have to tell you there's lots of wildlife.
Hey guys it is getting close to the 1000 and RFTW is in high gear. We have just got Colin Edwards on with us!! Yep the Texas Tornado is backing RFTW, and will be auctioning a original signed drawing with all proceeds going to RFTW. He is also donating a 4 day slot to his riding school. We are not sure what we are going to do with it now. We might raffle it off in the hope that we make enough to get the guys in a truck for the 1000, or we might just put a wounded guy into the slot. If you have any ideas on a raffle our think it is a good idea please let me know. We also have some great news, we will be having two wounded Marines riding with us this year!! 1SG Nick Hamm who is still active, and Jesse Williamson a double below the knee amputee. We are working on trying to setup a shifter for him now. If you know anyone that could help with this please let me know. John is prepping the bike this year so it is in Az. I hope he starts putting some pics of it up soon. Nick and Jesse will be with us at the offroad expo in Ca. the 5th and 6th of Oct. if you are in the area stop by and meet them. We will be with KC Highlights. We are also working with Engage Offroad to get two guys in a truck for the full race. I hope that if we do it is a better experience then Frog had! We are now a non profit so if you know any companies that might want to help with sponsorship please send them our way. We will need every bit to get the guys into the truck. Thanks, Brett
Our guy Owen is working on the engine. Hotrods donated a crank, rod, piston, rings and bearings. They were awesome, great company to deal with. Once I get a chance I will get some pics of the engine. All we need now is a rekluse clutch and an electric shift setup for the double amputee guy. We are also waiting to get some Kibble White valves to finish buttoning her up. Really cool that Colin Edwards has decided to help us out. We will be meeting with him in September to do our version of a Baja Boot Camp. Should be cool. -John
Hiker, We will be getting more in soon and will post up as soon as we have them. We should have the t-shirts and Koozies up on the website soon (I hope by the end of Sep) in the gear page.
Elvis's frame is over at Patrick's shop getting some attention. Should be all shined up and new bearings installed pretty soon. -John
Here is some info on one of our riders. His name is Nick Hamm. Here is his bio. <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <woNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <wontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <wontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <wontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> [FONT="] Nick Hamm 0311/USMC[/FONT] [FONT="] 1stSgt Nick Hamm grew up in Tucson, Arizona where he eventually joined the Marine Corps in 1995 and went to boot camp in San Diego, Ca. Upon completion of boot camp he went to the School of Infantry and became a 0311 rifleman, a Grunt. He went on to serve in 2<sup>nd</sup> Battalion 1<sup>st</sup> Marines from 1996 -2002 where he deployed 3 times with that unit to various places around the world. During this period he was a member of an Infantry rifle squad that went on to win the annual rifle squad competition. He received the gold Super Squad badge and had the honor of serving in the number one rifle squad in the1st Marine Division. From 2002-2005 he served as a Combat Instructor at the School of Infantry and trained thousands of Marines how to fight and survive in combat. He was meritoriously promoted to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant for his outstanding performance and leadership at the School of Infantry.[/FONT] [FONT="] In 2005 he got orders to 3<sup>rd</sup> Battalion 1<sup>st</sup> Marines and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During his first combat deployment in September 2005 his vehicle was destroyed by an (I.E.D.) Improvised Explosive Device, while conducting combat operations with his machine gun section. He received severe wounds to his left leg and minor injuries to other parts of his body. He was medically evacuated to Germany and then on to Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton. After recovering from his injuries and rehabilitation that took over a year, First Sergeant Hamm volunteered to deploy and fight again in 2007 with his unit 3/1. He served with 3<sup>rd</sup> Battalion 1<sup>st</sup> Marines for two combat deployments.[/FONT] [FONT="]In 2009 he was promoted to his current rank of First Sergeant and was given orders to the Wounded Warrior Battalion-(West). From 2009 to 2012 he severed as the Detachment First Sergeant for Wounded Warrior Detachment at the Naval Medical Center San Diego (Balboa) where he led the staff and supported other wounded warriors through all phases of their recovery. In October 2012 he founded his own organization called “Warrior Built” that focuses on vocational and recreational therapy for combat veterans.[/FONT] [FONT="]First Sergeant Hamm currently serves back at the School of Infantry as the Headquarters and Service Company First Sergeant for the Headquarters and Support Battalion. He leads all the support personnel for the School of Infantry and ensures all the training is properly supported for all the training Battalions at the School of Infantry. He volunteers his nights and weekends to help his fellow combat veterans and wounded warriors with his organization “Warrior Built”.[/FONT] Nick founded Warrior Built -John
We have another rider, Jesse Williamson, here is some info on him. [FONT="]Jesse Williamson 0311/USMC[/FONT] [FONT="]LCpl Jesse Williamson was born in Monroe, Washington. Where he grew up racing motocross, playing football and baseball. He was raised by his mother Tarri, his father Shane and step dad Steve and has three sisters. He graduated from Monroe high school in June of 2007. In March of 2008 he joined the Marine Corps and went to boot camp in San Diego Ca. After 3 months of boot camp he went to SOI (School of Infantry) for two months up at Camp Pendleton,Ca where he trained to be a 0311(rifleman). After graduating SOI he went to 2<sup>nd </sup>Battalion 3<sup>rd</sup> Marines in Kaneohe bay, Hawaii. There he crossed trained to be a 0331 (machine gunner). He deployed to Afghanistan in March of 2009 and was wounded in August of 2009. He was medically evacuated to Germany and then on to the Bethesda hospital in Maryland, where he was hospitalized for about a month and a half undergoing multiple surgeries. He was then sent to the Naval Medical Center San Diego (Balboa) where he continued his medical care. Persevering through numerous surgeries the doctors were unable to save his legs and he is now a double amputee. He was medically retired in February of 2012 and now lives in Wildomar, Ca.[/FONT] [FONT="] He currently helps operate a foundation called “Warrior Built” that helps combat veterans through vocational and recreational therapy. He hopes to inspire and influence other combat veterans and wounded warriors with his story of over coming adversity.[/FONT] [FONT="]Here is a pic of Jesse.[/FONT] -John
I hope all of you have been going to the website Raceforthewounded.com Now that we have teamed with Colin Edwards I hope that we start getting this thing going!! Colin's riding school (Texas Tornado Boot Camp) manager Mike Myers gave me a call letting me know that they are donating a slot to his 4 day camp. We are going to be raffling it off to help raise the money to get two more wounded vets into the truck that Engage Offroad is helping us with. If we can raise enough money will will be getting them in the truck for the full 1000. I will let everyone know when the raffle will start. I think it is going to be for a class next year and we will not know the date until we know what the MotoGP schedule so he can get the new boot camp schedule out. This is over a $2500 school, I am not sure what the price will be for a ticket yet but I will let everyone know as soon as we workout the details. Brett