Sometimes the news just flat out sucks. Other times, it makes you feel all tingly. This is one of those times. A National Guardsman wrecked his race car last year before being deployed to Afghanistan. His amazing friends built him a new one while he was gone, and just surprised him with it. Awesome.
Staff Sgt. Steve Barrett of Preston, CT would frequently run his modified 1985 Chevy Monte Carlo at the Waterford Speedbowl in Connecticut. Last April, a crash wrecked the car just before Barrett was sent with his unit to Afghanistan. He decided to spend his time with his family instead of working on the car before he was deployed. He thought that was it for racing for a while.
It wasn't.
Over the course of seven months, his friends worked in secret two nights a week to repair the damaged race car. It has mostly new parts and donations of $5,000 were received. Local businesses rebuilt the engine, transmission, and rear-end. They even made him a new race suit.
Barrett was surprised with the car on Saturday, and, as you would imagine, was totally shocked by the kindness and generosity of his competitors. It's also a testament to the motorsports community. Even though it's a highly competitive sport, people on track will often come together to help a competitor, whether it means spare parts, tuning tips, or, like in this case, an entirely new car.
It's great to see people come together like this.
(Hat Tip to Doug!)