Greetings!
“Turning wounds into wisdom.”

Watkins Glen, NY. (Sep 03, 2019) – Operation Motorsport reconvened once again at Watkins Glen International to unite disabled veterans and wounded warriors with SRO Motorsports teams Aug. 29 - Sep 01, 2019. Beneficiaries once again had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in all areas of a race teams operations including working directly with the vehicles, hospitality, and media operations. A special heartfelt thanks goes out to Tony Ditto and the the entire team at Alegra Motorsports for taking on a last minute beneficiary, which meant hosting 3 beneficiaries for the event, two in the engage and one in the excite program.
“Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you.”
– Aldous Huxley
Last weekend Operation Motorsport was at Watkins Glen, NY connecting injured service members with race teams during the SRO-Motorsports Blancpain GT World Challenge America.
 
Eight service members and veterans joined the Operation Motorsport team to continue to engage in motorsport immersion activities to assist in aiding their recovery and rehabilitation.
 
Operation Motorsport beneficiaries supported a number of teams including, Alegra Motorsports, Park Place Motorsports - Volt Racing, GMG Racing, Crowdstrike Racing -DXDT Racing and TWOth Autosport, entered in the Blancpain GT World Challenge America.

We are extremely excited about our new partnerships with Crowdstrike Racing, DXDT Racing and GMG Racing. With new teams come new opportunities for our beneficiaries and new perspectives on the value it brings to recovering warriors.

We were able to quickly capitalize on these new opportunities at Watkins Glen by embedding active duty Army Sergeant Major Jason Leach onto the Crowdstrike Racing / DXDT Racing team. As Jason's newly accepted role in OpMo is "US Military Liaison" and "Team Manager", it was a good fit as the first interaction between the two organizations, Jason was able assess his experience with the team as very positive and found the team very welcoming, professional and positive. We hope to see the full benefits of this new relationship in 2020 with deserving beneficiaries.

The other new team partner, GMG Racing, saw US Army SFC David Meyer embedded into the team. Robert "Bob" Page, President / CEO of The Page Group had this to say, " David Meyer, SFC, US Army, the embedded team member of Operation Motorsport working with CrowdStrike / AWS and Team GMG at Watkins Glen this past weekend shared with us these amazing photo's he has taken of the crew and team during his time working with them. These returning service men and women bring with them amazing skills and talents, David obviously has an eye for photography, that we need to explore as they come out of the active duty service and return home and rejoin the work force. The skills that they have built up, and the work ethic they share are first rate, and we need to look them in the eye and give them the opportunity to share the incredible skills they bring with them as they join our companies and become part of our normal working society. Don't underestimate their ability to grasp and develop skills quickly as that is part of the character of these military vets. Congrats to David for his amazing talent, and the great support he gave team GMG...he was a very positive addition to our efforts at Watkins Glen."
David Meyer Photos
OpMo Beneficiary
SSG Chad Failing
- His thoughts -
"This weekend was filled with amazing moments and the gaining of new friends. The Idea of empowering a veteran that has lost his or her way when transitioning out of the service due to medical problems can be tough.
 
 I worked with Park place motorsports this last weekend. From the get go I was seen as part of the team, not a broken veteran but as a vital part of the team that helps win races. 
 
For the first time in a long time I felt like I belonged and had a place and job that allowed me to work and be useful. Utilizing my skills as a truck driver and mechanic I was able to bounce around working in all aspects of the team.
 
All throughout the weekend I was able to see the race community not only as competitors but as one big dysfunctional family that helped one another when possible.
 
Operation motorsports has given me a different outlook during my transition to healing and recovery. I've felt as if I'm family from day one. The process to recovery and healing may be a short road but with a family like this you'll never be lonely on that road."

In TWOth's first outing in SRO competition with three OpMo beneficiaries joining in the fight, TWOth Autosport claimed a resounding success with a First Place sweep in TCR competition over the 2 weekend races.

Beneficiary team members Dale Newbury and Cody Reinecker were responsible for ensuring both cars had the proper amount of fuel for each practice, qualifying and race sessions, while OpMo Admin Coordinator Mel Gallagher was responsible for ensuring the proper amount of fuel was supplied to the humans. ..... which included the occasional trip into town for replenishment in team driver Ed Killeen's Aston Martin........ No position is off the table if the beneficiary is up to the challenge. 

Working side by side with the teams engineer’s, driver’s, tech’s and tire guy you would not be able to tell a beneficiary apart from regular team member. Through the ups and downs of a race weekend the camaraderie, the jokes, the knowing that these people would have your back, the feeling of truly being part of the team was all there under one tent.

Not only did the team show how transferable skills learned in the military can be in the world of Motorsports and how useful one can still be after service but they also achieved their ultimate goal...the checkered flag! In BOTH their races driver Travis Hill took the team to the top of the podium. Mission successful!

ABOUT CROWDSTRIKE®
CrowdStrike , a cybersecurity technology company, is the leader in cloud-delivered endpoint protection. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform offers instant visibility and protection across the enterprise and prevents attacks on endpoints on or off the network. CrowdStrike Falcon deploys in minutes to deliver actionable intelligence and real-time protection from Day One. It seamlessly unifies next-generation AV with best-in-class endpoint detection and response, backed by 24/7 managed hunting. Its cloud infrastructure and single-agent architecture take away complexity and add scalability, manageability, and speed.
ABOUT DXDT RACING
DXDT Racing LLC  is a high-performance sports car racing team founded by team principal David Askew in 2014 and located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Team's primary focus is on GT3 and GT4 racing in North America. The team has fielded cars in various racing series such as SRO's Blancpain GT World Challenge America, IMSA's Michelin Pilot Challenge, and Lamborghini's Super Trofeo series. Although the team is young, DXDT is comprised of a group of highly experienced professionals with championship winning backgrounds.
ABOUT TWOth AUTOSPORT - With a home base at Calabogie Motorsports Park, TWOth is only steps away from one of North America’s most technical race tracks. The perfect location, paired with valuable experience and strong industry partnerships, allow the Hill brothers to manage every aspect of the motorsport experience, giving them the logical tagline: Develop, Build, Support, Drive.


ABOUT GMG RACING -
Founded in 2001, GMG has quickly established itself as North America's premier performance tuning facility. What began as a small 1200 sq. ft. shop, maintaining two race cars, has grown into a 30,000 sq. ft. state of the art performance tuning, racing and service facility located in (Orange County) Santa Ana, California. The staff, attention to detail and passion are what make GMG the choice of professionals and enthusiasts worldwide.
Learn more at  gmgracing.com 
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SRO Motorsports Group, the architect of modern GT racing
Over the past 25 years SRO has specialized in the promotion and organization of motorsport series around the world. Inextricably linked with GT racing’s revival in the early 1990s, currently SRO predominantly promotes series that adhere to the successful GT3 and GT4 regulations. Indeed, these rules – a common framework allowing manufacturers, teams and drivers to compete equally with one another – have helped to establish SRO as the global leader in customer GT racing.
Today, SRO’s influence and organisation can be seen around the world. Its flagship continues to be the European-based Blancpain GT Series, which features both the Sprint and Endurance Cups. Its annual highlight remains the iconic Total 24 Hours of Spa.

SRO Motorsports Group is chaired by company founder and CEO Stephane Ratel and has offices in London, Paris, Liège, Austin, and Hong Kong. Its dedicated team of full-time and freelance staff work with the support of numerous national sporting authorities and sanctioning bodies to offer teams, drivers and manufacturers the world’s best professional, Pro/Am and amateur GT racing platforms.





About Operation Motorsport - Operation Motorsport is a veteran-operated not-for-profit based in Brighton, Ontario and was founded on the basis of three simple words – Excite, Engage and Empower. Its mission is to engage, through motorsport activities, ill and injured service members and disabled veterans, affected by military service, leading to aiding in their recovery and rehabilitation.