Pieces come together for a weekend of remembrance

The haulers began rolling into town Wednesday and Thursday for the doubleheader weekend at Richmond International Raceway. Drivers and teams itching to make the Chase put on the final touches and cars and prepared for upcoming practice and qualifying sessions. Amid all the hoop-la, race officials were preparing the track, which will sport a very special symbol for the Friday night Virginia 529 College Savings 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

The race takes place on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Several special events will mark the day. NASCAR plans to honor the date with the running of the 911 car piloted by Benny Gordon.

“We saw that Richmond was running a Nationwide Series race on 9/11, and we decided what a [great] place to create awareness for the 9/11 Memorial,” Gordon said.

The car was unveiled earlier this year in New York City and bears the signatures of the first responders at Firehouse 10, which is next to Ground Zero.

It’s a huge honor,” Gordon said. “We’re new to the Nationwide series, but we potentially had a good run last time, and we’ve done a lot of work above and beyond what we normally do to try to have a good run for all the people who are going to be routing for this car. When we left New York, there were a lot of people who loved the car and loved the paint scheme and loved what it stood for. So it’s going to be a pretty special night and hopefully we’ll have a good night.”

Gordon will start just his sixth race this season and has hopes of running a full schedule next year. Friday night will be his second start at Richmond. Last time out, he qualified 14th but wrecked early in the race. Still he’s not feeling any more pressure than normal given what his car will represent.

“I’ve been asked that question several times now - if all this will distract us from having a good run, but I think more it brings the whole team up,” Gordon said. “We’re representing something like the 9/11 Memorial and representing a lot of people across the country. We’re excited for it, and I’m hoping we raise the bar for this weekend.”

The action will all take place under the presence of an American flag that flew atop the “Last Column.” The massive steal column from Ground Zero is covered in tributes from folks across the country including family members of those killed in the World Trade Center. It was the last piece removed from the New York site, marking the end of a nine-month recovery effort. The column and the flag were returned to Ground Zero Aug. 24, representing the first artifact moved from conservation to the site of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

The flag will fly over the infield at Richmond International Raceway for the Nationwide Series race. In a quiet ceremony Thursday, the flag was presented to track president Doug Fritz by retired New York City fire fighter Lt. Mickey Kross. With members of the Henrico County Police and Fire Departments, Gordon, NASCAR Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash and members of the media looking on, Fritz raised the flag - a moment that touched many in attendance.

“To me, personally, I lost a dear friend in the building, Chief Fred Marrone, who was the superintendent of the Port Authority Police … It brings back memories,” Henrico County Police Chief Henry Stanley said.

Kross was one of the first on scene in 2001 and was in the first tower when it started to fall. He also spent nine months working the recovery effort and was on site when the flag and the column were removed. Kross will be on hand to lead the Pledge of Allegiance before the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 Friday night.

This marks the first time the memorial flag has flown at a race track. Stanley says he hopes race fans simply remember what the flag represents.

“Once [fans] see the flag, they’ll remember the tragedy that our country suffered, and hopefully it will make them think that we are a community and a country at the same time,” he said.