| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 20, 2021) — The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA), which is located in the Daytona International Speedway Ticket & Tours Building, has a long history of working with the military and veterans. The MSHFA added another chapter to that relationship on Monday, August 9 when it hosted disabled veteran Nick Smiley and his family, who were treated to a meeting with Hall of Fame sports car legend Bob Tullius. “We were thrilled to host the Smiley family today,” MSHFA president George Levy said. “We have long had a deep connection to the military. Anytime there’s a member of the armed forces, especially a wounded warrior, we try to make it an extra special visit.” Nick Smiley was accompanied by his wife Fatima and sons Jonathan, 5, and Thomas, 12. Fatima’s brother tagged along for the visit. |
 Bob Tullius, white shirt, poses in front of the No. 44 Jaguar prototype on display at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. |
 Bob Tullius, white shirt, poses with Army veteran Nick Smiley’s family beside the No. 44 Jaguar prototype. |
| “This has been great,” said Smiley, 35, who plans to purchase a house in Ormond Beach in the coming weeks. “We also did the track tour and the guides were very knowledgeable. They showed us the ins and outs of the track. We really enjoyed the whole experience.” Tullius, who lives in Port Orange, has one of his Group 44, Inc. IMSA GTP Jaguar prototypes on prominent display at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America museum. |
 Bob Tullius, left, and Army veteran Nick Smiley talk while looking at the prototype Tullius’ Group 44 race team engineered in the late 1980s. |
| Tullius, 91, logs a full week of work at his airport hangar in Edgewater and helps the MSHFA on a regular basis, especially when the military is involved. “I lost a brother in Korea and spent some time in the Air Force,” Tullius said. “I haven’t had use of my left leg most of my life, so I can appreciate somebody that’s had the difficulty Nick’s had.” Smiley, who was a Private First Class with the 1st Battalion 19th Infantry, suffered massive back injuries during 2007 combat training at Ft. Benning in Georgia. “We were training to go to Iraq during the surge,” Smiley said. “We were doing a field training exercise and one of the soldiers I was training with got injured and I had to carry him to safety on my shoulders. Because of that, I had three vertebrae collapse, plus six bulging discs, four herniated discs and three pinched nerves. No doctor really wants to touch me. I’ve had doctors tell me these injuries are the worst they’ve ever seen. One told me he was surprised I was still walking.” The Smiley family toured the entire MSHFA facility. The boys got to sit in an ex-Denny Hamlin Toyota Camry NASCAR Cup Series stock car, on loan from Toyota Racing specifically so fans can get their picture at the wheel inside the Hall of Fame. Levy helped tour the Smiley family around the massive facility. “Part of the reason the military is so important to us is because it is so important to motorsports,” Levy said. “So many of our inductees are former military men, like Red Byron, Bud Moore, Dan Gurney, Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood, Bart Markel, Danny Ongais, Cook Cleland, Eddie Rickenbacker, Phil Remington and Jimmy Doolittle. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it because there are a lot of the same physical and logistical challenges and some of the same dangers, frankly, that need to be confronted and managed. We are doubly proud and motivated to honor the military at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.” |
| For more information about the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America go online to mshf.com or contact George Levy at 248-895-1704 or glevy@mshf.com. For MSHFA tickets, call 1-800-PIT-SHOP. The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MotorsportsHOF/ and Instagram and Twitter at @MotorsportsHOF. About the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The MSHFA is the only hall that honors all American motorsports: cars, motorcycles, airplanes, off road and powerboats. Its mission is to celebrate and instill the American motorsports values of leadership, creativity, originality, teamwork and spirit of competition. Founded by Larry G. Ciancio and Ronald A. Watson, it held its first induction in 1989. Watson spent the next 30 years tirelessly building it into the nation’s premier such hall until his passing in 2019. The original museum in Novi, Mich., relocated to Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2016 and greets more than 100,000 guests a year. MSHFA is operated by the nonprofit Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation, Inc. |
