I am guessing that the Brickyard 400 will be Curtiss Shaver’s favorite NASCAR race. The reason for my hypothesis is that he was named the winner of Crown Royal’s Your Hero’s Name Here program. As the winner for this contest, Curtiss will have his full name on the NASCAR Brickyard 400 trophy and his name will be part of the official title for the race in Indianapolis on July 29th. All the NASCAR fans reading this might be thinking how did he get to be so lucky. To be honest it wasn’t luck, it was his touching story that made him become part of this year’s Brickyard 400.
It all started with a promotion that Crown Royal ran called Your Hero’s Name Here. It was a contest that was looking to showcase unsung heroes that do so much for their community. There were five people chosen to be in the running for the contest. People could read about each finalist and vote for their favorite hero on the Crown Royal Facebook page.
After weeks of voting Curtiss Shaver received the most votes and won the promotion. Curtiss could not believe that he won. “I’m a huge NASCAR fan, so having my name as a race title is absolutely unbelievable” said Shaver. “I’m honored that I was nominated for this incredible contest and humbled that so many people voted for my story. I’m looking forward to representing emergency personnel everywhere who risk their lives for others on a daily basis.” (Source:www.crownroyal.com)
When you learn about Shaver’s story you see that not only was being crowned the winner great for him, but you will find that it was well deserved. It all started when Shaver was got injured on his farm when he was 18. The incident led to his left leg needing to be amputated. The whole experience made Shaver realize that he wanted to help others as he was helped in his moment of need. He wanted to give back to the community so he became an EMT and a firefighter. Shaver is now an EMT, paramedic and is the current Lieutenant of the Troy Fire Department in Alabama.
Not only will Shaver’s name be on the trophy and on the full title of the Brickyard 400, he will be riding in the pre-race pace car and get to hand deliver the trophy to winner at Victory Lane. The next perk to me is the best part of winning the promotion. I think one of the biggest prizes you could win as a NASCAR fan is to participate in a historic tradition. In this case Curtiss gets to kiss the bricks following the race, which is a custom that is performed by the winning team at the Brickyard 400 at the end of the race.
If you think that is a great prize, well it gets better. Great country music acts from Big Machine Label Group including The Band Perry, The Mavericks, Justin Moore and Greg Bates will perform songs during the weekend as a tribute to Shaver.
So as you can see as I stated earlier this will probably be Curtiss Shaver’s favorite NASCAR event. It is great to hear a heartwarming story where a huge sports organization, like NASCAR giving back to a fan that deserves the royal treatment, or I guess in this case it is the ‘Crown Royal’ treatment.
