Kevin McCrea was solely 17 years outdated when he joined the USA Military in 1982.
McCrea, a paratrooper, suffered a spinal twine harm throughout an evening soar in 1983 after his parachute malfunctioned. He spent the remainder of his life disabled.
Thirty-seven years later, Specialist Kevin McCrea handed away on June 16, 2020, after spending the ultimate 14 months of his life within the hospital. He was 55 years outdated, a husband of 30 years to his spouse, Marie, and a father of three.
On Sunday on the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Specialist McCrea’s identify will adorn the windshield of Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet as Chastain competes within the Coca-Cola 600. Specialist McCrea’s daughter, Allie, was the one to inform Chastain her father’s story.
“Her speaking about her dad, you possibly can see the satisfaction,” Chastain informed Yardbarker. “It’s actually inspiring to listen to her discuss her dad. Her dad had a optimistic angle when he might’ve been damaging about a variety of issues.”
Following his time within the army, Specialist McCrea furthered his training. He graduated with a level in prison justice from Temple College, and later earned a legislation diploma from Widener College in Chester, Pa.
“He led his household with a robust, optimistic mindset,” Chastain stated of McCrea. “By the point he had his children, he’d already been injured. He can be on his approach out of the home as a result of one thing was going fallacious bodily; they’d be taking him to the hospital at three within the morning, and he’d say, ‘this isn’t an excuse to not have your homework completed.’
“Him instilling that in his household is inspiring, (that) there are not any excuses, we’re not utilizing them. We’re not searching for an out. We’re going to get our work completed and get one thing from it.”
“He by no means wished us to make use of his sickness or our hardship as an excuse to not be working exhausting,” Allie McCrea informed Yardbarker. “The final 14 months of his life, he was within the hospital. He would at all times say, ‘Be a Sponge’—stay within the second, take up every part.”
McCrea’s catchphrase will experience on the decklid on Chastain’s No. 1 this weekend as Allie and her household take of their first NASCAR race.
“It’s particular for us to be celebrating Memorial Day collectively and likewise to have such an honor with my dad’s identify and catchphrase racing within the Coke 600,” Allie stated. “It’s one thing you don’t suppose is ever going to occur. It’s a wild journey.”
“I didn’t know he was going to be on a race automobile or something,” Allie stated. “As we obtained involved with Jockey and the planning with Trackhouse, I used to be like, ‘it is a greater deal than I anticipated’.”
The journey to honor Specialist McCrea on Chastain’s automobile started in March, when Folds of Honor reached out to Allie in a partnership with Trackhouse Racing and a Trackhouse sponsor in Jockey. Allie was a recipient of a Folds of Honor scholarship, which allowed her to earn her bachelor’s diploma. She adopted in her father’s footsteps, attending Temple College for her Masters diploma. In a quintessential full-circle second, Allie McCrea works as a music therapist in the identical Philadelphia hospital the place her father was handled.
The unwavering spirit McCrea embedded in his household will undoubtedly experience with Chastain as he chases a victory in one in every of NASCAR’s crown jewel occasions.
All quotations obtained firsthand until in any other case famous.
