<b>GATEWAY RACER ENDZELIS, WHO SERVED IN AFGHANISTAN IN ’02, WILL TEST CAR HERE SATURDAY WHILE HIS BOMBS WORK IN IRAQ</b>
MADISON, ILL. (March 21) - Hank Endzelis, drag racer, will be at Gateway International Raceway Saturday, getting his ’69 LAW Automotive Camaro ready for the season during an an all-day Test and Tune session.
Half a world away, the handiwork of Air Force Tech Sgt., Hank Endzelis is likely being aimed on strategic military targets a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“‘obviously we’re very happy to be here racing, because that’s what we really like to do, but we are keeping an eye on what’s going on now,” said the 56-year-old Endzelis, who lives in Riverton, Ill., just outside Springfield, and races at least twice a month at Gateway.
As a way to support our troops in Iraq, Gateway will be taking donations from those who come to the test session today for the USO, which is pulling together “Patriot Packs” of necessary items (toiletries, phone cards, etc.) for military personnel heading overseas.
Gateway will be giving racers flag stickers to put on their cars. There will also be a giant banner in support of the troops in Iraq that racers and fans can come sign all day. It will be set up near the Gateway Suite Tower.
Gates open at 8 a.m. Saturday, with test runs for all classes of street and race cars between 9:30-5 p m . It is a prelude to the opening of the 2003 Gateway E.T. Bracket Racing Season the following weekend.
Endzelis served in the Air Force in Vietnam out of high school, left the service in 1968, then returned lo the Air National Guard in 1989, and has been to the Persian Gulf five times since then, starting in 1996.
The retired Illinois State Trooper missed much, of last year’s racing season because he spent three months in the Persian Gulf with the 183rd Fighter Wing of the Illinois Air-National Guard, based in Springfield, and later spent a month in Afghanistan with a mixed force of Regular Air Force and Guard units.
That tour was part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which sought out elments of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, and the Taliban government of Afghanistan that harbored the group and provided its base of operations.
“We were building the precision munitions you see at work in Iraq, and probably many of the bombs we made late in our tour are among those being used now, because we were stockpiling weapons the last few weeks of our presence,” said Endzelis.
He described his timea in Afghanistan as the “camping trip from Hell - there’s some beautiful country, but it’s a rough place to be.”
In fact, Endzelis’ old profession was also dusted off during his final few days in Afghanistan.
“They knew I had been in law enforcement. So they gave me an M- 16, a 9mm pistol, night glasses, a flak jacket and an ATV and asked me to be an extra set of eyes while they trained new law enforcement units in Bagram (20 miles outside the Afghan capital of Kabul,” he said.
When he got back, among the first things he did was point his car, adorned with a custom airbrushed American flag on the hood, to the Gateway quarter-mile. “I won the run for the money that Saturday night. I was dead-on my dial-in (estimated) time in the finals, and it was a really nice surprise,” Endzelis said. “It was so good to be back.”
Endzelis, who has won state marksmanship competitions in Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin along with a national title back in the 198Os, went into the Guard in part to take advantage of their strong shooting program. “They had the resources I was looking for in terms of advancing that part of my career, and they had vacancies in the munitions area, and it was a natural progression.
Endzelis and his son, Joe, both serve in the 183rd and race the LAW Automotive machine in bracket competitions in the area. “Joe is thinking about trying to run for the points title at Gateway this year in the Super Pro category,” Hank said. “We’ll star mapping that out this week. But we’re looking forward to spending a lot of time at Gateway.”
Cost for the Test and Tune session is $25 per car and driver, and $8 for adult spectators and crew members. Children 12-under are free with a paid adult.
MADISON, ILL. (March 21) - Hank Endzelis, drag racer, will be at Gateway International Raceway Saturday, getting his ’69 LAW Automotive Camaro ready for the season during an an all-day Test and Tune session.
Half a world away, the handiwork of Air Force Tech Sgt., Hank Endzelis is likely being aimed on strategic military targets a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“‘obviously we’re very happy to be here racing, because that’s what we really like to do, but we are keeping an eye on what’s going on now,” said the 56-year-old Endzelis, who lives in Riverton, Ill., just outside Springfield, and races at least twice a month at Gateway.
As a way to support our troops in Iraq, Gateway will be taking donations from those who come to the test session today for the USO, which is pulling together “Patriot Packs” of necessary items (toiletries, phone cards, etc.) for military personnel heading overseas.
Gateway will be giving racers flag stickers to put on their cars. There will also be a giant banner in support of the troops in Iraq that racers and fans can come sign all day. It will be set up near the Gateway Suite Tower.
Gates open at 8 a.m. Saturday, with test runs for all classes of street and race cars between 9:30-5 p m . It is a prelude to the opening of the 2003 Gateway E.T. Bracket Racing Season the following weekend.
Endzelis served in the Air Force in Vietnam out of high school, left the service in 1968, then returned lo the Air National Guard in 1989, and has been to the Persian Gulf five times since then, starting in 1996.
The retired Illinois State Trooper missed much, of last year’s racing season because he spent three months in the Persian Gulf with the 183rd Fighter Wing of the Illinois Air-National Guard, based in Springfield, and later spent a month in Afghanistan with a mixed force of Regular Air Force and Guard units.
That tour was part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which sought out elments of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, and the Taliban government of Afghanistan that harbored the group and provided its base of operations.
“We were building the precision munitions you see at work in Iraq, and probably many of the bombs we made late in our tour are among those being used now, because we were stockpiling weapons the last few weeks of our presence,” said Endzelis.
He described his timea in Afghanistan as the “camping trip from Hell - there’s some beautiful country, but it’s a rough place to be.”
In fact, Endzelis’ old profession was also dusted off during his final few days in Afghanistan.
“They knew I had been in law enforcement. So they gave me an M- 16, a 9mm pistol, night glasses, a flak jacket and an ATV and asked me to be an extra set of eyes while they trained new law enforcement units in Bagram (20 miles outside the Afghan capital of Kabul,” he said.
When he got back, among the first things he did was point his car, adorned with a custom airbrushed American flag on the hood, to the Gateway quarter-mile. “I won the run for the money that Saturday night. I was dead-on my dial-in (estimated) time in the finals, and it was a really nice surprise,” Endzelis said. “It was so good to be back.”
Endzelis, who has won state marksmanship competitions in Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin along with a national title back in the 198Os, went into the Guard in part to take advantage of their strong shooting program. “They had the resources I was looking for in terms of advancing that part of my career, and they had vacancies in the munitions area, and it was a natural progression.
Endzelis and his son, Joe, both serve in the 183rd and race the LAW Automotive machine in bracket competitions in the area. “Joe is thinking about trying to run for the points title at Gateway this year in the Super Pro category,” Hank said. “We’ll star mapping that out this week. But we’re looking forward to spending a lot of time at Gateway.”
Cost for the Test and Tune session is $25 per car and driver, and $8 for adult spectators and crew members. Children 12-under are free with a paid adult.
