By C.D. DeSALVO
Hays Post

For Brandon Pfanenstiel, drag racing has been something he has been familiar with since he was born. Pfanenstiel’s father got him into the scene at a young age and, by 14, he was racing for the first time. By 16, he took over his dad’s car.

Pfanenstiel, who is from the Hays area and currently lives in Plainville, recently discovered a way to combine his passion for drag racing with a way to give back to military veterans for their service after a virtual meeting with the founder of Armed Forces Racing.

“I met the founder, Jeff Lambert, through an online racing school that I’m a part of and wanted to do my part to help. I didn’t have a lot to donate but I felt like I could do more on the promoting side of things and help get more donations for them,” Pfanenstiel said.

Armed Forces Racing is a nonprofit organization started to provide recreational therapy to disabled veterans. Veterans who build and race cars through Armed Forces Racing find it is therapeutic and helps them recover from disabilities such as post-traumatic stress disorder by keeping them active and busy when they return home. The organization is based out of McConnells, S.C., and officially became a 501(c)3 nonprofit in December.

“It all started when we built a car for a restoration project as a tribute to veterans, but what happened was we started getting veterans volunteering and coming down to work on the car and we found that by doing that, it became a recreational therapy,” said Lambert, who served active duty in the Navy from 1992 to 1996. “They started telling us that this changed their lives and made them feel like they have a mission and purpose. They loved getting to hang out with other veterans. That’s kind of what started it and I said ‘instead of a tribute, we should do more.’ So that’s how Armed Forces Racing came to be.”

Pfanenstiel volunteered to be an ambassador for Armed Forces Racing by promoting and fundraising in the Hays area. He has started visiting local businesses to make them aware of the organization.

“Brandon actually became the first official ambassador for us. We actually started the ambassador program because of Brandon,” Lambert said. “We just got an ambassador in Pennsylvania and we got another ambassador in Virginia because of what Brandon did.”

While there is not currently an Armed Forces Racing program in the area, Pfanenstiel’s ultimate goal is to eventually set up a program in the area for local veterans to be able to take advantage of the therapeutical upsides of building cars, racing cars and being on a crew for a racing team.

“For myself, it is definitely a type of therapy. It’s my getaway … ..it’s what I do. Sometimes putting it into words isn’t easy I just think of it like any project. I get satisfaction out of working on my car, making it run, and racing it,” Pfanenstiel said. “I am simply a volunteer trying to do my part to give back. Drag racing has always been my thing, so this is my way to combine the two.”

Since Armed Forces Racing is a nonprofit, any and all donations go toward the cost of buying parts to build the dragsters and getting the veterans out to the track.

To donate, visit the Armed Forces Racing website at www.armedforcesracing.org.

You can also visit their Facebook page for photos and events at www.facebook.com/armedforcesracing.