James Davison and Rick Ware Racing has partnered with the Greatest Generations Foundation for this weekend’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Right at Bristol Motor Speedway to honor the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Davison is scheduled to start from 37th position. It will be just his second start at the World’s Fastest Half Mile.
Australian NASCAR driver James Davison will start Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Cup Race, with team Rick Ware, number 15, honoring the upcoming 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
On December 7, 1941, a fleet of Japanese aircraft unleashed a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. The attack killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and destroyed or damaged nineteen U.S. Navy ships, including eight battleships.
As Japanese bombers screamed through the skies over Pearl Harbor, twenty-two-year old Mickey Ganitch recalls the event: Ganitch was in a football uniform the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when the first Japanese Zeros screeched over his ship, the battleship USS Pennsylvania, and pulled America into World War II.
“I was just a country boy from Ohio.” 101-year-old, Ganitch of San Leandro said recently. “I was on the ship’s football team. We were supposed to play the USS Arizona that afternoon, and we were going out to scrimmage.”
Suddenly a 500-pound armor-piercing bomb hit the ship’s deck. It detonated near her magazine — where ammunition is stored. It was the only bomb that struck her. Fifteen of Ganitch’s shipmates were killed; fourteen are still listed as missing to this very day.
“With less than fifty known survivors alive, history is fading away at a rapid pace,” said Ganitch.
“Our nation owes an outstanding debt to its veterans. Their courage and fortitude in the face of adversity serve as an example for all Americans, and we are forever indebted to them beyond measure,” said Timothy Davis, President and CEO of The Greatest Generations Foundation.
With this newfound partnership, Davison will be welcomed as the newest Ambassador of The Greatest Generations Foundation to pay tribute to the Heroes of World War II at several upcoming NASCAR events.
“It is an honor to be representing the last living veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack. World War II history has become a passion in my life. In World War II, my grandfather was a fighter pilot flying with the Royal Air Force,” said Davison.
According to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, Ganitch is one of roughly 150,000 still alive. They die at a rate of about 300 a day.
— Greatest Generations Foundation —
Proud to be teaming up with the Greatest Generations Foundation at this weekend‘s Bristol Night Race, honoring the 80th Anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack 🇺🇸🎖
Tribute T-Shirts now on sale. Use discount code PEARL for free shipping. @letsneverforget.https://t.co/2q7P7Oi9JM pic.twitter.com/tItuBvcmFY
— James Davison (@DAV15ON_) September 17, 2021
