Cole Custer will honor the memory of a fallen service member and will carry a slice of Americana when he and his No. 41 Chicken Cock Whiskey Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) take to the 1.5-mile Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway oval for Sunday night‘s Coca-Cola 600.
As part of NASCAR‘s annual “600 Miles of Remembrance” during the traditional Memorial Day weekend event, the name of U.S. Army Cpl. Joshua McKay Moore will be displayed on the windshield of Custer‘s No. 41 Ford Mustang. Moore was born on Nov. 30, 1986, and passed on May 30, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq. He was part of the Army‘s, C Company, 1-18 infantry, 1st platoon, 2nd battalion, 1st ID, FOB Falcon. Moore was posthumously named a corporal for his efforts in the war. He and three others were killed when the Hummer they were in ran over an improvised explosive device during his second deployment to the region. He was 20 years of age. Friends, family and relatives say Moore was someone who “everyone liked and, if you were around Josh and did not know him, it wouldn‘t take long for you to get to know him. He was the life of the party and someone who made everyone around him better and happier.”
Also riding along with Custer for the first time this weekend will be Chicken Cock Whiskey. Established in 1856 in Paris, Kentucky, Chicken Cock rose to fame as the house whiskey at The Cotton Club, one of Prohibition‘s most legendary speakeasies. Known as “The Famous Old Brand” and “The Whiskey in a Tin Can,” Chicken Cock was smuggled into the club in sealed tin cans, then ceremoniously opened table-side. After Prohibition, the brand enjoyed decades of resurgence before a distillery fire just after World War II put it out of business. In 2012, Matti Anttila, founder of Grain & Barrel Spirits, rediscovered the brand and set out to resurrect it to its Prohibition-era glory alongside master distiller Gregg Snyder. Since that time, the team has introduced flagship KY Straight Bourbon and KY Straight Rye Whiskey products made in partnership with Bardstown Bourbon Company as part of its collaborative distilling program, along with several other highly sought, limited-edition releases.
— True Speed Communications —
