Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Payne to salute fallen Tennessee firefighter at Bristol drag race



Jay Payne and the supercharged FireIce Ford Mustang is rolling into the 12th annual Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals this weekend looking for a little more horsepower and a few more round wins in the NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by ProCare Rx.

"We've had some good runs at times in the Pro Mod car," Payne said. "We've just not been able to put it all together yet. The competition in the class is pretty stiff, but with a little consistency, we think we've got a car that can contend for a win this weekend."

Payne and sponsor FireIce are continuing their mission to honor America's 1.1 million firefighters and support causes such as the Leary Firefighters Foundation (www.learyfirefighters.org), Angel Faces (www.angelfacesretreat.org) and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (www.firehero.org).

This weekend, Payne and the FireIce team also are saluting Decaturville, Tenn., Fire Chief Kenny Fox, who sacrificed his own life in the line of duty in April to save the lives of two firefighters under his command. 

Fox pushed the two firefighters out of the way of a collapsing roof while fighting a fire at a restaurant. In doing so, Fox became trapped by the debris and did not survive.

"That is the kind of sacrifice firefighters make for one another every day in this country," Payne said. "This gentleman was a husband, father and officer of the law as well as a firefighter. Chief Fox was a man who protected his community, and I'm proud we're able to honor his sacrifice in this small way this weekend."

GelTech Solutions, the publically-traded parent company of FireIce, creates innovative, Earth-friendly, cost-effective products that help industry, agriculture and the general public achieve environmental and safety goals such as water conservation and protecting lives, homes and property from fires. All the products currently marketed by GelTech Solutions were invented by chief technology officer Peter Cordani.

There will be two NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by ProCare Rx qualifying sessions on Friday starting at 4:30 p.m. EDT from Bristol Dragway. There will be one more chance to get into the field at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Eliminations begin later Saturday afternoon and conclude on Sunday.

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