IndyCar driver Sting Ray Robb raises money for Freedom Service Dogs of America at NCM Motorsports Park

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – IndyCar driver Sting Ray Robb was in Bowling Green Tuesday afternoon, taking some laps at the NCM Motorsports Park while raising money for Freedom Service Dogs of America, a group that helps veterans find dogs that help them reacclimate to society.

“It’s pretty unique that I get to have the career that I have and be able to give back in the way that I can. It’s not the usual way, but creating experiences like that for our veterans on track as well as off track, just giving them a reminder that we appreciate them. We’re honored to be supporting them… and FSD is a huge, huge part of that as well,” Robb says.

One such veteran is Yvette “Eve” Denison, who traveled all the way from Colorado to Bowling Green to take part. We caught up with her and her service dog Cruz, and learned a little more about what exactly he does to help her each day.

She told us she normally used to order a lot of things online, but with him at her side, she’s now able to go to places like the grocery store.

“I’ve had multiple surgeries on my ankle, my knee, and they’ve both been replaced… and I’ve gone just months at a time without walking. Cruz and I now walk 8 to 12 miles a day. We did the Manitou Incline in Colorado Springs, which is 2,768 steps… and so being here is just that much more successful for knowing that I have Cruz to rely on everywhere I go,” Denison adds.

Freedom Service Dogs of America helps train each specific service dog to match their owner’s needs, and it can be a real lifesaver for people like Eve as they make their way back to civilian life.

“For many of our clients, simply being in a crowd of people is overwhelming, and so a dog creates that sort of they’ve got the client’s six. They’re watching their back, they’re letting them know, and they’re disrupting any of the fidgeting that might happen with PTSD, anxiety,” Freedom Service Dogs of America president & CEO Chris Nelson says.

Nelson says seeing Sting Ray and everyone show up at the track in support of Freedom Service Dogs proves one thing: it takes a village.

“The race cars are simply a tool to help that happen. But we’ve all gotten really close and gotten to know each other, and now these are people who will support the work we’re doing… along with it’s been a ton of fun. Sting Ray and the crew, the National Corvette Museum has been so generous, so thoughtful, so kind. This has all been so well organized, and nothing but deep gratitude,” he says.

But it’s also a chance for Robb to spend time with his biggest supporters: his family.

His grandmother, who’s been to every one of his races, was on hand, and she even got to ride in one of the cars.

“Today was my first time getting to drive around a racetrack with my grandma in the passenger seat… and I am now joking that it took me four years in IndyCar to prove I was worthy enough for her to get in the passenger seat with me. So it was really fun, I got a woohoo out of her, which is pretty exciting. She wasn’t too scared… very, very happy to be able to do that,” Robb says.