LINWOOD, N.C. — The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is NASCAR’s longest race and honors military members and families this holiday weekend. 

Ricky “Carl” Garcia had always dreamed of wearing a green beret. 

“I was raised with a lot of uncles that were in Vietnam in that area, and most of my dad's side of family served," Garcia said. "So I grew up around listening to stories about Green Berets and the Rangers and the Delta Force and all that stuff. So I wanted to wear a beret." 

After discovering he would need to jump out of planes to get the coveted beret, his fate was sealed. Garcia became a specialist in the 3rd Battalion in the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment. 

Carl Garcia's favorite photo of him parachuting in Panama. (Spectrum News 1/Sydney McCoy)

“I specialized in urban warfare, which would be like a hostile takeover of a city, going in and clearing out a city if there were a hostile in a city,” Garcia said. 

He says a favorite memory in service was going to Panama for jungle training. 

“Spending three months down there and getting to jump and see the culture and be actually in a jungle, which is an eye-opening experience that you would not know unless you're actually there,” he said. 

He traveled around the world, including spending time at Fort Bragg. Garcia's dream was to serve for decades and move into specialized units, but a physical limitation ended his service. 

“I am glad I did at least get the opportunity to serve,” Garcia said. 

After his service, he began a career as a plumber and did construction jobs. 

“I've always wondered how things work. I love taking things apart," he said. "Obviously, if you're going to take them apart, you need to learn how to put them back together." 

He came into his next line of work by chance. 

“I met a guy at the grocery store one day that was going to cook for a race team, and I had just started watching NASCAR probably a couple of months earlier and got into it. He asked me if I wanted to go, and I said, ‘Sure. I've never been to a race,’ so I got to go with him and help cook for a race team," Garcia said. "I did that for two weeks and was so interested that the owner of the race team offered me a job learning how to change tires.” 

From changing tires to working in the shop, Garcia became a full-time mechanic, using his size and knowledge of electrical work to specialize in the interior of the car. 

Carl Garcia works on a four-wheeler at his home. (Spectrum News 1/Sydney McCoy)

“I have transitioned over to the last couple of years to the front-end mechanic as well, as personnel has changed, but I pretty much do anything on the race car that needs to be done that's mechanic-related, whether it's hanging the suspension, helping put motors in some fabrication stuff, welding that we don't really do much of anymore. But anything that needs to be done," Garcia said. 

Although he didn’t come from the grassroots of racing fans like many other crew members, Garcia landed a spot with Legacy Motor Club, on driver 43 Erik Jones’ crew. 

“For this week in Charlotte, we've spent the last few days getting the car together, safety-checking everything, making sure nothing's going to fall off, making sure that the car was properly put together, the way the engineers wanted it put together,” he said. 

Garcia has an important role in making sure his driver is safe and comfortable. 

“I do think sometimes that the interior gets overlooked for the aspect and only gets reminded when something happens [that’s] bad," he said. "The most important part of our entire job is to make sure that at the end of the day, everybody's going home the same way they started the day out with, whether we win a race or we lose a race."

"That's more important than anything else that's going on with our job,” Garcia said. 

Garcia travels to different race tracks, and each experience is different. He says the most special part of every race is the national anthem. 

Erik Jones' car design for the Coca-Cola 600. (Legacy Motor Club)

"Sometimes when we're not on the track, we're in the garage working. If the other series is starting to race and then do the national anthem, the entire garage stops, as respect. It's just something that everybody does because they want to, you know, and that and all the sports that I've ever watched. I think the appreciation for the military is probably the greatest in NASCAR out of any of them,” Garcia said. 

The Coca-Cola 600 is a special weekend in racing, as it is geared toward honoring military service members. 

The NASCAR Salutes Together with the Coca-Cola Program will recognize fallen military members in a special way this Memorial Day weekend. 

“It's really cool because usually all the branches of service are represented this weekend and then all the different cars with all the different people on there and their family gets to have some sort of enjoyment, you know, for the sacrifice that their loved one made,” Garcia said.  

Charles Thomas Butler will be honored on Erik Jones' car at the Coca-Cola 600. (Legacy Motor Club via Charles Thomas Butler's family)

Besides special events at the track, for the 10th year of the program each car will be carrying a patriotic design as well as the name of a fallen military service member on the car for the 600 Miles of Remembrance.

“I think that's probably the highest form of respect you can repay is to show your appreciation not only to him, but to his family for the sacrifices that he made for our country,” Garcia said. 

Jones’ car will honor Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Thomas Butler, who was 38 when he died and had received numerous awards for his service on Reconnaissance Attack Squadrons Five and Three. Butler died in 1967 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. 

Garcia is excited to see what surprises are in store for the weekend, and of course eager to pull out a win.  

“I love the races, the start of the day, and then the night. Erik does extremely well with those…  I think we'll be super fast this weekend and I think it'll be a great day and it'll be good for our organization to have all three cars on the track. I think they'll do extremely well and put on a good show for everybody for Memorial Day and they can have some fun along with them — a remembrance of what it actually means,” Garcia said. 

To learn more about each of the fallen military service members who will be honored this weekend, visit NASCAR’s website.