5-20-25

This past weekend Charlene and I were at Fort Benning, Georgia, visiting

family…..while we were there we took the time to visit the National Infantry

Museum……what an amazing facility….truly world class and it does honor to the

men who have served as Infantry soldiers from the beginning of our nation until

now…..and I was struck by the symbology….as a former Infantry Officer,

paratrooper, and Ranger myself, I was walking on hallowed ground…..from the

moment you walk up and see the giant bronze Iron Mike statue standing under a

rotunda at the front door the place was just incredible…..but it wasn’t just an

honorific to the high ranking officers…..the Generals and the brass….it was a

focused series of displays and artifacts and presentations that honored the rank and

file who have given up so much for so long to serve this great nation…..it was a

good day, and it’s open to the public at no charge….whether you have ever served

yourself or not, I recommend a trip to Columbus, GA to see the Infantry

Museum…..

Not long ago I spoke to a group of military retirees …..Such amazing folks, many

of whom I’ve known for years…..and I told them that I was proud to know them,

proud to be affiliated with them, and proud of the military that they had all served

in so selflessly over the years…..I told them about my own family with

consecutive generations of service from my Grandfather, father, myself and now

my son, all having served in the US Army…..and pretty much every head in the

room nodded in agreement when I said that I want our military back!.....I do….I

want for my grandson what my son saw in me, and I saw in my father and

grandfather…..despite the fact that Biden’s Secretary of the Army Christine

Wormuth announced that she wants to get away from what she called legacy

military families…..why? because Secretary Wormuth, who has never worn a

uniform said that she is concerned that by encouraging young Americans to follow

their Dads, Mom’s, Uncles, Cousins, into service would “develop a warrior caste”

and that we don’t need that…..I’ve got news….I’ve said it before and I will say it

again…..that is exactly what we need….we need a military that is so empowering,

so excellent, so unashamedly strong, so feared and revered on the world stage, that

the younger generation sees it and says I want to be a part of that!.....

I say all of that with the actual hope and belief that we are heading in that

direction…..and I believe culture will follow….or maybe it’s really that culture is

leading….maybe the people of American spoke louder than the narrow-minded

cultural progressive minority….maybe even Hollywood will get back to making

more movies like Top Gun: Maverick that just simply make us proud of our

soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines……there was an overt and active pro-

America feel in Hollywood until recently…..Lee Marvin, Kirk Douglas, David

Niven, Jason Robards, Audrey Hepburn, Paul Newman….all served in the

military….Ronald Reagan – service did not take him overseas but many are not

aware that he had enlisted 5 years before the war and was in a National Guard

Cavalry Unit….Even those who did not serve in uniform nonetheless loved and

promoted American military values and the warrior ethos…like John Wayne in

movies like The Sands of Iwo Jima and The Green Berets….Actors who did not

agree with the national sentiments or had opposing political views still did not

seem intent on tearing down the country…but too often today Hollywood awards

shows are the all time lowest in ratings with acceptance speeches serving as rants

against the very country that made the Hollywood elites rich and famous…..we

hear of Conservatives in Hollywood finding themselves blacklisted….although

there are notable exceptions like actors Jon Voight, Kevin Sorbo, Chris Pratt,

Zachary Levi….but I love it when major actors….or industry leaders…..or just

good folks back home, get an idea of how to show troops that we care about them

and want them to know it…..sometimes its about taking the show to the troops like

when I got Ted Nugent’s autograph in Baghdad…..or when Bob Hope toured the

world with his USO tours…..

But I want to tell you a bit today about one of my favorites……one of those

moments when some good folks got a good idea and did something good for the

men and women who were serving in Vietnam…..and one piece of it still lives

on…..and it is epic…..so sit back and listen to the story of the Lawman

Mustang…..(JP putting pictures up on screen)

So, if you’ve listened to this show for a bit you may recall that I’m a car guy….a

frustrated car guy because years ago I sold my classic ’68 Mustang and don’t

currently have a classic muscle car to turn a wrench on at the moment….but that

day is coming I’m sure!....but the passion for classic cars, especially Detroit muscle

from the 60’s and early 70’s is still high on my list….every single day I review the

listings from websites like Barnfinds and Bring-a-Trailer….scouring through Hemi

Cuda’s, GTO’s, Challengers, and Camaro’s…..but my favorites are the 69-70

Mustang’s, the Boss, the Mach 1, with Clevelands, Windsors, and Hurst shifters

from the factory…..I can tell you the VIN code for a Boss 302, and the difference

between headlight and taillight configurations for the two years….and every once

in a while there is one that stands out….special in all the world….and the 69-70

Boss 429 Mustangs were already rare and awesome and cool beyond belief….but

then somebody got the great idea of building some special versions just for

building morale among US troops who were far from home…..and thus, the

Lawman Mustang came into being……because of a drag racer named Al

Eckstrand…..

As the story goes, Al was an avid drag racer and at the same time a corporate

lawyer at Chrysler….and because of his legal background this became the basis for

his name as the “Lawman” on his cars and the drag strip he visited. But as much as

he enjoyed his day job, his true passion was on the weekends as a drag racer where

he did remarkably well in NHRA holding several records at the time in his class.

At the 1963 NHRA Nationals his car was the first to get under a 12 second ¼ mile.

His success and background led him to a partnership with Chrysler as he

campaigned a Hemi Charger and big block Barracuda thru the later part of the

1960’s.

In 1970, Al headed up the formation of the Lawman Performance Team in full

partnership with Ford. The idea behind this new team was to bring some of the

latest Detroit muscle cars to the men and women of the Armed Forces who were

serving overseas. This team of cars and drivers would help teach driving safety

thru performance clinics that had demonstrations, films, and seminars

Ford teamed up with such major sponsors as Goodyear, Motor Wheels, Hurst,

Hooker, and B&M to create six of these cars. Sponsor names were on the cars as

well as their equipment. All of the cars were built in Dearborn and taken from the

Ford assembly line and shipped to Roy Steffe Enterprises in Fairhaven Michigan

where they were modified and converted to what we see here on these pages. All

of the cars were CobraJet powered with the exception of one which was a Boss429

shipped from Kar Kraft to Roy Steffe. The Boss429 was built to show not what

you could order from the dealer but what one of these cars could do in the right

hands. What emerged was a blown Boss 429 with close to 1000HP ….the great

Ford Military Performance Tour was launched and it is estimated that over 40,000

troops in places like Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, the Phillippines…..Troops were

loved on, and got to place hands on the coolest cars to roll on rubber of their

time…..speed and safety demonstrations were everywhere…..and then, the tour

was over….and only two of the cars made it home….its currently unknown what

happened to most of them….but the supercharged Boss 429 known as the

Lawman, painted in Ford’s Grabber Blue….it was found and last year it was fully

restored by pro-wrestler Bill Goldberg who is a car guy of car guys…..I love that

story….for so many reasons….I love museums and the preservation of artifacts,

like those I just saw in the Infantry Museum…..I love cars, and as a High School

kid I actually had a picture of the Lawman Boss 429 on my wall…..but I also love

our military and it gets me when people will go out of their way to do something

special for our troops…..like building morale by building an unparalleled hot rod

and shipping it all over the world so young soldiers can get a minute away from the

doldrums of being away from home and smile and get their selfies made with

it…..that’s just cool, and I appreciate it more as I’ve gotten older…..

.....Contrary to what bureaucrat and FORMER Army Secretary Christine Wormuth

believes we actually do need generational warriors…..we need a military that is so

empowering, so excellent, so unashamedly strong, so feared and revered on the

world stage, that the younger generation sees it and says I want to be a part of

that!....

And one of the ways we do that is to take care of our troops…..

And the legend of the Lawman Mustang is just one example of how to do it….

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way!