Known for his major ties with NASCAR racing Richard Childress has now offered to help Ukranian Armed Forces by pledging a donation of one million rounds of amunition.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame owner said he was responding to an appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who turned down evacuation offers to stay and fight with his people and instead says he needs ammunition.
The 76-year-old former American NASCAR driver who became one of the wealthiest men in South Carolina was also a board member of the National Rifle Association.
“I was listening the other day to (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy say he didn’t want out, he wanted ammunition,” Childress said, in an interview with Fox News.
“I called my good friend Fred Wagenhals, who is the Chairman of AMMO, Inc., and I said, ‘Fred, we have to help these people. They need ammunition.’ He stepped right up.”
It’s been one week since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine. It’s estimated around 2,000 Ukrainian lives have been lost and one million refugees have fled the country.
Meanwhile, Russia has acknowledged that nearly 500 of its troops have been killed in the fighting and about 1,600 wounded, as per USA Today.
Childress, who is a member of AMMO, Inc.’s Board of Directors, has been in NASCAR for over five decades, first as a driver before becoming an owner in the early 1980s.
Childress, whose grandson, Austin Dillon, now drives the No. 3 for Richard Childress Racing, also told Fox News that the situation in Ukraine is a “wakeup call for Americans on why we have to have our second amendment.”
He added: “To see the people in Ukraine fighting, it’s terrible to see the lives that are being lost over there,” he added. “We have to do all we can, and I felt with Ammo Inc. and myself, we were doing the right thing.”
Childress said they planned to work with a private company to ensure the ammo gets to Ukraine as soon as possible.
Any help we can offer Ukraine is important in their fight for freedom. Please share.
