MTSU Daniels Center helps veterans take driver’s seat at Nashville Superspeedway

Courtesy of Middle Tennessee State University
·2 min read
MTSU Provost Mark Byrnes, left, and retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith M. Huber, center, present Nashville Superspeedway President Erik Moses with a commemorative plaque of Hazel Daniels and her late husband, the legendary Charlie Daniels, Friday, June 24, at the Nashville Superspeedway in Gladeville, Tenn. The presentation occurred before the Rackley Roofing 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event. Huber is senior advisor for veterans and leadership initiatives at MTSU.
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Just before the drivers started their engines Friday at the Rackley 200, which kicked off the 2022 racing weekend at Nashville Superspeedway, a new veterans program was announced.

Nashville Superspeedway, in partnership with the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center at Middle Tennessee State University are partnering to honor veteran service and draw attention to the university’s work with military connected students.

Michelle Boykin, right, Rackley Roofing's chief operating officer and alumna of MTSU, is honored Friday, June 24, at the Nashville Superspeedway by MTSU Daniels Center Director Hilary Miller for her company's support of veterans. They were attending the Rackley Roofing 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at the Nashville Superspeedway in Gladeville, Tenn.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, MTSU’s senior advisor for veterans and leadership initiatives, led the initiative.

“It is wonderful that the Nashville Superspeedway has now joined such iconic Nashville brands as the Predators, the Grand Ole Opry and the Nashville Sounds in helping the Daniels Center show support and extend honor to those who have served our nation,” Huber said.

MTSU alumna Hunter Wolkonowski, left, of Winchester, Tenn., better known as HunterGirl from her runner-up finish in the last American Idol competition, receives a photograph of her with the late country music icon Charlie Daniels from retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, center, and Daniels Center Director Hilary Miller. It took place at the Rackley Roofing 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at the Nashville Superspeedway in Gladeville, Tenn.

Representatives from the Daniels Center set up camp in the track’s Fan Zone, answering questions from veterans and military families about VA educational benefits and university programs.

MTSU alumna Hunter Wolkonowski, of Winchester, Tennessee, better known as HunterGirl from her runner-up finish in the recent American Idol competition, performed for fans before the race.

Wolkonowski, who graduated from MTSU in spring 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in the College of Media and Entertainment’s Music Business Program, performed at events benefiting the Daniels Center while attending the university.

Huber brought her a photo of her with Charlie Daniels that the late country music icon autographed after her performance at the 2019 Veterans Impact Celebration.

“Y’all are gonna make me cry,” Wolkonowski said Friday.

Meanwhile, before the race, Daniels Center Director Hilary Miller honored Rackley Roofing, one of Tennessee’s leading industrial and commercial roofing contractors and title sponsor of Friday’s truck race, for its efforts to connect graduating student veterans with employment opportunities in its company.

Miller presented a commemorative plaque to Michelle Boykin, Rackley’s chief operating officer and an alumna of MTSU. She graduating from the Jennings A. Jones College of Business with an accounting degree in 2006.

Rackley Roofing, established in 1974, has five locations throughout the state and is based in Carthage, Tennessee. Curtis Sutton, owner and CEO of Rackley Roofing, is also part owner of the Rackley WAR No. 25 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driven by Matt DiBenedetto.

“Rackley is excited and honored to join the Nashville Superspeedway in supporting military- connected students through MTSU’s Daniels Center,” Sutton said in an earlier interview.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU Daniels Center helps veterans take driver’s seat at Nashville Superspeedway