Now he’s an Indy man
FORMER INFANTRYMAN Grant Bentrud has gone from the military to the pinnacle of motorsports as a member of the Indianapolis 500-winning team two years in a row.
Bentrud is one of many former military members who have successfully transitioned from combat to working in the private sector — which nonprofit Military to Motorsports hopes to expand.
The organization will bring an Indy racecar to this year’s Veterans Day Parade to broadcast its mission, and recruit from New York’s community of veterans.
Military to Motorsports was born out of 20-year Navy veteran David Tilton’s desire to help vets segue into new careers at the end of their service. It launched this year to match former military personnel with a variety of skill sets to roles at Andretti Autosport, the decorated auto racing team headed by Michael Andretti.
“I found it very difficult to transition when I retired in 2003. There was nobody out there to help you, so I really wanted to go back and help veterans get jobs,” Tilton told the Daily News.
Despite a lack of resources, the disabled veteran, who was injured in Afghanistan, built a career — and a security company called BrimTek — with skills he acquired in the Navy. He is now focused on helping others do the same. “They have the technical capabilities to be successful, especially in motorsports,” he said.
He described the daily rhythms in the military and on the racetrack as being similar. “In motorsports you have crew members that go over the wall and work on race cars and it’s very rewarding work for a veteran to do after coming back from fighting a war. They are so meticulous that they don’t let anything get by them,” he said.
Military members’ alertness and vigilance also serves them well. “If you are on the front lines, you have to think quick, pay attention to detail, and you have to know your job because if you don’t, somebody out there is going to get killed. It’s the exact same way in motorsports,” Tilton said.
Bentrud worked as a tow gunner from 1985 to 1990 before attending college to become a machinist and beginning work as a mechanic at an auto sports company — plans he laid down before he entered the military.
His military training and subsequent schooling helped him hone a skill set that has proved invaluable to his current race team at Andretti Autosport.
He was a member of last year’s Indy 500-winner Takuma Sato’s crew, working as a pit crew member to prepare and repair vehicles.
“You are part of a team. I am assigned to one race car, but we are still a part of a platoon,” he said. “We travel a lot, we spend over 200 days a year training in the military, and that’s like a typical race season.”
He’s also used to the stakes being high. “If you make a mistake on a race car, the consequences of somebody going over 200 mph and a mechanic made a mistake on the car . . . think about a weapons system or tank in the military. You can’t make mistakes. They could be costly, so I think that’s another similarity,” he said.
Bentrud was hired before the new initiative but serves as an example of the kind of candidate the program is seeking.
Team leader Michael Andretti said he likes hiring veterans because the military grooms its members to perform under pressure. “Guys come out of the military who have been working on tanks, and our mechanics are put under a lot of pressure, so the military is a perfect place for that training,” Andretti said.
Tilton said Military to Motorsports’ chief aim for Saturday is “to let all veterans know that we are here for them. Whatever they need, there are people out there who care and want to make sure they are successful after they finish in the military.”
The program aims to match veterans with 500 jobs at Andretti Autosport and its sponsors, including DHL, by the end of 2018.