To honor our fallen service men and women in a small way....

The Navy sponsored car of Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen. Goose was the business man of the "wildlife" racing venture of Prudhomme and McEwen, putting together the Hot Wheels deal and reportedly other's. McEwen seen here parked next to Ed "the ACE" McCulloch at the 74 NHRA Springnationals. McCulloch is the shirtless guy standing next to the tow vehicle in the background. Tom Nagy photo

Mickey Thompson had a slew of Funny cars in the 60's and 70's, this is one of the last of them. Bob Pickett who originally drove the LIL Demon FC of Pete Everett is in the "Starfire" not "Monza" Sponsored by the US Marines. Shown here being dutifully attended by 3 uniformed Members of the Corp. 77 Popular Hot rodding championships by Tom Nagy

The 1975 version of the " Snake's " ARMY backed Funny car. One of the best of the Revell kits IMHO. The Monza was one of many body styles Prudhomme used in the same paint scheme. There was the Cuda, a Vega (which was built by lil John Buttera and sold to Tom Hoover when Pruhomme deemed it to heavy) The Cuda again, the Monza and then the Arrow. I "THINK" the Omni wore the colors for a very short time as well. It was a very successful scheme and had to be a great recruiting tool for the ARMY as it had a tremendous win loss records. (Nagy photo, 75 Gatornationals)

While not sponsored by any of the US armed forces, the Tommy Ivo car does present in a patriotic way with it's R/W/B paint scheme. Ivo seen here in the somewhat unusual Cordova Body car at the 77 Gatornationals, phot by Tom Nagy

You have to look closely, But Ed McCulloch was "flying" AIR FORCE sponsorship in this photo from an unknown location by an unknown photog.

While not on par with the Nagy photos, this picture of Bruce Larson's USA 1 Chevy Camaro (with a Chevy power plant) represents one of the first of the Patriotic paint schemes. While it was more a nod to the Advertising folks at Chevy, it still sends a patriotic message.

"Big Daddy" Don Garlits seen here with "Fly Navy" decals joins in the US Armed services message. Garlit's famously was photographed on the deck of an Aircraft carrier in one of the automotive rags of long ago. It may have been Car Craft, I don't remember exactly when . I'll search the archives and post it later if I find it. Dave Milcarek photo

Perhaps the most successful of all the Armed Forces cars was Tony Schumacher's ARMY car. Winning several US National titles and NHRA championships this car was THE top Dog for several seasons.