Warfighter Made, a nonprofit dedicated to helping veterans, will be a three-pronged effort at the upcoming Mint 400. The team’s Flyer 22 will aim for its fourth straight win in the Vintage Military class by going up against Team Beefy on Friday, while Team Big Iron is competing in the Motorcycle Race the next day.

As can be inferred from the category they’re competing in, Flyer 22 and Team Beefy are vehicles developed for and used by the military before the turn of the millennium. Flyer 22 is a Light Strike Vehicle, developed by Chenowth Racing Products for raids and rapid operations. It has won Vintage Military every year since 2021, and the year prior had topped the inaugural Military Class.

Danny Novoa is Flyer 22’s driver of record. He will share the LSV with fellow Marine veterans Blake Smith and Warfighter Made co-founder and CEO Robert Blanton, Army veteran and Nitro Circus snowmobile/ATV rider Tyler Pynnonen, and the Navy’s Anthony Repinski.

Team Beefy, on the other hand, is a (pardon the pun) beefier machine: a 1993 AM General Humvee M998. The name is a tribute to team member Angus Powers, a quadriplegic who had “Beefy” as his callsign in the Marine Corps and passed away in 2020.

Alex Hernandez of the USMC will be Beefy’s lead driver, moving over to the Humvee after winning the 2024 Mint with Flyer 22. Also in the lineup are Marines Joseph “Josepi” Contreras, Mark Garcia, and Greg Smith, TJ Dennis from the Army, and Gwen Clarke.

Team Big Iron consists of Mitch Melott (Army), Dan Stoner (Marines), and Jesse Williamson (Marines); the trio will race a KTM in the Over 30 Sportsman class. The bike team is backed by a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which is awarded to those with permanent physical disabilities that resulted in limited mobility. In Big Iron’s case, each of the three riders have leg prostheses.

Having operated for over 15 years, Warfighter Made’s mission is to help combat veterans reintegrate into civilian life through recreational therapy like racing. All of the drivers and riders competing at the Mint have also done so in the team’s other vehicles like Big Iron’s riders sharing the cars.

Flyer 22 and Beefy, the lone entries in Vintage Military are doing the Limited Race on Friday, March 7. Big Iron will compete on Saturday morning.

Featured image credit: Race to Erase 22