Cleveland, Ohio -- U.S. Marines participated in the Summit Racing Equipment 49th Annual I-X Piston Powered Auto-Rama, March 20-22, at the I-X Center.
The annual event showcases the best in cars, motorcycles, trucks, aircraft and even military assets. The show’s motto boasts, “If a piston makes it go, it’s in this show.”
This year, the Marines from RS Cleveland teamed up with the Greater Cleveland Fisher House. The Fisher House is beginning a home building project that will house families of service members receiving treatment at the Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center.
“Fortunately, we had a great turn out of people who support the military, people who have served and those who may be interested in joining,” said Staff Sgt. Gregory Egler, recruiter for Recruiting Sub-station Lakewood and native of Painesville, Ohio. “For a car show, that’s really all we can ask for.”
The Marines also brought along their branded H-1 Hummer and Featherlite trailer, which features an Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer.
“It was great to be an event like this where the emphasis was on the vehicles,” said Sgt. Travis Brockman, 4th Marine Corps District Enhanced Marketing Vehicle Driver from Campbellsville, Kentucky. “A lot of people came up and wanted to see the Hummer or see what we had going on in the trailer. It definitely brought some added attention for the recruiting effort as well as for what the Fisher House was doing as well.”
People of all ages could be seen gravitating to the trailer, whether to knock out some pull-ups or to take a shot at the ISMT in the trailer. Local artists created military-themed paintings while on scaffolding raised over 20 feet in the air. Throughout the entire weekend, there was a buzz around what the Marine Corps and the Greater Cleveland Fisher House brought to the show.
“It was really great to see all the exposure that we got during the event,” said Capt. Joseph Depew, RS Cleveland Executive Officer and native of Lockport, N.Y. “It turned out to be very beneficial to our recruiting efforts, but also brought a lot of attention to the great things that the Greater Cleveland Fisher House is doing for military members, veterans and their families.”
For more information about the Fisher House, visit greaterclevelandfisherhouse.org.