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NASCAR insiders react to 100-year-old WWII veteran singing Texas Motor Speedway National Anthem

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones05/05/25brianjones_93
Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Motor Speedway national anthem

Two NASCAR insiders had nothing but great things to say about the 100-year-old World War II veteran singing the national anthem at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck of The Athletic weighed in on Corporal Don Graves singing the national anthem.

“I know pre-race can be really goofy and everything. Did you hear the national anthem?” Bianchi asked Gluck. “Fantastic. Fantastic, but the gentleman who sang it, 100 years old.”

Gluck responded, “I saw that and he must be very well-known around this area because when they said his name, there was a huge cheer. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying. Maybe they just said he’s 100 years old and that’s why they were cheering.”

Bianchi added that Graves’ performance was “incredible” and it was “one of the best anthems I ever heard. Just awesome. 100 years old knocking it out of the park.”

As noted by Essentially Sports, Graves enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1942 at 17 years old. On Feb. 19, 1945, Graves was at Iwo Jima with a 72-pound flamethrower strapped to his back.

“I’m the only flame thrower in the Second Battalion that came off,” Graves said in past interviews. “We had 335 Marines going in; 18 came off.”

Fans react to 100-year-old WWII veteran singing national anthem at Texas Motor Speedway

Fans also loved Graves’ rendition of the national anthem. One person wrote, “Sometimes the National Anthem hits way different! Thanks Don, that was marvelous.”

Another person wrote, “It was awesome- mad respect to this man. He nailed it- Didn’t go outside the box at all. Salud— IWJ WW2 was damn long time ago. He earned it the hard way fighting for our country over some 80 ish yrs ago.”

Corporal Don Graves’ national anthem performance kicked off a wild NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway. Joey Logano won the race that included 12 cautions for 73 laps.

“You start to wonder if you are ever going to win for these guys,” Logano said during his post-race press conference on Sunday. “They’ve been a great partner of Team Penske and myself for the last 14 or so years. Yeah, it’s been kind of heartbreaking being close quite a few times and never getting into victory lane.

“It was a special one to be able to click one off for them and for the 22, right, to be able to — after what happened last week to be able to rebound and come right back, it was a total 22 way of doing things. So proud of the team and giving me a fast car.”