When Joey Logano stepped into his motor coach last week he saw wife Brittany crying, and the scene stunned the NASCAR driver who wasn’t sure what he had just walked into.
Joey Logano attends funeral for 5-year-old NASCAR fan
Responding to the request of the child’s mom, Logano and others in the NASCAR community attended Jake Leatherman’s funeral.
Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Logano learned Brittany was emotional over a television news story where the mother of 5-year-old Jake Leatherman asked if any NASCAR drivers or crewmembers could attend, in uniform, her son’s funeral. Leatherman, a big NASCAR fan, died after a long battle with myelomoncytic leukemia.
“I walked into the bus after qualifying on Friday night (at Texas Motor Speedway) and she was inside crying,” Logano said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. “I thought, ‘Oh no, what did I walk into.’ She had just watched the video and told me about him and how he was a big race fan and I thought it would be cool if we could do something for his funeral.”
Logano and Brittany both attended Leatherman’s service on Wednesday in Hickory, N.C. They were among the 100 members of the NASCAR community he estimated that turned out. Also present were drivers Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Ellis and J.J. Yeley, as well as crew members from Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, and Team Penske, according to WBTV, which aired the original story that caught Brittany’s attention.
When Jake's mom reached out to the NASCAR family for love and support, teams never hesitated to show up and celebrate his life! pic.twitter.com/ZJc3AzCOBt
— RPMotorsports (@RPMotorsports) November 9, 2016
“It was one of the most real moments, one of the proudest moments I have been a part of in this NASCAR community,” Logano said. “To see everyone come together, competitors we compete against every week out here at the race track and fight the crap out of each other every week.
“To come together as one team and be NASCAR as a whole for a child who looked at us as superheroes, that is how his family members described what he thought of NASCAR.”
Because Leatherman’s favorite driver was Richard Petty, the Loganos had a custom driver suit made for him embroidered with No. 43, Petty’s iconic number.
The experience, Logano admitted, left a lasting impression. Neither he nor Brittany, who don’t yet have children of their own, had previously attended a funeral for a child.
“That is probably one of the hardest things I have ever done,” Logano said. “It was definitely eye-opening and it puts life into perspective.”
See More:
