Auto racing comes in many shapes and sizes in the southeastern United States. Sometimes a driver will maneuver a car around a track for a cause.

Kyle Stewart is one such driver. He has formed a small racing team with the goal of bringing together military veterans who may be struggling to adjust to life after some harrowing combat experiences.

A Marine for nearly 12 years that included a tour in Afghanistan, Stewart was medically retired in the fall of 2019 due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other issues. The 33-year-old McDonough native now spends most of his time trying to help other veterans in similar situations and let them know they are not alone.

“It’s good for me to actually sit down and talk with other veterans who have been through a lot of the same experiences that I have,” he said. “It’s letting me know that I’m not the only one who has gone through this. We are able to network and get many different perspectives on things. We can help each other, and in my mind it just keeps the veteran community a little bit closer, especially in the Atlanta area.”

Statistics indicate that 22 veterans commit suicide each day. That comes as no surprise to Stewart, and he is striving to get that number down.

“A lot of us battle depression on a daily or almost hourly basis,” he noted. “The very worst thing a military veteran can have is time. If you give him time to himself, he is just going to make himself worse.”

He is staying busy trying to build a racing team. Right now there is one car, although some interest has been expressed by others to have a part in making it a multi-car team, all based in Henry County.

“Two of us are military vets, and two others are anxious to join up with us and see what they would need to do,” he said. “It gives us and the veterans we bring out something to look forward to, instead of keeping them in a black hill or some sort of downward spiral that we don’t want to go into but a lot of us just find on any given day. It gives them something they can plan for and actually enjoy.”

Currently he drives and does the mechanical work on his car, which he has raced in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and California. The next race will be in Virginia, and there will probably be seven or eight more races in 2021. His girlfriend serves as pit crew chief. His mother is in charge of marketing through outreach efforts such as wristbands and T-shirts. The group are always looking for sponsors to assist with the veterans’ expenses. If you would like to donate to the organization, they accept PayPal to the phone number 404-904-3746.

You can follow their efforts through the Stewart Powersports page on Facebook and also on YouTube under the same name.