Jim Walczak, publicist for Terry McMillen's Top Fuel team, is a bear of a man at 6-foot-4 and he seldom has cause to slog through drainage ditches and washes. McMillen might have fresh knees, thanks to a November 2010 surgery and some tweaking last year, but usually he doesn't risk ruining them by crawling into uncharted territory. And operations manager Cori Wickler, who recently traveled to Southeast Asia's Myanmar (Burma) with a humanitarian group, thought she might have seen the worst poverty and repression.

They weren't prepared for what they discovered in suburban Los Angeles, not far from the romance of baseball at Dodger Stadium, the glamour of Hollywood, and the pageantry of the Tournament of Roses.

They saw veterans huddling from the elements, men and women who should have had ticker-tape parades and a reward for their efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. With conditions shoddier than those in the war-torn Middle East, these veterans lived with a crude fire-pit to cook their scraps of food and maybe warm their hands, no soft bed or pillow, hardly a change of clothes, not even a simple bathroom, nothing we take for granted every day.

Their most precious possession was an American flag for comfort as they wondered if in our society freedom does come free, after all . . . wondering if anyone will make room for them back at home.

Jim Walczak, publicist for Terry McMillen's Top Fuel team, is a bear of a man at 6-foot-4 and he seldom has cause to slog through drainage ditches and washes. McMillen might have fresh knees, thanks to a November 2010 surgery and some tweaking last year, but usually he doesn't risk ruining them by crawling into uncharted territory. And operations manager Cori Wickler, who recently traveled to Southeast Asia's Myanmar (Burma) with a humanitarian group, thought she might have seen the worst poverty and repression.

They weren't prepared for what they discovered in suburban Los Angeles, not far from the romance of baseball at Dodger Stadium, the glamour of Hollywood, and the pageantry of the Tournament of Roses.

They saw veterans huddling from the elements, men and women who should have had ticker-tape parades and a reward for their efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. With conditions shoddier than those in the war-torn Middle East, these veterans lived with a crude fire-pit to cook their scraps of food and maybe warm their hands, no soft bed or pillow, hardly a change of clothes, not even a simple bathroom, nothing we take for granted every day.

Their most precious possession was an American flag for comfort as they wondered if in our society freedom does come free, after all . . . wondering if anyone will make room for them back at home.

"We're going to leave you better than we found you," dogged "vet hunter" Mellanie Villarreal, of Whittier, Calif., said she tells men like "Harley" and "Kickstand" and Johnny Leyba, the so-called "Mayor of the Wash," who watches over his brothers and sisters. "This is not where veterans should be," she said. "The words 'homeless' and 'veterans' should not go together."

Early that Friday morning, mere hours before McMillen would hear cheering fans and drive a race car at more than 314 mph in qualifying for the Winternationals down the freeway at Pomona, he and his team reached out to the homeless veterans in "The Wash." They brought blankets, clothes, water, and compassion. They also brought four of them to at Auto Club Raceway and gave them the VIP treatment as they ate heartily with the crew and watched the season-opening races that day.

The McMillen group had asked if they could go on that outing with Joe Leal, a U.S. Army combat veteran who founded the Vet Hunter Project. While McMillen and Co. had jobs to do and places to go afterward, Leal and his volunteers continued literally to hike the canyons and urban jungles, crawl through drainage tunnels and washes, venture under bridges. Their aim is to keep finding homeless veterans riddled with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, physical ailments, and a disconnection with the society they fought to preserve -- then help them ease back into mainstream society.

Walczak said the experience was "touching."

A couple of days before, McMillen's group had visited a modest house in Whittier where four previously homeless veterans had found a roof over their heads and received help to enroll in school. Two of them, James and Oscar, attended the race on Saturday and Sunday.

So in this sad-yet-inspiring subculture, McMillen and his folks recognized instantly they had partnered with the right people.

Leal's Vet Hunters Project is among the organizations under the Veterans’ Hope umbrella. Through McMillen and his Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team, each will have a front-line presence in Corporate America and in public. McMillen's second Top Fuel dragster will carry the banner of Armed Forces Racing across the nation, starting later this season, most likely at Las Vegas or Charlotte. Rick Ecker, a retired Marine with nearly a quarter-century of service, is bringing all the factions together.

The connection was obvious to Villarreal, just 28 but intuitive beyond her years. She said of McMillen, "You can see it in his eyes that he's genuine. I said to myself, 'Wow, this guy has a kind soul.' And out here at the racetrack, he is so busy, but he always takes time to ask, 'Are you having a good time?' "

Actor Kevyn Major Howard, with his Fueled By The Fallen "9/11 Angel Cruiser Series" memorial honor tour, is another Veterans’ Hope affiliate. On display at the Winternationals was the police-car fleet, Angel 1 through Angel 5, which bears the names of every U.S. victim from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. ("Angel 1" salutes the first responders, Angel 2 and Angel 3 the World Trade Center victims, Angel 4 those who perished at the Pentagon, and Angel 5 those aboard the airplanes used in the attacks.)

Howard -- best known for his role in the film "Full Metal Jacket" but who also starred with Clint Eastwood in "Sudden Impact" and with James Caan in "Alien Nation" and has appeared in many prime-time television programs and even a few soap operas -- launched this project with the help of the Patricia J. Simpson Foundation. And he's passionate about recognizing these 9/11 patriots and other American heroes. "Teach A Child To Thank A Hero Today" is his motto.

"Heroes matter," Howard, now a commercial photographer, said, noting that Fueled By The Fallen helps with scholarships, mortgage relief, and other daily needs of the families left behind. "We're not a red-tape organization."

These are the kinds of organizations that Veterans’ Hope is partnering with through Hoosier Thunder Motorsports. And Ecker has a fired-up team that includes, California investment management expert Chris Johnson, Vice-President of Client Services for First Foundation Advisors; Steve Escher, Armed Forces Racing’s Vice President of Business Development; Brendan Brandt, Armed Forces Racing’s Vice-President of Marketing; and California's Jesse Medina, of the Association of the U.S. Army (a private, non-profit educational organization that supports America's Army and its families).

Medina will oversee a job fair for veterans, housed as well as homeless, in the McMillen hospitality pit area at the races. Corporations large and small that are interested in hiring veterans are welcome to participate.

That program, which McMillen suggested last year when he met with Armed Forces Racing President /CEO Ecker, is music to Villarreal's ears. "Our society puts these veterans in a crack and seals the crack. How is it their fault they're in there?" she asked.

With the Veterans Administration on overload and bound by qualifications that weed out veterans who need help because they aren't employed or, in Villarreal's words, "not bad enough," this fusion of efforts and these job fairs will make a major impact, one veteran at a time.

"I believe in America. I believe good will win over evil. We're not done yet. Our collection of good continues to grow," Villarreal said.

McMillen's second dragster will bring the word about the plight of America's veterans to mainstream society -- the beneficiaries of our soldiers' service. His Armed Forces Racing strategy should make everyone from the race team to the fans proud to be involved in drag racing.