Fallbrook grad and fallen Navy SEAL Carter to be honored in Coca-Cola 600

Mark T. Carter, a 1998 Fallbrook High School graduate who went on to serve his country as a member of the elite Navy SEALS and lost his life in combat, will be honored by NASCAR during the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 29.

Cars racing in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, will have the names of fallen U.S. Armed Forces members on their windshields as part of NASCAR's "600 Miles of Remembrance" tribute. Cars usually have their driver's name on the windshield.

Carter's name will be featured on the No. 3 car driven by Austin Dillon, who sought the advice of some friends in the military in determining who he would honor.

“I have a few buddies that are Navy SEALS and when NASCAR put together the 600 Miles of Remembrance program I asked them who we should honor on the Cheerios Chevrolet for the Coca-Cola 600," said Dillon. "It was unanimous from those guys that Mark Carter, 'Badger' is what they called him, should be on our car for the Charlotte race."

"It’s an honor to me and the entire team to be able to honor him for the race," continued Dillon. "I have a lot of respect for everyone in the military. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our freedom and do what we do every day.”

Dillon asked for background information on Carter and learned that he had a CrossFit workout named after him. CrossFit, according to its website, is a workout program that is "constantly varied, functional movement preformed at a high intensity."

"It’s part of Crossfit’s Hero Series," said Dillon of Carter's workout. "All of the ‘Hero’ workouts are pretty challenging and this one is no exception. It consists of squat cleans using a 95-pound weight, pull-ups and a half-mile run. You do three rounds, so by the end of the workout you’ve done 90 squat cleans and 90 pull-ups. Some of the guys at RCR (Richard Childress Racing) got together and completed the workout with me in memory of Badger. It was one small way we could honor him.”

Carter, a Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer, was a stocky 5-foot-5 natural athlete who was given the nickname "Badger" by his fellow SEALS after he beat a 6-foot-5 opponent in a wrestling match.

Carter had SEAL posters on his bedroom walls while attending Fallbrook High School and enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 6, 1998. He graduated from boot camp at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill., and entered Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training in Coronado (Class 226) in May 1999.

Carter graduated from BUD/S and then served with two West Coast-based SEAL Teams through April 2004. He was assigned to an East Coast-based SEAL team the same month, where he served the remainder of his career. Carter was killed in combat Dec. 11, 2007, on an undisclosed mission in Balad, Iraq.

Carter's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery was heavily attended by Navy officers and enlisted sailors, and his family received his third Bronze Star for valor. Carter's family moved from Fallbrook several years ago and politely declined to be contacted for this story.

This will be the second consecutive year that NASCAR has honored the fallen with 600 Miles of Remembrance. It is part of the sport’s annual military appreciation platform, NASCAR: An American Salute.

Millions of viewers are expected to tune into the Coca-Cola 600, which will be broadcast live on FOX beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday.