BRIGHT STAR LIGHTING DONATES SPECIAL LIGHTHAWK LIGHTS
TO UNIT OF KEY MOTORSPORTS CREWMAN’S SON SERVING IN IRAQ

Bright Star Light Products, a unit of Koehler-Bright Star, Inc. that was recently purchased by Berkshire-Hathaway, Inc., has come to the aid of a United States Army Battalion now based in Kirkuk, Iraq as a favor to a Key Motorsports team member.

Jeff O’Farrell, a computer specialist, welder, electrician and race day gas catch can man for the Key Motorsports NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Nationwide Series racing organization based in Mooresville, NC, recently contacted Bright Star Light Products to see if the company could help out his son Brody’s 10th Mountain Division unit.

Brody’s Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade of the 22nd Infantry Regiment is part of a 1,000-man squad located in this northern Iraqi province where Jeff said “was based in a tent city with no outside protective barrier to speak of.”

“Brody said that they are handicapped by the lack of sufficient light when they are on patrol in motorized vehicles at night, so he asked if we had a sponsor that could help,” the elder O’Farrell explained. (Picture Right: Jeff O'Farrell busy working at the race track during a 2007 race)

Though Key Motorsports did not boast of a sponsor that was into the lighting business, telephone calls made by the race team’s sales staff produced Bright Star. Subsequent telephone calls and discussions to the Hanover Township, Pennsylvania-based company produced some interest, and in just a couple of weeks after discussions began Bright Star shipped the lights to Brody’s outfit. “It should make a whale of a difference for them,” O’Farrell said.

“Bright Star is known in the lighting industry to produce what is regarded as the ‘Safest Flashlight’”, said the company’s National Sales Manager Shannon Sink. “There is a certification process that has to be undertaken in order for any light product to be certified for use in a particular situation such as mining and military use, so when the problem these soldiers were having was explained to us, we pretty much knew that it had to be our new Lighthawk units with lithium iron battery technology that were needed here,” Sink added.

Bright Star lights are predominantly hand held versions, so the soldiers in O’Farrell’s unit had to devise a method to attach the lights to their vehicles to achieve their objectives. “We’re pretty happy as to how the folks at Bright Star reacted to our plea and how quickly they sent the lights. It will certainly help our son and the others in the Battalion as they serve out their tour,” O’Farrell added.

Sink explained that Bright Star has sold lighting to the military before, so this kind of application was something they felt they could satisfy. “The key is providing something that will keep the soldiers safe, and we take a lot of pride knowing that we have the technology and the products to satisfy this particular situation. So when the call came to help we jumped at the chance,” Sink ended.

Sgt. O’Farrell, 27, is in his sixth year with the Army and is serving in his third tour of duty in the Middle East and second in Iraq. He first served in Afghanistan for nine months and then a year in Iraq before returning home in September 2006. He re-enlisted for another 4 to 6-year term upon his most recent deployment that began in September.

Brody and his wife Danyel became parents for the first time last June when son Brayden Jay was born. It makes Jeff O’Farrell and his wife Kathy grandparents for the third time. Daughter Molly is the Office Manager at Key Motorsports and the girlfriend of team owner Curtis W. Key, Sr.