At this year's 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil -- drag racing's most prestigious and longest running event -- Jay Payne will honor the brave men and women of the Brownsburg (Ind.) Fire Department with the FireIce-branded Pro Mod car.

"Just about everyone in racing has needed to be rescued at some point in their career," Payne said. "Whether it's a medical issue or a fire, we all know America's finest are there for us no matter the circumstances. They routinely put themselves in harm's way to make sure we're safe, and for that we're eternally grateful.

"Every since we've been running FireIce on my race car, we've done our best to raise awareness and contributions for the Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Federation of Burn Foundations, two causes that are very close to the hearts of everyone at FireIce. Well, for this race, we decided to single out the Brownsburg Fire Department and salute their tireless work at ORP over the last five decades."

As part of the weekend's celebrations, Payne and numerous members of the Brownsburg Fire Department will meet with the media and take photographs at 8:30 a.m. Friday at the racetrack in front of Payne's '67 FireIce Camaro and several rescue vehicles and fire trucks from the department.

From that point, Payne's FireIce pit will serve as a gathering spot for Brownsburg Fire Department staff members, firefighters, and EMTs. The group also hopes members of the drag racing community and residents of Brownsburg stop by to meet the men and women who keep them safe.

"There are 90 people in the Brownsburg Fire Department, and hopefully we'll get to meet them all over the course of the weekend," said Michael Cordani, CEO of GelTech Solutions Inc., a publicly traded corporation (OTCBB: GLTC) that is the parent company of FireIce. "Obviously, they can't all come at once because a number of them are on duty at any given time, but with Indy being a long event, they should all have a chance to stop by and visit."

Originally, Payne was going to use his FireIce Top Alcohol Funny Car to salute his heroes, but a minor accident at last weekend's divisional race in Topeka damaged the front end of the car, and it is in the chassis shop being repaired.

"I called Michael at FireIce as soon as I saw the damage to the Funny Car and suggested we sticker up the Pro Mod car, and he thought it was a great idea," Payne said. "There was no way we were going to miss this chance to honor the Brownsburg Fire Department."

FireIce is a nontoxic, environmentally friendly fire-suppression gel that firefighters add to water in pumper trucks, helicopters, fire planes, and handheld extinguishers to help extinguish fires drastically quicker than water alone.