Team "NEVER FORGET" News

Unforgettable Josh Lamirato

Offshore Super Series rookie Josh Lamirato is on a mission with his 10-year-old Baja Outlaw. The clean-cut 25-year-old looked over the bow of his 1998 Baja 36’ Outlaw, and proudly showed the visitor the deck mural. E-5 Second Class Petty Officer Josh Lamirato, just 22 months removed from Active Duty in the US Navy, is on the precipice of the age-old racer’s rite of passage as he prepares for his first weekend of organized boat racing.

He not only wears his support for his fellow troops on his sleeve, but also on the deck of his race boat. A lot of people took notice at the OSS event, where team Never Forget was a popular attraction in the pits. Lamirato and his team, comprised of his Crew Chief and Dad, Anthony Lamirato, and his Mom, Mary, who helps out with the hundreds of unseen details that are suddenly upon you when you go racing, formed one of six Pro-Am teams running at Biloxi. Everyone helps everyone. It was really cool, because the only other place I've felt that kind of camaraderie is in the Military.”

Lamirato wasn't born to be a soldier. He wasn't one of those kids who obsesses about the military and patriotism. He doesn't come from a big military family. He was an athlete as a kid, a baseball, hockey, and All City football star who was looking forward to the coming season as a walk-on Defensive Back at a local college. Then the planes flew into the buildings and changed everything. “I knew right away I wanted to go. It just consumed me. I wanted to do something about it, something for my country that mattered, and everything else just seemed unimportant to me,” he says.

Lamirato was stationed in Naples, Italy, where he was an Air Traffic Control Supervisor at a Naval Air Station that provided support for the Sixth Fleet. He served in Kuwait, then at a frenetic training base in Kingsfield, Texas, where fighters and Blackhawk helicopters roared in and out and their pilots ground down the rough spots from their tactical games. An oversimplified view of Lamirato’s responsibility at the base was that he was the guy who was responsible keeping hundreds of high-performance military craft blasting in and out from running into one another.

Of his first race, Lamirato said, “I felt like a NASCAR driver. It was just so cool. You could see thousands of people watching. Words really can't describe it. The course was perfect. It was really a great time.”
Pro Am classes run together, so there’s still a strong sense of competition on the course. While the day didn't fit Josh’s vision of his first race win, like all racers, he'll take it. The team earned it, overcoming the electrical disaster, and you still have to finish to win. It was a great day for Never Forget, and the brief taste of racing has solidified Lamirato’s mission.

“When I left after 9/11, everybody wanted to help out. The country knew what had to be done. When I came home, I saw them protesting us, and how we conducted our business. They didn't know what was going on over there, and it really ****ed me off. Our men and women are sacrificing every single day. I just wanted to do something to honor everyone who has served, and my friends who didn't come back.” Lamirato didn't buy the boat to race, although eventually competing was a private dream. When he signed on with the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller, he used an incentive bonus to buy the Baja. “My Dad and I have both always wanted one of these boats, and when he found this one, I just said ‘Let’s go get it.”
(Written by Kevin Spaise)

To Ellen:
I wanted to say thank you again for everything you guys have done for me and my team. It was really important to me to get the "Never Forget" theme out and I thank you for helping me do that. I'm really trying hard to get back to OSS next year, but having to take care of all the expenses this year has put me in a real tough spot. Im hoping to get a job with Performance Boat Brokerage as a tech but that's still up in the air right now. I do however would like to ask you something even though its hard for me to come to you because off all you have already done for me and I'm already in debt to you. I really need some help. When I started this it wasn't about me it was about the Military and 9/11 and exposing our men and women overseas and around the country. Don’t' get me wrong I love racing and I've always strived to be the best at everything I do but having said that the only reason I would want to win or be the best is to have that "Never Forget" theme in the spotlight not me. I'm going to do the best I can to get this back to OSS and all of you, but I will have to go overseas if I cant find something. Thanks again for everything and I hope to see all of you next year.

AC2 Josh Lamirato Meanwhile, he helps us remember.