Darvis Patton To Grand Marshal at Texas Motor Speedway
10/13/2004 12:00:00 AM
Oct. 13, 2004
Former TCU sprinter Darvis Patton helped the United States to a silver medal in the 400 meter relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The Dallas native will team up with local Olympic medalists Jeremy Wariner (Grand Prairie, Texas) and Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) as Grand Marshals for the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, Chevy 500k on Sunday, Oct. 17, at Texas Motor Speedway.
"It is truly a Champions weekend at Texas Motor Speedway," speedway president Eddie Gossage. "Having three local athletes who won medals at the Olympics serve as our Grand Marshals for the Chevy 500k is a fitting way to start Championship Sunday."
Patton, who completed his collegiate eligibility at TCU in 2001, ran the second leg on the U.S. sprint relay team in the semifinal round, helping the quartet of Shawn Crawford, Patton, Coby Miller, and Maurice Greene to a winning time of 38.02 seconds. Justin Gatlin took Patton's spot in the finals as the Americans took home a silver medal with a time of 38.08, falling just short of the gold medal behind Great Britain (38.07).
Wariner was a double gold medal winner at the Olympics in track in the 400 meters and 1600 meter relay. Vollmer won gold as a member of the 800 meter relay in swimming.
The local Olympic trio will give the command to start the Chevy 500k on Sunday.
