When NASCAR asked its sponsors to nominate a KIA service member to be honored at a race on Memorial Day weekend, Freeway Insurance CEO Cesar Soriano knew exactly who: his friend Laura Piper.
Piper, a 25-year-old first lieutenant in the Air Force, was the first female Air Force Academy graduate to die in a combat zone. Her helicopter was shot down by friendly fire in Iraq on April 14, 1994. Soriano, an Army captain working in military intelligence, met and trained Piper when they were both serving in Turkey as part of Operation Provide Comfort in early 1994.
“Right from the start, Laura and I got along. I think because we had a common background of growing up in the military,” Soriano said. “She was a quick learner, a quick study and full of energy.”
More than 30 years later, Soriano has the chance to honor that energy at NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. Because of his nomination, Piper will be featured on the windshield of the #99 car, sponsored by Soriano’s Freeway Insurance and driven by Daniel Suarez.
“I just don’t want her to be forgotten,” said Soriano. “If you talk with my teammates, they know I served with people who have died, and Laura was front and center for me.”
As she was with Danny Piper, her younger brother who was a captain in the Air Force and graduated from the academy two years behind his big sister. The two veterans, Danny and Soriano, will meet for the first time on Memorial Day weekend for race festivities.
“I think Laura’s connection to Cesar is super cool,” Danny said. “The fact that he not only knew my sister but had trained her was just remarkable.”
Danny was a senior at the academy when he learned of his sister’s death. She was a member of the national championship-winning women’s rugby team there and threw shot put for the track and field program.
“Laura was sort of CrossFit before there was CrossFit,” Danny said. “She liked to mow our lawn in Virginia because she could work her legs by pushing the mower up the hill.”
Her athletic nature combined with her energy and intellect — Laura was fluent in both German and Russian and had wanted to attend the Air Force Academy from the moment they announced they would begin accepting women — made her seem nearly invincible. So her death, especially knowing it had been an accident, proved “devastating” for the Pipers, Danny said.
“But if you want to make an impact on the world, you’re going to have to take risks,” he said. “And Laura was somebody who was a risk-taker, willing to put service before self.”
Soriano saw the same in Laura. Though they only knew each other for a few months before her death, their time together made an impression — and is still making impressions on those who never met her. Suarez, for example, requested to be present with the Piper family as they embark on a private tour of the racetrack, as well as at special meals for the families being honored.
“He takes this partnership very seriously,” Soriano said. “Daniel goes the extra mile and doesn’t just see this as a sponsor or another logo on his car.”
Six members of the Piper family, including her parents, will be present for the Coca-Cola 600, which begins at 6 p.m. EST and will be televised on the Fox Network. Danny has never been to a NASCAR race before and suspects the experience will convert him into becoming a regular fan.
“I have been utterly impressed by the whole team involved in this weekend,” he said. “I think it will be a surreal moment to see that flag drop and see the cars take off, so just being a part of this weekend meant to honor my sister and others like her is going to be incredible.”
