Jonathon Tepes Sharkey, known in racing circles as Rocky Flash, was born in Elizabeth, N.J.

After finishing high school in Elizabeth, Jonathon entered the Army at the age of 17y, 6m, 26d.

His Basic and AIT was at Fort Sill, Okla. Upon graduation from AIT, Jonathon was assigned to Fort Riley, Kan., aka The Big Red One.

Jonathon made rank fast at C 3/6 FA, until an accident during a field training exercise severely injured both his knees.

He underwent surgery and was found unfit for duty.

Jonathon has undergone a total of 23 knee operations, include bilateral knee replacements.

His left knee was replaced by Tampa Bay Lightning medical director Dr. Ira Guttentag in November 2010. Jonathon needed three additional surgeries on his left knee following the TKR.

Jonathon returned to racing in September 2014 at Showtime Speedway in Tampa Bay, Fla., and finished third in his return race.

He would not see Victory Lane until April 2015.

Jonathon would win five racing series championships from 2017 to 2020.

In August 2018, he underwent robotic knee replacement surgery by Dr. Michael Miranda.

Ten weeks later, he returned to racing at Showtime Speedway and won.

Since his return to racing, Jonathon's main goal was to return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and not only finally qualify for the Indy 500 but win it - as well as race in the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans and win.

There has never been an American disabled veteran in either.

Jonathon's wife Oksana is from Ternopil, Ukraine. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Jonathon and Oksana went back to help Ukrainians in need on March 18, 2022.

Jonathon did night patrols and checkpoints to help the Ukrainian military.

On July 4, 2023, Jonathon's so Stanislav was born, and now he is racing too (https://www.legiontown.org/sonsmembership/14782/very-young-sal-member-wi...).

Jonathon is a life member of the Society of the 1st Infantry Division and a American Legion Post 17 in Manhattan, Kan.

For more information on his quest for history, including how you can help, contact Jonathon at: jonathontepes@yahoo.com.