Vise-Grips on the battle field

Irwin Industrial Tools, a Newell Rubbermaid company and maker of the most reliable and versatile locking tools, the Irwin Vise-Grip, announced today that Dr. Bryan Fox of Chesapeake, Va., was selected as the winner of the "Tell Us Your Irwin Vise-Grip Story" promotion. Dr. Fox, an orthopedic surgeon for the United States Navy, was honored for using an Irwin Vise-Grip to perform spinal surgery during Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a result, Dr. Fox will be awarded a VIP Experience this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he will meet Sprint Cup Series driver Jamie McMurray and the #26 Irwin Industrial Tools Vise-Grip Ford team. In Sunday's third event of the 2009 Sprint Cup Series season, McMurray will be sporting the Irwin Industrial Tools paint scheme, the first of eleven this season Fox also is receiving an Irwin Vise-Grip custom-branded chopper valued at $25,000 built by East Coast Custom Cycles. A member of the U.S. Navy for more than 25 years, Dr. Fox found a unique use for his Vise-Grip as a spine surgeon on the battlefield in the Middle East. In the heat of battle, Dr. Fox needed to perform emergency spinal surgery on a soldier who had a combination of screws and rods that had been implanted into his infected spine. Complicating the medical challenges at hand, Dr. Fox did not have access to the specialized tools necessary to deal with the soldier's different spine implants. Dr. Fox did, however, have access to a pair of Vise-Grips. He sterilized his Vise-Grip tools and used them to remove the rods and screws from the soldier's infected spine, effectively saving his life. See full story and images at Irwin Industrial Tools site