INDIANAPOLIS -- When you kick off Brickyard 400 weekend with Indiana National Guardsmen singing karaoke on the plaza and Jeff Gordon on the drums, you know it's going to be a good show.

And it was, said Seth Walker, a 24-year-old Guardsman from Kokomo, Ind., picked to sing vocals with Gordon in a friendly, online game of Guitar Hero 5 complete with vocals, bass guitar and drum kit.

"I love Karaoke at weddings and bars but this was amazing, amazing to represent the National Guard and Gordon was pretty good on the drums," said Walker, who belted out Play That Funky Music to a sea of DuPont colors and No. 24 hats while Gordon smashed the skins at the storied Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday.

Gordon's precision with the sticks resembled the same precision the driver displays inside the race car as he hit each marked note on the video screen just at the right time.

Scoring a 95 percent on Tom Petty's American Girl, Gordon said he was actually rusty.

"I kind of wished I had practiced a little more before I got here," laughed Gordon, who apparently used to have a gaming system in his motor coach. "I used to play a little bit but yeah, it was a blast to be able to do that with the troops overseas and in front of the crowd here in Indy."

The event was organized through a nonprofit group called Pro vs. GI Joe, which facilitates online gaming competitions between professional athletes and military members stateside as well as overseas.

Founder Greg Zinone created the group three years ago after looking for a more interactive way to connect with his wife who was deployed with the U.S. Army in Iraq. His wife is Addie Zinone, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve who has served two tours of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"Sending a check once a month wasn't good enough and I wanted to think of something for other families to do as well and that is when my wife mentioned video games," Greg Zinone said. "During downtime in the military, video games is how a lot of the troops occupy their time."

With the help of several high-tech tools and web cameras, to date Pro vs. GI Joe has connected athletes with troops serving in Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Dubai, Japan, Korea, Germany, Cuba and those stationed at various bases around the United States as well.

"And when it's possible, we also reunite family members of the troops via webcam during the event," Zinone said. "We work very hard to not only connect the pro and the GI Joe but to also connect families separated by military service."

For Friday's event, Zinone called on a group of troops stationed in Basrah, Iraq, who from their USO center connected online to play Guitar Hero 5 face-to-video screen live with Gordon and the guardsmen who were on a stage.

"I could tell when I got on the headset with them, even though they weren't into Guitar Hero really all that much, they still were really excited for the opportunity," Gordon said.

David Gilliland was also in attendance. Having had plenty of experience at home with 10-year-old son Todd, he excelled on the bass guitar.

Scoring equally as high as Gordon, Gilliland said participating in the event meant a lot to him.

"I enjoy events like these and being able to give back my time because we couldn't do what we do here without them over there," he said.

Video games are so engrained into our American culture, Gilliland said, that it was only a matter of time before we figured out how to use them for good causes.

Zinone, who understands the sacrifices military families make, agreed and said the troops who put themselves in harms way to defend the country's freedoms deserve a unique opportunity.

"We aim to do something no other morale boosting organization does," Zinone said. "Use the best of today's modern technology to make virtual, but more important, personal connections via video games and webcams, simultaneously, across the miles."