Drag racing star Don O’Neal rolled into Wilroy Road Kangaroo Express Friday, amid a nine-state tour raising money for groups supporting military and veterans’ families.

The Salute Our Troops tour features O’Neal and his custom 2009 Mullis Salute Our Troops dragster — the machine and its pilot drew avid interest at the Suffolk gas station — as well as Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient Tommy Rieman.

“We do this every year company-wide,” said Emily Casarona, tour spokeswoman.

“This is our third summer. The total for the first two was $5.67 million, and the first 42 days of this summer, we’ve raised over $1.7 million.”

Funds are raised through the sale of T-shirts and other merchandise, as well as collection boxes that will remain on gas station counters through Sept. 3 and asking customers to add $1 to their purchases.

Pausing between autographs for excited kids, O’Neal said it was an honor to raise money and awareness for organizations that helped him during and after 22 years in the U.S. Army.

O’Neal, who drove the U.S. Army Dragster from 2004 to 2012, currently represents Evansville, Ind.-based JBM Motorsports, and this summer is racing the Salute Our Troops dragster in National Hotrod Association and Lucas Oil events.

“To be involved with those organizations and help them raise money … was just an easy decision,” he said.

The tour also allows fans of his sport to inspect dragsters at close quarters, he added.

“They get an opportunity to interact, and at the same time it gives (us) the opportunity to tell the story of Fisher House and the USO.

“We want to be out here in the community and show our appreciation to those in the military, veterans and their families.”

Brian G. Gawne, its vice president of operations, described Fisher House as “the Ronald McDonald House” for military and veterans’ families.

Since 1990, the private-public partnership has offered nearly 3.6 million lodging days to more than 142,000 families, saving recipients almost $167 million in lodging, subsistence and transportation costs.

The tour also supports the Florida National Guard Foundation and seven other state-based military organizations, Casarona said.

Kangaroo Express launched the tour because more than half of its 1,600 stores are within 25 miles of a military installation, said Rieman, the company’s military advisor.

“Fifty to 60 percent of our customers have a relationship with the military,” he said.

“If we can get the community to come together, and say, ‘Here’s a way you can give back’ … that makes a heck of a difference.”

Rieman credits the USO, for which he is an ambassador in North Carolina, with saving his life after he was “blown up and shot” during Operation Iraqi Freedom and later attempted suicide.

“They helped me get back up on my feet,” he said.