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| 2014 Canadian Formula 1600 Super Series Champion Chase Pelletier with Caleb Smith |
Photo via Kayleigh Hilborn
Do the accomplishments of those in motorsport inspire others to reach for more and reach out to others? It's a question very worth exploring.
Has Austin Riley inspired others to try racing as a therapy for their children dealing with Autism? Has Race2Recovery inspired the creation of motorsport teams for wounded soldiers in other countries? Did the "4Tommy" decal improve the lives of children dealing with cancer?
The answer is a resounding yes!
Austin Riley's story has inspired three other local families to take up kart racing to help their children with Autism. Riley himself probably already owns a world record between his 3 Championships, his position on the Energy Corse factory team, his graduation from Skip Barber Race School, and his position as a Lotus F1 Junior Development Driver. Other parents around the world are taking their children to kart tracks hoping that the magic that Austin has found will work for their children too. He now has worldwide support and a huge global fan base, considering he's a 15-year-old kart racer in Ontario, Canada.
Race2Recovery has inspired a number of new race teams in several countries, including a group (JSR/Soldier On) in Canada working to put together a road course endurance race team patterned after R2R's model that mixes motorsport experts with currently serving and retired military. Beyond racing, members of R2R are involved in other sporting events from the Paralympics to the Invictus Games. Many people with disabilities have been inspired by R2R's accomplishments to go out and try whatever it is they want to do from motorsport to rugby to mountain climbing.
While not as direct, the "4Tommy" campaign played a small part in the choice of the Austin Hatcher Foundation as the official charity of the now defunct American LeMans Series. It was the influence of helping children going through cancer treatment along with other factors that brought the ALMS to the decision to choose a charity that supports children with cancer.
In the next couple of weeks, we'll be featuring a new story on the blog about 2014 Canadian Formula 1600 Super Series Champion Chase Pelletier. We've talked a bit about Chase already, but not in great detail. Chase has been racing his entire career with the double challenge of managing Type 1 Diabetes while also working hard to beat the competition. One of the important aspects of his off-track life is Chase's support for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. On September 28, 2014, Chase will be participating in 'The Run to Type None' at Professor's Lake in Brampton, Ontario.
In July at the Honda Indy Toronto, Chase met a young four year-old fellow T1 diabetic named Caleb Smith. As a result of the connection that Chase and Caleb forged, Caleb is going to try the 5km run along with Chase on September 28th. Chase, as well as fellow diabetic IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball, have both had a huge and inspiring impact on Caleb's attitude towards having diabetes and his adjustment to being diagnosed with diabetes at age 3. In fact, someday Caleb wants to follow in Charlie Kimball's and Chase Pelletier's tire tracks and become a race car driver.
In the meantime, Caleb will have to settle for beating Chase on foot while raising funds for the JDRF. However, don't take our word for it. Here's Caleb's own diabetes story as dictated to his mother for his fundraising page for 'The Run to Type None'.
If all of these great stories aren't enough to convince you that there is Inspiration At Speed, we haven't done a good enough job of telling these amazing stories.
Way to go Caleb! Very inspiring!
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