Anything You Can Do I Can Do Too

Cambridge, ON - August 18, 2014
Photo via NationalSpeedSportNews.com

This past Saturday night at Jefferson Speedway in South Dakota, Isaac Schreurs set a new motorsport record, becoming the first paraplegic driver to win a major 'A' Main Sprint Car race.  Schreurs led the 25 lap race flag to flag.  Sprint Car racing is a tough and demanding form of racing, so Schreurs has accomplished quite the feat with this win.  Schreurs lost the use of his legs 7 years ago at age 14.

Also, our friend Austin Riley was featured on Toronto, Ontario's Global News this past weekend.  Here's the link to the News Video.  When Austin's father Jason says that Austin will steal a piece of your heart and you'll never get it back, he's telling the absolute truth.  Austin owns a  piece of our hearts here at Inspiration At Speed.

Some other news from the last week comes to us from our friends at Race2Recovery over in the United Kingdom.  First, R2R co-founder Tony Harris and 2014 Dakar Rally-Raid finisher Daniel 'Baz' Whittingham will be representing the U.K. in next months Invictus Games.  You can get more information on the Games at their WEBSITE..  The REALLY great news was the unveiling of the new livery for one of the R2R Wildcats. This is the moment where we indulge in a little 'car porn'.  The photo of Gordon in his new livery comes to us courtesy of R2R.

Finally, we'd like to give a shout out to the blog of former R2R PR and Social Media Guru Deborah Harrison.  She's started a blog about occupational therapy in mental health and posted this week about the value of motorsport as a recovery therapy.  She was kind enough to include us in that post, for which we are very appreciative.  She raises an important point in her blog post on motorsport as a Recovery Tool that we can't argue with.  That point is that motorsport can be an incredibly powerful tool for recovery from physical trauma, physical injury, and mental health issues.  You can read her latest post here.

Double Video Day - Racing With Autism & Race2Recovery

Cambridge, ON - August 6, 2014

A bit of a rushed day for us at Inspiration At Speed today, as both Racing With Autism and Race2Recovery released videos today.

Race2Recovery released their August 2014 update video.  A couple of notes for this video.  First, congrats on the continued good results in the Freelander Challenge to the team.  Second, two members of the R2R team are taking background positions after being at the forefront of the team for the last few years.  Co-Founder Tony Harris is turning his attention and focus to other areas of his life, although we hope to see him compete in Dakar again.  We'll definitely miss Tony, who is one of the few members of R2R that we've spoken with directly over the years.  R2R's Social Media Coordinator Deb Harrison is also stepping down, which is a huge loss for us at Inspiration At Speed, as Deb has been our lifeline to the team the last two years.  We're looking forward to working with the new Social Media Coordinator and keeping in touch with Deb going forward.  Here's their August Update Video.

Racing With Autism also released a video today that is a chronicle of Austin Riley's adventures at the 3-Day Skip Barber Race School at Road Atlanta last week.  It's without a doubt some of the most important six minutes of your life to watch this video.  You'll get to watch as a young man overcomes Autism to exceed the expectations of everyone around him and learn how to drive a race car.  It's impossible to watch this video and not have your heartstrings tugged on at least a little bit by this incredible young man and his determination to succeed.  As Austin himself says, having Autism doesn't mean he can't do great things!

Austin's Adventures at Skip Barber Race School - Road Atlanta

From Mid-Ohio to Morocco They Were Inspiring

Chase Pelletier leads the TCB Class at Mid-Ohio.

Cambridge, ON - August 5, 2014
Photo via Motorsport.com

There were a lot of inspiring folks out this past weekend doing a whole bunch of awesome and inspiring things.  Here's a quick round-up of some of our favourite moments.

Tony Harris moved mountains for himself and other wounded soldiers when he helped to found Row2Recovery and Race2Recovery.  The Dakar Rally-Raid driver decided that rather than move the mountain, this time he'd climb it.  He took on the challenge of climbing Mt. Toubkal in Morocco this past weekend with his wife Liz and raised over 3,000 pounds for Help for Heroes and BLESMA.  That's a 13,671 foot climb.  He's still able to take donations for the climb.  If you'd like to donate, follow this LINK.

How many Type 1 Diabetic race car drivers competed at Mid-Ohio this past weekend?  Answer - Two.  The first, and most well known, is IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball who finished 7th after a cut and slice drive through the field from 17th place.  The second driver is a less well known young man that Charlie Kimball mentored from Brampton, Ontario named Chase Pelletier.  We met Chase at the Honda Indy Toronto a few weeks ago.  Chase took the pole and the win in the Pirelli World Challenge TCB class over veteran driver John Heinricy (Yes, THAT John Heinricy).  Chase normally races Formula 1600's (Formula Fords).  He was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes 9 years ago, and he has been inspired and helped along by the inroads forged by Charlie Kimball.

We're also going to throw out an honourable mention to a fantastic young man that's out there spreading a great message.  Eighteen year-old Jason Cherry competes under the banner of the American Autism Society in the Pirelli World Challenge TCA class.  He's a big supporter of Canadian racer Austin Riley, as well as supporting Autism Awareness, because Cherry's older brother is on the Autism spectrum.  Cherry made the podium on the weekend at Mid-Ohio while flying the flag for Autism.

That's a quick recap of the weekend's dose of Inspiration at Speed.  We're feeling pretty inspired by it all, how about you?

New Motorsport Record for Race2Recovery

Cambridge, ON - July 31, 2014
Photo via Race2Recovery

Race2Recovery, the British Rally-Raid team that holds the only back to back finishes in the world by a disability team in the Dakar Rally-Raid, have set another motorsport record.

Last weekend the team took part in the fourth round of the MSA British Cross Country Championship with driver Olaf Jones and co-driver Yanto Evans.  Jones is an above the elbow left arm amputee and Evans is a below the right knee amputee.  They set a record as the first disabled pair of competitors to complete a lap of the event in Radnor Forest in Wales.  This makes them the first fully disabled team to complete a lap of an MSA BCCC event.

While the team did not complete the event due to a roll over caused by a mechanical failure in a wheel, they made history in more ways that one.

The MSA had to be lobbied by Race2Recovery co-founder Anthony Harris in order to allow both amputees to compete in the same vehicle, because the MSA had a policy that prevented two disabled competitors from being in the same vehicle at the same time.  Harris successfully argued that if both Jones and Evans were able to pass the BARS assessment that both should be able to compete in the same vehicle in an MSA event without prejudice.

Motorsport sanctioning bodies around the world should be paying close attention to this particular decision by the MSA.  More and more competitors are showing up to register for amateur and professional motorsport events around the world with a variety of physical and mental health challenges ranging from paralysis to Autism.  If those competitors can meet the same requirements as any other competitor, there is no reason or excuse to exclude them from competition.

Congratulations to Race2Recovery on their new record and on successfully lobbying to change a regulation in favour of more fair, inclusive, and equitable competition.  Cheers to the MSA for agreeing to follow good sense and logic in allowing Jones and Evans to compete together under the R2R banner.