Borrowing a Bit of Inspiration at Speed

2014 Canadian Formula 1600 Super Series Champion
Chase Pelletier with Caleb Smith

Cambridge, ON - September 19, 2014
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.

The Sweet Taste of Victory

Cambridge, ON - August 9, 2014

Photo via formula1600.com

It would be nearly impossible for a Hollywood script writer to come up with a plot this good for a movie.  In fact, it's so stunning that we're still reeling.

In Canada, for 2014, there is a new Formula 1600 (Formula Ford) Championship called the Toyo Tires Formula 1600 Super Series.  Essentially, it's a collection of support races run at bigger events for the Formula 1600 series in both Ontario and Quebec.  It brings the best young open-wheel talent in Canada together for a select group of races to battle it out for what amounts to an unofficial national Championship Title.

Today marked the final two rounds of the Super Series, with a race in the morning and a race later in the afternoon at the historic Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres in Quebec.  The GP3R is the longest running street course venue in North America, having run the first of it's annual events in 1967.  The points leader coming into the GP3R was Tristan DeGrand.  Chase Pelletier was sitting second in the Championship, but in order to win the Title, he had to be absolutely perfect and DeGrand had to have a major problem.  It was an outside shot at best to win for Pelletier.  Added to the pressure of managing a high stakes weekend such as this, 18-year-old Pelletier is a Type 1 Diabetic.  However, Pelletier is the same young man that beat John Heinricy last weekend at Mid-Ohio in the PWC race.  

Pelletier came out of the box fast, flying, and determined.  He grabbed pole for the first race, took the lead on the first lap, and never looked back.  While Pelletier would win the race, DeGrand ended his race on the first race lap in the tire wall.  The first half of Pelletier's goal was accomplished.  He and DeGrand were now tied for the points lead in the Championship.  With Pelletier starting third in the second race in the afternoon, it was still not a locked up Championship for either DeGrand or Pelletier.  In an unbelievably high drama race, DeGrand would climb the race order from last to fourth.  Even with Pelletier in the lead, DeGrand would have won the Championship with a fourth place finish.  In the latter part of the race, DeGrand would end up suffering a mechanical failure that ended his race.  Pelletier would win the race and the Championship in one fell swoop.

We look forward to catching up with Chase at some point in the not-too-distant future to gather his inspiring story for our series.  In the meantime, Chase, from us at Inspiration At Speed - CONGRATS!!!

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?

Inspiring Driver Looks for Repeat Victory at Mid-Ohio this Weekend

Cambridge, ON - July 30, 2014

This weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, one of our favourite inspiring drivers will be taking to the track looking to repeat his victory last year in the Verizon IndyCar series race.  Charlie Kimball, who drives the Novo Nordisk sponsored 83 car for Chip Ginassi Racing, is a Type 1 Diabetic and has become a hero and role model for many people, both young and old, that deal with Diabetes as part of their everyday lives.

Kimball spends time off the track visiting hospitals, talking to kids living with Diabetes, and attending medical conferences, as well as other related events.  Kimball has also made the trip to Washington, D.C. to testify in front of Congress about Diabetes.  All that said, Charlie Kimball's real power as an inspiration shines through in a brief meeting he had at the 2inTO race with a young four-year-old fan of his.

That young fan had been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes the year prior and his mother had tried to give the young boy the message that having Type 1 Diabetes made his life a bit different but that he could still do anything he wanted.  She introduced Kimball and his career to the young boy in slow increments and was surprised by the positive affect it had on the young man's life, particularly the day they found a picture of Charlie Kimball checking his blood sugars on the pit wall before a race.  That picture was enough to make the young man decide he wanted to check his own blood sugars going forward because if Kimball could do it, so could he.

When the chance came to visit Kimball at the Toronto IndyCar weekend, they jumped at the opportunity.  The young man got to meet his hero, get a signed hero car, and a picture with Kimball.  More important than all of that, Kimball gave the young boy a very important message.  When it was mentioned the young boy was going to go have lunch and take his insulin after the meeting, Charlie replied back with the best message the young man has heard from anyone.

"I have to go eat my lunch and take my insulin too.  You know why?  Because we're part of the cool kids club."

The message pure and simple - It's okay to have to take insulin.  That the message comes from a guy who has to live the same way and do the same thing means everything to a four year old boy struggling to understand why he has to take insulin when his friends and classmates don't.  The power of that message defies words.

This Sunday, tune into the Verizon IndyCar Series race on the NBC Sports Network at 3:00pm EST, to see if Charlie Kimball will take his second career victory in the IndyCar Series.  We'll certainly be cheering for him.

The Highlights of Last Year's Win By Kimball At Mid-Ohio