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.

Master of My Fate

Cambridge, ON - August 23, 2014
Photo via Jaguar LandRover

Motorsport has endured its fair share of marketing and public relations ploys over the years.  Some have been really outstanding and some have been just disastrous.  The reality is that most sponsors are looking for some sort of return on their investment in terms of advertising streams and revenue from sales.  Motorsport is a bit of a nice market advertising wise unless you know how to create a really good hook with broader appeal.  When trying to use motorsport as a marketing ploy, though, one has to be careful about the balance between crass and inspirational.

An example of a bad viral marketing strategy was a television show that tried to use the unfortunate Stewart/Ward shunt as a means of driving traffic to the show's website by circulating a picture of a NASCAR shunt with the caption "Government announces new measures to control deaths in NASCAR through regulation".  Many average people fell victim to the ploy, which had them clicking on the photo that was linked the television show website where there was no mention of anything motorsport at all.  It was a cheap and crass marketing ploy that backfired on the television show.

On the outstandingly good side of the coin, there is Jaguar LandRover.  About three years ago, the marketing department at Jaguar LandRover decided to sponsor Race2Recovery.  It was a gamble for them, because the team were complete rookies and could guarantee nothing to the car manufacturer except that they would do their best.  That gamble has paid off in spades for Jaguar LandRover with two motorsport records, international press (your truly included in the press portion of this equation), two documentary films, a book, and one of the best and most inspirational stories of the Dakar Rally-Raid two years in a row.  Jaguar LandRover couldn't have asked for a better return on investment for their dollars.  At the same time, Jaguar LandRover found value in supporting wounded soldiers and has broadened their sponsorship mandate to include the upcoming Invictus Games in the United Kingdom in a few weeks.

I've seen several promotional videos for the Invictus Games, the most notable being the one with Daniel Craig in it.  I like Daniel Craig.  I think he's a great actor.  As he recited his line from the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley, I found myself making a fervent wish that someone would make a video of Tony Harris, co-founder of Race2Recovery, reciting the same poem.  I wanted to hear a man recite the poem that I knew was in some ways epitomized by the words he was saying.

The fates granted my wish, as Jaguar LandRover has released a promotional video for the Invictus Games featuring Tony Harris, Jon Flint, Nick Black, and David Hubber reciting the poem.  While I'm not familiar with the last three men, their delivery of the poem is just as powerful and inspiring at Tony's.  Jaguar LandRover's marketing department hit the ball out of the park with this video.  It's a tasteful and inspiring marketing approach that increases my respect for Jaguar LandRover tenfold.

For me, one of the best moments of the video is the very end, when Tony Harris recites the last two lines of Invictus as he's shown walking away from his Wildcat RallyCar.  The reason?  Tony Harris lives the words he's reciting every day of his life.

"I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul."

Jaguar UK Promo for Invictus Games

The Extremes of Speed - Race2Recovery

Cheers to the Marketing Department at Jaguar LandRover!  Well done!

~Colene~

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

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.