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.

Help Find These Special Helmets!

Cambridge, ON - September 9, 2014
Photos via Jason Cherry & Racing With Autism

There are some posts that just make your insides turn and this is one of them, unfortunately.

Sometime in the last 24 hours, thieves broke into the race hauler for Racing With Autism and stole both of Austin Riley's helmets and the team's laptop with all their race setup and data on it.  It's a crippling blow to a young man that has struggled so hard to get to where he is.

While both the laptop and the helmets can be replaced with new ones, the memories associated with those two helmets can't be replaced, nor can the data on the laptop.

You see, Austin was wearing one of those helmets the day Brooke and I met him.  He was wearing one of those helmets when he met retired Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello.  He was wearing one of those helmets when he became the first driver with Autism to graduate from Skip Barber Race School.  Austin was wearing one of those helmets when he won one of his championships.  The top picture for this post is a special photo taken when Austin met Jason Cherry of the Pirelli World Challenge Series.  Jason supports the American Autism Society and has a brother on the Autism spectrum.

Those helmets aren't just race helmets.  They are a treasure trove of special memories for a young man that needs those memories far more than most of us do.  Those helmets are worth far more to Austin than they could ever be to the thieves that stole them.

It's a cruel and heartless thing to take away a young man's memories like this.  It's like ripping out a part of his soul.  What MUST happen here is that these helmets are found and returned to Austin Riley.

Any other outcome is completely unacceptable and completely unthinkable.

NOTE:  If you have information on these helmets, please contact Racing With Autism.

~Colene~

Awareness is the Key to Understanding

Cambridge, ON - September 6, 2014
Photo - Brooke Legacy

If anyone had told me two years ago that someone with Autism could drive a race car, I would have already been formulating the argument against it in my mind by their second sentence.  I would have argued that there's no way someone with Autism could focus enough, maintain concentration enough, have the proper fine motor skills, or have the hand/eye coordination and reaction times required to drive a race car.

I would have been completely and utterly wrong.  In fact, I would have been so wrong that looking back at how I would have reacted, I'm fine with saying I would have been bigoted and prejudiced.  All I knew about Autism was "The Rain Man" portrayed by Dustin Hoffman.  I had never met anyone with Autism, and I was completely ignorant.

However, I'm extremely happy I was wrong.  Austin Riley taught me that lesson, and he taught it to me in spades.  I met him just over a year ago, and he showed me just how ignorant I was.

The reality is that I'm not alone.  Very few people have the vaguest idea what Autism is or what someone with Autism can do.  It's those people that Austin Riley and his father Jason are looking to reach with a 2015 "Autism Awareness Tour".  By telling people about Austin, the Riley family hopes to educate people.  They couldn't have picked a better example in Austin or come up with a better idea.

As with all great ideas, it takes money to make something like this cross-country four month tour a reality.  The Riley family has come up with a way to fund the tour and they could use some help.

On September 27, 2014, the "Racing With Autism Team Karting Enduro" will take place at Goodwood Kartways near Stoufville, Ontario.  A maximum of 18 teams of four drivers per team will compete head to head in a 1 1/2 hour Enduro.  The Entry fee is $400 per team.

I don't have hope that Austin will do well in racing.  I KNOW for a fact that he will do well in racing.

I also know that if Austin can teach me how ignorant and bigoted I was just by driving around a track in a kart, then there's no way he can't teach others the same lesson and make the world a better place.

Keep doing great things, Austin.  Keep doing great things.

Austin's Story

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

Skip Barber Race School Has A Very Special Graduate

Cambridge, ON - August 1, 2014
Photo via Racing With Autism

It's not too often you'll hear an announcement like this one.

Austin Riley has become the first graduate of the Skip Barber Race School who is on the Autism spectrum.

You read that exactly right.  The 15-year-old Canadian from Uxbridge, Ontario already has three Karting Championships on his racing resume, as well as being ranked one of the best karters for his race group in Eastern Canada.  Yesterday, Austin got his diploma from Skip Barber after a three day race school at Road Atlanta.

With that Skip Barber diploma*, Austin needs to pass a medical, and he can then apply to Canadian Automobile Sports Clubs - Ontario Region for a Novice Competition License.

Austin has now had a chance to drive a proper race car on a proper track.  It's a great start to a process that could see Austin racing something more than a kart in the near future.

Congratulations Austin!

* Assuming that CASC-OR, the sanctioning body for motorsport in Ontario, has Skip Barber on their list of approved professional race schools.  At this time, I could not find a list confirming that Skip Barber is an approved school.

Dreams Do Come True

Cambridge,ON - July 29, 2014
Photo via Racing With Autism

The distance between Goodwood Kartways in Uxbridge, Ontario and Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia is a lot more than just geographical.  One is a regional karting track that has a storied past and has seen many a Canadian race car driver through its gates and on its pavement.  The other is an internationally recognized road course track that has been raced on by the best drivers in the world.

Today, it's a very special place for 15 year old Austin Riley of Racing With Autism.  Austin will start a 3 day race school put on by Skip Barber.  While kids do race schools all the time, Austin is on the Autism spectrum.  Although he has 3 Championships in karting from Goodwood, he's never driven a proper race car on a road course track before.  Driving a race car has been a dream of Austin's since he began racing karts at age 7.

Almost a year ago, we met Austin at Goodwood Kartways.  That day, we were convinced he would someday climb the racing ladder and race a car.  We knew he had it in him to be a racer at a higher level than karts.

"Just because you have Autism, it doesn't mean you can't do great things." - Austin Riley

We couldn't agree more Austin.  Best of luck to you at Road Atlanta!