United Spinal Association is on the fast track to raise awareness about disabilities by focusing on America’s love affair with the automobile.
By Tom Scott
Ever since the first petrol-fueled automobiles were invented by German Engineers Karl Friedrich Benz and Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler at the end of the 19th Century, motorsports has woven itself into the fabric of our society. As the engines have become bigger and the cars they power sleeker, a wide variety of motorsports started heating up tracks around the globe. From kart racing, autocross and rallycross to stock car, open wheel and drag racing-the appeal of automobiles has transcended the scope of the industry’s earliest visionaries. Today, the automobile industry dominates the consumer market. In 2005, there were 500 million cars used worldwide, 200 million of which were located in the US. More importantly, adaptive automobile technology has helped pave the way for more people with disabilities to confidently get behind the wheel, not only to travel more freely, but to compete in motorsports.
Motor What?
Although the popularity of motorsports is increasing nationwide, a majority of people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) are unaware of the opportunities to participate with adaptive controls, whether in local car clubs or on professional circuits, through organizations such as the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). The quality and availability of adaptive motor vehicle equipment has dramatically improved over the years. The 1990 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS-D) estimated that there were 299,000 adaptive equipment users living in the US, while a 1995 NHIS-D survey estimated 510,000, an increase of 211,000 users over a 5-year period.
“When most people think of adaptive sports, motorsports does not usually come to mind,” said Bill Hannigan, United Spinal director of Sports and Recreation. “We’d like to change this misconception and give people with disabilities the opportunity to try something totally different and a whole lot of fun.”
To achieve this, United Spinal recently created a Motorsports program and embarked on a grassroots campaign to encourage the motorsports industry and its drivers to support the association through logo placement on their vehicles, as well as promote the use of adaptive automotive equipment by encouraging member participation in competitive motorsports.
One Team, One Mission
United Spinal has enlisted the support of a diverse group of automobile industry leaders and professionals to assist with this endeavor, including a number of drivers with disabilities who have shattered the stereotypical mold that is often all too familiar to people with SCI/D.
“For years it seemed that many able-bodied people were very uncomfortable around people with disabilities. It used to be rather common for them to either outright ignore me in public or to overcompensate and treat me in a patronizing or solicitous manner. Some people would act as though the simplest things I did were extraordinary acts of courage or strength. I’m talking about going to the grocery store or having a drink at a bar with friends. I had more than one person tell me, ‘It’s great to see you out.’ As though using a wheelchair in public was brave of me to do….However, all of that is based on ignorance,” says United Spinal Motorsports Team Member and Professional Racecar Driver Carol Hollfelder (www.tiger-racing.com). Hollfelder, who was spinal cord injured in a 1987 motorcycle accident, believes society is much more accessible to people with disabilities and that there are less barriers than 10 or 20 years ago, let alone 30 or more years ago. “We have legal rights and recourse that are opening up the physical world around us and that also work to change people’s perceptions and attitudes towards disability. It’s a matter of education, or even just exposure to people with different impairments or limitations. If you’ve never known anyone who is paralyzed or who has a speech impediment, or is blind, then you probably don’t know what they can or can’t do. It’s up to those of us who are already aware to educate those who are not.”
Team Member and Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) award-winning Truck Modifier Steve “Wheels” Bucaro also has his own perspective on living with a disability and the negative stereotypes wheelchair-users face. “I like to tell people I’m able-bodied, I just sit in a chair all day. It used to be bothersome when people would stare at me. But I realized they were staring because they never seen a person with a disability do what I have done. And I think it opens up their eyes,” says Bucaro. “I used to have a lot of people ask me ‘so what wheelchair sports do you play?’ But there are alternatives out there to sports such as wheelchair basketball and softball, like modifying vehicles or racing. I don’t think a lot of people know that.”
The United Spinal Motorsports Team also includes Motor Trend Radio News Director Jeff Bressler (www.motortrend.com); NASCAR Modified Division Driver Justin Bonsignore (www.justinbonsignore.com); SCCA Driver Bill Tucker; SCCA Regional Development Manager and Inside Line Editor Mike Dickerson (www.scca.org); National Hot Rod Association Super Stock Pro Drag Racer Robert Burgin (www.nhra.com); President of the Woman’s Automotive Association International Jody DeVere (www.askpatty.com), and President of Redi Auto Sports Daniel Reyes, who have partnered with United Spinal and believe in its mission of enabling people with SCI/D to fulfill their potential as active members of their communities. The Carter Andretti Racing team, which is composed of Drivers Cole Carter and Adam Andretti and Driver Relations Team Manager Dick Dixon will also be supporting the program by sporting the United Spinal Motorsports emblem on their race cars during the 2007 USAC, IRL Indy Pro Series.
To learn more about United Spinal’s Motorsports Team and access profiles of each team member, please visit www.unitedspinal.org/publications/ action/motorsports-living-life-in-motion/.
Solo Car Racing—You Don’t Have to Be A Professional Driver to Compete in Motorsports!
If you’re not a profressional race car driver, but you still have a love for racing and would enjoy competing, there are great opportunities out there that don’t involve having incredible driving skills or investing tons of money on modifying your vehicle for the track. In April 2006, United Spinal partnered with the SCCA, a not-for-profit organization with over 55,000 members featuring the most active membership participation organization in motorsports today. SCCA hosts over 2,000 amateur and professional motorsports events annually in 110 regions across the country. This partnership gives United Spinal members who are interested in competing in motorsports the resources and outlets to do so—primarily through Solo car competition, SCCA’s brand for the general sport of autocross. Alternate vehicle controls are permitted in Solo events, allowing people with disabilities to participate. The best part of Solo compeititon is that just about anyone can participate, as long as they have a valid driver’s license, a well-running vehicle, and a helmet. For more information on Solo car racing, please see the article written in the June 2006 edition of Action, or if you are interested in trying the sport, e-mail motorsports@unitedspinal.org and we will provide you with all the information you need to get started.
Motorsafe Program
United Spinal is also utilizing the Motorsports program to promote another new program called Motorsafe. The Motorsafe program is a public awareness campaign to promote safe motoring and spinal cord injury prevention. Its primary goals are to educate the public, especially youths, on the safe use of all motorized vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, go-karts, ATVs, motorboats, personal watercraft, and snowmobiles, and to prevent “risky” motoring behavior.
Tom Scott is staff editor.
