He was born to be a race car driver but a near-fatal accident left him paralyzed.
After 20 years, he's getting behind the wheel again.
After 20 years, he's getting behind the wheel again.
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00:00Above all, it doesn't matter that I'm paralyzed. I can drive this car. I can be fast in it. I can
00:07control it and I think that's
00:10That's the end all for me is that I I really feel normal again
00:13It's been 20 years looking at people's belly, you know
00:34Or it's just you know
00:36In your wheelchair since everybody else bends over to talk to you
00:39Kneels down to take a picture with you or just those things, you know
00:44Well
00:51Frankly my entire life's been about racing. I
00:54My dad raced when I was born and then at five he put me on a motorcycle and kind of the rest is history
00:59It was the peak of my IndyCar career. I had a six-month-old, a two-and-a-half-year-old, beautiful wife and everything's great
01:24They really didn't think I'd make it through the night because of the severity of the accident
01:29But I did and then my wife flew in and
01:32The statement for the doctor on the second day was well, you know if he makes it this week
01:38Just plan on putting him in a nursing home
01:41He'll be on a ventilator the rest of his life and we found a very aggressive doctor in John McDonnell in
01:46St. Louis and he was about the only one that said
01:50Send him here. We will work his tail off. We will try to get him off the ventilator and
01:55It will go from there and everybody else was kind of like ah ventilator that level not a lot of hope
02:03But they created the hope in St. Louis and kind of the rest is history
02:12My dad was injured
02:14Racing when I was 11, and it was somewhat similar in that his right side was paralyzed
02:19He lost the use of his voice at that time
02:22They said he would never walk or talk again
02:24But I watched him
02:28To two years of five days a week outpatient therapy to get his voice back and to get his walk back
02:34He never regained use of his arms, but he really got a lot back. And so I had no idea
02:42What impact that would have on me 20 years later?
02:45But it was really the foundation for the fact that I couldn't give up. I had to give it my all
02:52for my dad for my kids, you know for my family I
02:58Desperately wanted to be around to watch them grow up and and be a part of that family
03:12They had decided they were going to design a vehicle for somebody to drive that can't use their arms or legs
03:18I was the natural candidate because I've been a race car driver
03:20so we connected going on eight years ago now and
03:25Their idea was to you know, just drive and we did and then we've driven faster. We've taken on more challenges
03:32It's just been a you know, really an inspirational a motivational thing for me to be able to drive again
03:48I
04:0521 years ago did not think I would be able to race and compete on an even platform
04:10with able-bodied people and so
04:13to be able to do that is
04:16You know number one beyond belief, but it
04:21It keeps me motivated on a daily basis gives me a reason to get up every morning and and work
04:33It really goes back to
04:362014 when we drove the Corvette for the first time and he went out seven and I looked at my car
04:41He said, you know if we're able to accomplish this
04:44You've got to create something for me to walk my daughter down the aisle or dance with her
04:49and we kind of laughed and chuckled because my daughter was 14 and I thought it'd be quite a quite a ways down the road, but
04:55Here we are eight years later and they made it happen
05:14Awesome side and then I'm tall again unbelievable feeling to be up right again
05:35I was able to do the first dance with her and then a dance with my wife and then I danced with our entire family
05:41so
05:42absolutely, incredible, I mean best day in 21 years and
05:47Continues to motivate me to push this thing even farther and try and make it
05:52More attainable and reachable for other people
06:06It's symbolic of what can be done if you put your mind to it and
06:10Technology this has such an opportunity to help people with disabilities in their daily living
06:18In their work environment in their mobility
06:20And so that that's the whole concept here is that you need to think outside the box and you need to think
06:27What can you use technology for?
06:29To make your life better