The Need for SPEED by David Brown t’s one thing to watch an event such as NASCAR and the state to take part in the event at the Wild Horse I imagine driving fast; it’s something else to actually Pass Motor Sports Park. The one-of-a-kind experience drive a high-performance vehicle, especially when it’s encourages post-injury patients with disabilities to been equipped to be driven by people with spinal-cord participate in adaptive recreation. injury or disease (SCI/D) or other physical disabilities. Participating in the event for the second time, Cham- “It’s a different experience than riding as a passen- bers has a rare neurological disorder which causes her ger. I love the feel of the muscle in the car, and I’m in immune system to attack her spinal cord. The disease control of it,” says Christina Chambers, from Mesa, was discovered in 2009, but over the last four years, she Ariz., after driving a 426-horsepowered Chevy Camaro has regained some mobility with a walker and crutches. SS last December during the Bob Bondurant School of She drove a Camaro for the first time. High Performance Driving’s fourth annual Driving to “I learned from my instructor how to turn at that Excel event in the Phoenix area. high of a speed and how much gas and brake to A junior in high school with transverse myelitis, apply,” Chambers says. Chambers was among more than 100 others from St. Trying new things, feeling confident and having Joseph’s Barrow Neurological Institute and around fun is the whole point of the unique program. 1 CHRISTOPHER DI VIRGILIO SPORTs ’N SPOKES | March 2014 The Need for SPEED Bondurant School Hosts Fourth ‘Driving to Excel’ Event Christina Chambers, a high school student with transverse myelitis, is one of 28 participants to drive a Chevy Camaro SS fitted with hand controls at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving’s fourth annual Driving to Excel event. Ride or Drive All participants received basic track instruction from Bondurant assistant chief Instructor Danny Bullock, who coordinates the driving experience at the school. Participants can then ride as a passenger in a Chevy Corvette or Camaro with a professional in- structor or drive a Camaro equipped with special hand controls (depending on their abilities). There were 28 attendees who hit the track in the specially equipped Camaro. Other participants got in the passenger seat for 110-mph laps with Bullock or fellow Bondurant instructors William Hawkins, Robert DAVID BROWN Stout, Andy Lee, Tommy Boileau or Nick Aiuto. March 2014 | SPORTS ’N SPOKES 2 It made me feel more confident in trying new things out of my ‘‘normal life of limitations due to my injuries and disabilities. – Tim Surry ’’ “This annual event gives Barrow patients the oppor- and he flipped eight times, injuring his ribs, legs, feet tunity to drive on a closed course and help them feel and back. Doctors told him he would likely never more confident behind the wheel of a car,” Bullock says. walk again, but he overcame his injuries. Bondurant “It is always a fantastic experience for both the partici- opened his school near Los Angeles in 1968 and later pants and the employees when they come here to the moved it to Phoenix. Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving.” “It was great having the fourth Barrow event here,” Jo Crawford, program coordinator for the Barrow Con- says Bondurant. “My heart feels thankful when I know nection, acknowledges that Driving to Excel is the only I am one of the few places in the world who can give program in the country providing professional drivers to a disabled or partially paralyzed person an opportu- teach advanced driving skills using adaptive equipment. nity to drive a car again. It just feels great!” The Barrow Connection bridges the gap between hospi- Army veteran Brian Smith (Surprise, Ariz.) was tal and community with events like Driving to Excel. among those people who took advantage of living “It is also a great opportunity to introduce people close to the exclusive event and made his first trip to with disabilities to the adapted recreation activity of Bondurant. A West Point graduate, Smith suffered a high-performance driving,” Crawford says. traumatic brain injury and multiple herniated discs Bob Bondurant from a 30-foot fall while deployed for the U.S. Public School of High Health Service during Hurricane Ike in 2008. Performance A Burst of Excitement Smith says he gained a better understanding of ve- Driving’s founder Bob Bondurant It’s no fluke the chance to initiate those with SCI and hicle weight distribution during braking, curves and welcomes other disabilities into the world of high-performance acceleration. He adds that the benefits of the event participants to driving is held at Bondurant. go far beyond that of driving skills. the fourth annual Driving to Excel Bob Bondurant founded the school that bares his “This experience gave me and other participants a Event. More than name after surviving a near-life-ending track acci- huge burst of excitement and sense of accomplishment 100 participants dent while racing in a 1967 Can-Am event. A steer- we wouldn’t get any other way,” says Smith. “It made me with disabilities experienced racing ing arm in Bondurant’s McLaren broke at 150 mph feel more confident in trying new things out of my nor- themselves. mal life of limitations due to my injuries and disabilities.” That’s a belief shared by many others taking part in Driving to Excel, including Chambers. “I live by the motto: ‘The only disability in life is a bad at- titude,’” she says. “If someone tells me I can’t do something because of my disability, I have to prove them wrong.” “I’m Here Today” Bondurant isn’t the only one happy to see people with SCI and other disabilities experi- ence this event. Plenty of vet- DAVID BROWN eran participants such as Phil 3 SPORTs ’N SPOKES | March 2014 Christina Chambers (left) drives off in a Chevy Camaro SS for the first time during her second year participating in the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving’s Driving to Excel event. Below, Phil Pangrazio prepares to take a lap in one of the Camaros fitted with hand controls. CHRISTOPHER DI VIRGILIO DAVID BROWN CHRISTOPHER DI VIRGILIO DI CHRISTOPHER Bondurant School of High Performance Driving’s Driving to Excel participant Tim Surry has attended three of the four years. Pangrazio, Phoenix, know what it means to get into one of these amazing vehicles. “The Driving to Excel event is the perfect event to show the more newly disabled that anything is still possible and that many of life’s VIRGILIO DI CHRISTOPHER great pleasures and experiences Phil Pangrazio, await them,” says Pangrazio. “I’m happy to see others out of curves and working with the weight balance president and with disabilities learn and grow as a person from par- of the car in and out of the curves while accelerating CEO of the Arizona Bridge to ticipating in such an event.” or decelerating. Independent Living Sustaining a SCI in a 1979 car accident when he was “This event is awesome because I get to meet new (ABIL), attends the 19, Pangrazio took part in his third Driving to Excel people and see people that I maybe only see once a Bondurant School of High Performance event. Since 2000, he has been the president and CEO of year at this event,” says Surry, a Chandler, Ariz., native. Driving’s Driving to Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL), one of the Surry sustained a spinal-cord injury during his se- Excel event for the largest nonprofit centers for independent living serving nior year of high school in 1988 in Wichita, Kan. third time. people with disabilities in the U.S. Pangrazio says ABIL “But hey, I’m here today and able to drive fast cars,” advocates personal responsibility as a means to inde- he says. pendence and self-sufficiency. For more information, visit bondurant.com. Also in his third year at Driving to Excel, Tim Surry S’NS says he improved his skills going into and coming March 2014 | SPORTS ’N SPOKES 4.