Night @ C.M Speedway
Posted: July 2nd, 2007, 10:09 am
So I'm at Speedway last Sat night.. place is packed due to the Freestyle guys being part of the show.
My box is in the perfect place ( Jumpers coming right at you, landing hill directly abeam to my box) so I'm chasing stragglers out all night.
My boy is looking at me, but past me, with a weird look, and says" Dad theres another one behind you."
I spin around, full of venom to deliver, but when I do.... its a guy.... in a wheel chair.
I ask him his name... he says Rich. He said his last name, but it escapes me.
Turns out he's 45, crashed hard 12 years ago in a District 37 Dez race, and has been in a chair ever since.
I rolled him ( and his boy) right up to the front of our box.. dispatched my buddy Fred to purchase more beer, and spent the next few hours watching Speedway and chatting with my new found friend about bikes, kids, racing, living .. everything. It was like he had allot to say.... perhaps he dosent get to talk because people have some sort of issue with the disabled.... or maybe he's just a "Chatty Kathy"... I dont know....
Long story short... My son learned folks in chairs are real people just like you and me.... with the same problems ( perhaps more) AND the same zest for life.
Rich thanked me several times. CM Speedway isnt exactly the best place to go when everybody is standing, and your sitting down. He said he had one of the most enjoyable nights out that he had in a long time.
I told him he's welcome back anytime.
On the way home, my boy asked why I chased all the others out of our box, but let him stay.
I explained that ANY of the others had a choice to stand anywhere they want. I made the choice not to let them stand in an area that we had paid for.
Rich has no choice about getting up out of that chair... so we could invite him in our area due to us owning the space.
The boy learned allot about life, and making the right choice, that night.
My box is in the perfect place ( Jumpers coming right at you, landing hill directly abeam to my box) so I'm chasing stragglers out all night.
My boy is looking at me, but past me, with a weird look, and says" Dad theres another one behind you."
I spin around, full of venom to deliver, but when I do.... its a guy.... in a wheel chair.
I ask him his name... he says Rich. He said his last name, but it escapes me.
Turns out he's 45, crashed hard 12 years ago in a District 37 Dez race, and has been in a chair ever since.
I rolled him ( and his boy) right up to the front of our box.. dispatched my buddy Fred to purchase more beer, and spent the next few hours watching Speedway and chatting with my new found friend about bikes, kids, racing, living .. everything. It was like he had allot to say.... perhaps he dosent get to talk because people have some sort of issue with the disabled.... or maybe he's just a "Chatty Kathy"... I dont know....
Long story short... My son learned folks in chairs are real people just like you and me.... with the same problems ( perhaps more) AND the same zest for life.
Rich thanked me several times. CM Speedway isnt exactly the best place to go when everybody is standing, and your sitting down. He said he had one of the most enjoyable nights out that he had in a long time.
I told him he's welcome back anytime.
On the way home, my boy asked why I chased all the others out of our box, but let him stay.
I explained that ANY of the others had a choice to stand anywhere they want. I made the choice not to let them stand in an area that we had paid for.
Rich has no choice about getting up out of that chair... so we could invite him in our area due to us owning the space.
The boy learned allot about life, and making the right choice, that night.
