Motorworld - April 28, 2007

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Dear Capernaum,

Well, it was mighty scary and a whole lot of fun last Saturday, when Capernaum went to Motorworld. Motorworld is basically a bunch of different tracks with souped up go karts. Now if you question my sanity for bringing people with physical, mental and emotional disabilities to Motorworld........ shoot, I don't blame you!

Imagine the young track workers, watching us take Emily, Regina and AJ (all with Cerebral Palsy, all quadriplegic) out of their wheelchairs and folding them into a go cart. "Hey, what are you doing?" they asked. "I just saw you take him out of the wheelchair. If he can't walk, how can he drive?"

Now we SHOULD have said, "Well, we don't know for sure if he can," but since my Momma made me a little bit smart, we just said, "Oh sure he can drive." So they let us do it, shaking their heads and wondering. But what are they gonna do, throw out a crippled guy? Nah.

Emily was ready to speed. She can't talk, can't walk, can't drive, can't..... HANG ON A MINUTE! Well, let's say she's never driven before. But we got her into the go kart, wedged her foot against the go pedal, didn't worry too much about the stop pedal, kinda straightened her up in the seat, and off she went. She made it about half way around, then kind of flopped over in the car, forcing the steering wheel over with her, and the cart into the side wall with a soft landing. The track guys ran out, got her straight and off she went.

Emily is not supposed to race vehicles. But she did.
Some things are not possible. But we do them anyways.
God makes us all supernatural.
That's what Capernaum is all about.

AJ and Regina both drove. Regina didn't like driving all that much, but AJ was a daggone NASCAR terror out there. After they both tried it on their own, they drove together, AJ driving. AJ had a great time, but Regina might have been a tad scared, on account of the fact that the driver was a quadriplegic who happened to be her fiance.

When the race was over, Regina was heard to say, talking about AJ's driving, "He's crazy!" Naturally this pleased AJ to no end, as all guys want nothing more than to impress their dates with wild race car driving skills.

I would have been more impressed with AJ if he hadn't run into me from behind when I was stuck against the track wall after an accident WHICH I DID NOT CAUSE. AJ could have gone around me, and should have. Plus he COULD have. But he used the old "I'm a crippled guy, sorry about that," excuse. I don't buy that, AJ. I am COMING FOR YOU, BOY!

Hamilton is a big black kid with autism. He's about 6'5" tall, weighs about 270, is a big old teddy bear and has a heart the size of a mack truck. When he stands next to you he's usually smiling and rocking back and forth or pacing a bit. But when he got behind the wheel of a go kart his whole world was focused down to the pinpoint of road before him and just driving.

Hamilton was an excellent driver, and had no right to be.

I passed him during a race, then slowed down to let him pass me. I laughed as I drove beside him, watching his powerful focus and concentration, a small smile on his face, his head bobbing a little, forward and back. As we prepared to go into a curve, he noticed a bird flying over, so he did the only right thing and craned his head back to watch the bird fly over his shoulder. I figured he was gonna crash, but apparently God was the co-pilot, cause Hamilton lightly bounced off the curve, turned around, and just went on with the race, like nothing happened.

As we came into the final lap, one of the young track guys came out to wave us over to the pit lanes. He was standing ON the inside lane, the same lane Hamilton was on. I watched the whole thing unfold. Hamilton was just driving, very focused. He was in his lane, and the young track guy shouldn't have been. At the very last minute, the young track guy realized that Hamilton was not going to drive around him, and that HE was going to get run over.

He jumped straight up into the air and did a half somersault while Hammy drove right under him, happy as can be, in his lane, in his groove, in his element. A race car driver.

The track kid was OK, a little banged up. I don't think he'll ever stand in front of an oncoming car again. Certainly not if it's Hamilton!

Some of the Capernaum drivers would forget about their stop pedals when they came into pit row and would just BANG into the back car, sending it like a domino into the car in front and on down the line, until the first car would shoot out like a comet.

No one was hurt, except for the momentarily confused track boy that had the audacity to play chicken with Hamilton.

Hammy won.

Love,

John