By Sally Applegate/Correspondent
Fri Jun 20, 2008, 01:52 PM EDT

North Andover - Their email addresses say it all, with titles like "extremeabilities" and "youcantry."

A sociable group of old friends has gathered on Friday at 1600 Osgood St. to prepare for a trip to New Hampshire to make history, thanks to a racing enthusiast named Brian Hanaford. They are going to train in a NASCAR racer modified with hand controls, then run the track under the lights at White Mountain Motor Sports Park in Woodstock, N.H., in a friendly competition with able-bodied racers, to experience the thrill of being a NASCAR driver.

“This has never been done before,” says Hanaford, who hesitates to call it a race competition. “This is person, machine, and track. It’s all about the experience.”

Hanaford came up with the idea two years ago to offer veterans disabled in Iraq the chance to experience the thrill of NASCAR driving. It soon expanded to encompass disabled drivers of both genders from all over the United States.

Peter Ruprecht of Drive Master, a New Jersey organization that modifies vehicles for the physically challenged, explains how it all began.

“Brian called me two years ago out of the blue with an idea that injured veterans coming out of Iraq would probably want a chance to drive a racecar,” says Ruprecht. “Supporting veterans and their families is where the push for this event came from. I listened to his tale, and his story, and his enthusiasm. I told him to give me the car and my staff would install the equipment to make it work [for disabled drivers]. He brought me the frame and the engine and we installed the equipment in between other jobs. It took a good year.”

Now, each disabled driver is taking his or her turn in the shiny NASCAR vehicle in the parking lot of the former Lucent plant. First, though, they suit up in a blue racing outfit and helmet.

Domonic Corradin of New Jersey explains what the suit feels like under the toasty sunshine.

“The suits are hot. They’re meant to protect you, not be comfortable.”

Corradin is entertaining the other disabled drivers with stories as they take turns riding and receiving instructions with Skid School drivers on the training track. They are awaiting their turns to actually drive the NASCAR racer.

“When I first got injured, my dad tried to understand what I was going through,” says Corradin. “Partly thanks to his support, I was able to get back into driving cars and motorcycles. I was hurt at 16 when I was a sophomore in high school. I lost control on ice and smacked into a tree.”

A wing and a prayer

Corradin can’t say enough about his close friend Ian James of New Jersey, an F-15 pilot who served with Special Forces in Bosnia and Iraq.

“Ian is a power lifter,” says Corradin. “He can bench press over 450 pounds and he only weighs 130 pounds. He’s an F-15 fighter pilot. He’s done some crazy special operations in the military he won’t talk about.”

James is relaxing by Corradin and slowly begins to fill in a few details of his colorful career in the military.

“I was in the Air Force Academy since age 16,” says James. “I served with Special Operations Command as a combat rescue officer and supported operations in Bosnia and Iraq. I flew at air shows all over the world and did parachute jumps with the [United States Air Force] Academy Wings of Blue.”

James wasn’t disabled in combat. He really can’t explain exactly what happened.

“Someone put a blanket over me,” says James. “I was found ‘dead’ and paralyzed on the flightline at Hanscom Air Force Base in January of 2002.”

He doesn’t reflect on how he became paralyzed. He’s a man of action.

“Time and life only move in one direction—forward,” he says. “For the rest of your life, you should be sure you are facing in the right direction.”

Since one of the disabled driving students brought along portable hand controls, James takes the wheel of a Skid School Volvo and roars through the traffic cones. When it’s his turn to drive the modified NASCAR racer, he burns up the track as everyone gathers to watch.

“It was quite liberating,” says James after his NASCAR run, the fastest one of the day. “To be honest, I feel everyone’s fears are misplaced. This car is designed to outperform your confidence level so it is inherently safe. It’s your hesitations and reservations that end up limiting the performance of the vehicle, not the vehicle’s limitations.

“I may have been the fastest today, but for me it wasn’t a matter of competition. It was about overcoming limitations. It was about having the opportunity to push beyond my own fears and limitations and do better than my own prior attempts. To me, feeding the ego isn’t satiating.”

The real thing

Everyone has had their NASCAR run and now the upbeat group is packing for the history-making trip to New Hampshire.

Hanaford describes the satisfaction he gets watching the group zoom around the training track in the racecar.

“I can’t put it into words,” he says. “I’ve been a college football player, a carnival king, a class president and a Junior Olympics champ in the mile run. Nothing compares with this. When you can help people fulfill their dreams and be a part of it—there are no words that can describe that feeling.”

Ian James later reports in on his experience at the track in New Hampshire.

“It was exhilarating to don the gear and race under the lights. Even though the day was long, the rewards were so very sweet,” he says.

“I pushed the car as hard as I was comfortable with and it responded in kind with every bit of my input.”

Domonic Corradin also later described what that historic Friday night at the racetrack was like for him.

“We each got to take the car around the track with flagmen and everything,” he says. “The track owner even kept the lights on extra late for us to finish up.

“It was an incredible experience that I will never forget! Being in a race car, on a track, under the lights was a dream-come-true for me! Not many people can say they got to do that, and here is one guy, in a chair, that gets to say he did.”

Photo by Sally Applegate
Following a Skid School session Friday at 1600 Osgood St., these NASCAR drivers-for-aday are ready to head up to New Hampshire to drive a real racetrack under the lights. Pictured, from left, are F-15 pilot and power lifter Ian James, Domonic Corradin, and Amy Malmgren.