When I got into high school and got my power chair, I was constantly being told to SLOW DOWN. I never understood this. If you had to sit in a chair with the motor on it, why wouldn’t you go as fast as possible all the time?
Okay I admit it, I’m a guy and I love things that go fast. I loved Top Gun, as a kid(still do really) and The Fast and The Furious movies. I love anything that I could possibly die while doing. Roller coasters, homemade airplanes built from a kit,(yes I’ve ridden in one) I love it all. I’ve even gone skiing. That was a blast. People ask me if I would like to race a lot.(I think they truly believe that I can hit a button on my joystick, and afterburners and will pop out like the picture above). The truth is most chairs only do 4 miles an hour(I’m pretty sure most of you can walk faster than that). I do not have a chair that will do 8 miles an hour but it’s big and the battery drains quickly.
I think those people that always told me to slow down were afraid I was going to lose control and mow someone down. It could happen I guess, but I don’t really see it. On the other end of the spectrum every guy that I grew up with, who had any mechanical skills at all, wanted to soup up the chair. (if I hadn’t been afraid of being grounded until the end of time if something went wrong, I probably would have let some of them do it.)
I’ve often thought that electric wheelchair racing should be an actual sport, with pit crews and sponsors just like NASCAR. The cool thing about it would be that you can actually see your favorite driver as they went around the track.(The advertisers would actually get their moneys worth). if that were a real thing I think, I would be really good at it. Yeah I know, I’ve got too much time on my hands, but you have to admit it’s a great idea.
This has been Wheelchair Wednesday
Image can be found here