Sat, 25 Apr 2009, 03:16 PM The Kid is Doing His Thing

By Norm Froscher Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

The Kid is doing his thing.

Whoa...

We're talking about a 47-year-old and his thing is not exactly steering a high powered race car down the quarter mile or 1,000 foot mark.

Nope, his thing is handling his powered wheel chair to get around at the race track and with other functions it is necessary that he be mobile. Especially to help others in the same situation that he is in.

We've kept you in suspense long enough. If you hadn't already guessed by now, we talking about Florida's own former NHRA star...

Darrell Gwynn.

Yes. Back in 1989, 20 years ago, Top Fuel's Gwynn was the hottest driver on the NHRA circuit, winning the Gatornationals, U.S. Nationals and Keystone Nationals, setting records in the last two to go with his eventual 28 wins.

As for the season championship, the Davie, FL raised Gwynn, the son of Jerry and Joan, he was the prince in waiting for 1990.

And he started just that way, as he defeated veteran Eddie Hill in the Gatornationals before he took off to England for a weekend exhibition.

That led us to what Gwynn properly calls, one bad day in England.

Long time fans will recall that was what happened next.

During an exhibition race April 15 in London, the chassis of his hot rod, weakened by the trans-Atlantic flight, snapped causing Gwynn's dragster to slam into the wall in a horrific Easter Sunday crash. He lost his left arm, was paralyzed from the waist down, and would never race again - at least not in conventional fashion.

What he immediately did was become a car owner, a stint in which he won 15 races,12 of them with Mike Dunn as driver. Dunn, like Gwynn, ultimately changed vocations -- he is now a TV analyst.

Frank Hawley, he of the drag racing school fame, filled in on those first three.

Later, instead of feeling sorry for himself, the former racing champion and Hall of Famer turned his disability into another pursuit - raising money for children and young adults who suffer from spinal cord injuries and debilitating disease.

Before long, Gwynn launched spinal cord injury education programs, began raising awareness and working toward a cure, launched the donation of custom wheelchairs to deserving individuals, added his support to long-term healthcare services for new spinal cord injury patients and helped decorate pediatric hospital units.

Now we come to 2002 and one of the main reasons for this update, the Darrell Gwynn Foundation, which most recently presented a powered wheelchair at the 40th AC Delco Gatornationals. More on that in a minute.

"Having spent most of my adult life as a quadriplegic resulting from a spinal cord injury, I know firsthand the critical difference made by a proper wheelchair," says Gwynn.

"That is why in 2002 we started the Wheelchair Donation Program which helps people across the country get a chair that greatly improves their quality of life."

Mark Dowdy, of north Alabama.

That name probably means nothing to you at the present, but Dowdy, 39, and a short track racer, was riding his motorcycle to work as he typically did when, while entering a curve, the rear wheel suddenly locked up and he and the bike went down. Dowdy likely would have emerged just badly scraped and bruised except for the truck coming the other way around the curve. He was run over, on life support for two days

For nearly a year, Dowdy had been confined to a standard hospital style wheelchair, unable to get one designed for a paraplegic. Friends in racing circles introduced Dowdy to the Darrell Gwynn Foundation and now, through the Foundation's Wheelchair Donation Program, he was outfitted with an all-terrain manual chair that Formal presentation of the chair too place at the Gatornationals.

It allows him to better navigate around his home, work and property while encouraging him to build upper body strength.

But, there's more to the story. Gwynn shares a special affinity with Dowdy, who raced dirt late model and modified cars most of his adult life. Despite his paralyzing injury, Dowdy, who resides in Waterloo, Ala., is committed to building a car that not only gets him back onto dirt tracks but, in his words, "to get back up front."

"I know first-hand that, when racing's in your blood, the competitive spirit never really leaves you," says Gwynn. "I've been where Mark is now and I'm thrilled our Foundation is able to give him hope - and a 'competitive' chair - that helps elevate the mission he has in life. I wish him well and encourage him to continue his quest."

Next scheduled wheelchair to be given away is at Denver's NHRA race.

Further information is at www.darrellgwynnfoundation.org or (954) 792-7223.

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