It started at a really young age, younger than I can remember I am told. I have always had this desire for all things fast. An addiction really, one that I struggle to keep in its proper place even as we speak. When I was a kid, I even chose my shoes based on how fast I believed they would help me to run. And I ran. As fast as I could everywhere I could.

I got my first motorcycle at the age of four. It was one of those electric, charge-up jobs. Although I only have vague memories of that Police Bike, I want to say it just wasn't fast enough.

As I got older, I always want the fastest bicycle that would allow me to jump over, run through and blast by anything and everything. I have the hospital records to prove it. I am sure I kept my mother in a constant state of terror. I learned to do things like ride wheelies and careen down the steep red dirt hills and gullies of rural northeast Mississippi.

At the age of eight, I had a friend with a real motorcycle. It was a Honda Z50. That thing was the coolest. It was Honda red and had the curl back handle bars and fat trail bike tires. It was a three-speed manual-automatic which was great for kids with no concept of clutch driven machinery. I used to walk to his house everyday and ride that bike with him. He and I would set up tracks around his property and take turns screaming up the driveway around the back and across the front yard. That was great fun, of which I was careful not to tell my mother about. Thing was however, I have real memories of that Z50 becoming to slow after some time. I reached a point where I was going around our carefully laid out racing circuit as fast as either of us believed possible and the bike spent little time at anything other than firmly pegged against the rev limiter.

My next experience with instruments of speed came from another childhood friend. I had a bandmate and fellow drummer at the age of nine named Jody Stringer. Since Jody and I were friends and drummers, I would go to his house under the stated primary objective of practicing rudiments and other percussion related things. In addition to the pursuit of Buddy Rich like chops, I was also interested in getting a ride on his Kawasaki KE100. This bike was much more suitable to my desire for speed and high flying stunts. Jody was always happy to make the transition from the drumming to the motorcycle as well. Thing was while I was the better drummer, Jody had been riding motorcycles for sometime. Watching him scream that bike around the garden, over the whoops and the table top jump he had arranged was both fun and torture. I wanted to do what he was doing, but just didn't have the saddle time to get it done. What I needed was my own motorcycle.

I made my mother aware of this desire and she was not terribly keen on the idea. My best friend Doug Hearn had a go-kart and it seemed that was about as far as she would be willing to go. While Doug's cart was cool, it served really more as transportation than exhilaration. I wanted two wheels with a bad attitude.

The summer of 1978, I spent the summer with my father in Odessa Texas. My father had a commercial drywall company and I spent that summer working with him earning cash. I told my father of my “extensive” experience with riding motorcycles and my desire for my own. We began looking at bike shops in the area and found what would be my first machine. It is one of those memories that make me immediately feel the butterflies in my stomach and total sense of want that a young boy has for his long desired quest. We found a used 1976 Suzuki RM80. This was the real deal. Even faster than Jody's KE100 since this was the motocross version, 2 stroke, 5 speed, yellow and black like a mad bumble bee. The bike had been traded in and need to have the engine overhauled. Given that I had been completely exaggerating my abilities as a rider, the owner of the shop recommended that certain performance enhancements be done during the repair. The stars were aligning for me in a way that afterschool specials couldn't rival. The only thing I had to do, was convince Mom. Mom was absolutely against the idea and no matter how I pleaded, she was not budging. My father came to my aid and assured my mom that the bike was small, not much more than a toy and she finally relented. I spent my whole summer's earnings and bought the motorcycle with all the recommended go fast upgrades.

After we got the bike from the shop, my dad took me to a place in Wichita Falls where some friends of his rode. These are the same folks I had been bragging to all summer about my extensive experience with motorcycles. We got the bike off the truck and I started it up. That as the one thing I had gotten to practice the whole week in the car port of my father's house. Everything was fine until I had to make the bike go. Having very little experience with a clutch driven transmission and a very angry 2-stroke power plant, I would either simply kill the motor for lack of throttle or have the bike leap out from under me with too much throttle. I am sure my father thought he would be killed by my mother if I came home with wounds from this so called toy. I did learn quickly however and in a couple times out, I was moving around the track at what seemed like massive speed. And there it was, I was absolutely hooked.

I spent the rest of my childhood riding motorcycles, learning all the coolest BMX tricks and always looking for ways to go fast. My fist car was a 1970 Impala Sport Coupe. It had been the daily driver car for a retired couple and had very few miles as a result. It did however have the big 400cubic inch V8. I loved it. I began to fancy myself quite the racecar driver. I would read articles about famous drivers like Nigel Mansel, Al Unser Jr., and Hans Stouk. My friends and I would take our hotrods to the winding back roads of Potomac MD and scream the cars through the curves in the late night hours. My desire for faster and faster things led me to a car that shapes who I am as a car guy to this day. My second car was a 1974 Formula Firebird. The car was crazy fast. It was Ram Air with a four speed and would set the tone for an affinity for Firebirds that I still have today. I spent hours learning to maneuver that car as fast a insanely possible through corners and straight-aways all over Montgomery County. Drag racing in the streets was fine, but the curvy roads always seemed to be where I wanted to push the envelope. As I got older I had also moved into street bikes and had great desire to drag my knee around corners like the Café Racers of the world. With the amount of addiction to speed and the willingness to feed the addiction it is surprising that I was never in a high speed crash in those days.

On November 7 th , 1989 I rode my motorcycle to work. I had a day job as a carpenter since I was still pursing that whole drummer thing. At the end of that day I had an accident that changed my life. I backed into a stairway opening on the second floor of the enormous house we were building. There were no stairs in place, just a shaft through to the basement. I sustained a spinal cord injury in that fall that left me a C6 Quadriplegic. I spent the next 6 months in hospitals and rehabilitation centers.

After leaving the rehab setting I moved back in with my Mother and went back to college. At first, I still had one of my motorcycles there in my Mother's garage. I would sit out there and stare at the bike wishing I could take it out and ride wheelies in the parking lot. One afternoon, I was sitting in the garage when my mother came out and found me there staring at the bike. She asked me what I was doing and I responded, “trying to figure out how to get on.” I went out with my brother the next day and when I returned home, the bike was gone. Mom had no intention of allowing me the time to figure out how to get back on that bike.

As a new college student, I needed a car to drive and had gotten my license in rehab', trained for using hand controls. I bought a car and contacted the recommended local shop that did handicapped conversions for vehicles. I called The Van House in Hampton VA to schedule my car to be equipped. The gentleman that I spoke with was clearly experienced with working with wheelchair bound clientele. His initial line of questioning was regarding the nature of my disability. I explained to him that I was a C6 quad' and his immediate response was “what kind of van do you have.” I was not sure why he would assume I had a van and quickly corrected him. I told him I had a 1984 Firebird Trans Am. He responded with a bit of a chuckle and asked me “Do you think you could have made things any more difficult for yourself.” He went on to explain how much easier it would be for a quadriplegic to have a van with a lift gate and all the other trimmings. I was dead set on not having my injury define who I was. I would do whatever it takes to continue my thirst for all things fast. I worked directly with the mechanics at the Van House to design solenoid shifter mechanisms and various other gadgets to make it possible for me to operate this muscle car.

And so it all began again. I adapted to the difficulties of getting a wheelchair in and out of a Firebird and got accustomed to driving insanely fast with hand controls. I later upgraded to a much faster 1988 Firebird GTA. This is one of the cars that I still have today. This was later modified for use on the road racing circuits around the country. It went through a major renovation which included a racing crate motor, racing suspension package, upgraded fuel injection, racing 3” exhaust, brakes, etc. This initial renovation was done in 1996 and I have had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time getting the most from the investment.

There are several venues in the region and elsewhere around the country for fellow speed addicted car guys (and gals) to go and feed the addiction. There are very good road course in the area. Virginia International Raceway is an excellent high speed road course in Danville, VA. Summit Point Raceway is a very good road course just an hour west of the DC Area. If you are willing to do the road trip, there are great places to go such as Mid-Ohio Raceway south of Cleveland, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glenn New York just to name a few. These are all world class road courses. You can easily get involved in this addiction yourself as I have. There are racing schools such as Car Guys Racing School that give two and three days training sessions. These schools are for folks that want to bring their own car to the track. This is the most cost effective way to get started. A three day course is usually around $400. There are also more expensive courses such as Skip Barber and Buck Baker. These courses have you behind the wheel of an open wheel Indy Style race car or a NASCAR. I have no experience with these type of schools and their ability to accommodate hand controls. The schools that have you bring your own car fit best with us folks with hand controlled sports cars.

While road racing is my personal favorite, drag racing is probably the most accessible type of racing. In most areas around the country, there are numerous drag racing venues. I have driven at many drag racing venues and enjoy it a great deal. It is still maintains the thrill of speed and is very competitive. Anyone can get involved in drag racing. Most drag race venues have Street Night events. Even if you don't have the race prepared muscle car, you can go get the sense of speed and competition. Bracket style racing allows you to compete against cars varying from highly modified street cars like mine, to the family grocery getter, to alcohol blown dragsters. The premise of bracket racing is not purely reaching the finish line with the fastest time, it is primarily based on consistency. When you line up for your pass, you place a predicted time on your window. When you're lined up at the tree with your competition, the driver with the best combination of reaction time and adherence to the predicted time wins. It is great fun. Even my wife has caught the addiction and likes to compete in the bracket racing.

My addiction to speed and love of Firebirds has reached a fever pitch over the least few years. I have a total of four Firebirds. I have a 1968 Firebird Convertible that is really more of a show pony than a racecar. It is currently finishing a complete restoration from the frame to the top. This is a frustrating, expensive and time consuming process but I know once it is complete, it will be great to cruise the streets with the top down and the huge 428ci engine rumbling.

I also have a 1976 Trans Am that is being restored as well. This project was not taken to nearly the extent of the '68. The project did however include completely rebuilding the 400ci engine with numerous performance enhancements. The car also received all new suspension parts, transmission overhaul, conversion to four wheel disk brakes and all new interior. This project is very near completion and I expect to be pounding the pavement with this car come spring. This car will be perfect for the drag strip.

My latest model year car is a 2001 Formula Firehawk. This is a real show stopper. The Firehawk is a custom made Firebird built by a company called Street Legal Performance (SLP). I went to Pontiac directly to order the car. They give you the laundry list of speed cost money, how fast you want to go options. These options include the standard Firehawk ram air forced induction, and goes on to racing suspensions differentials, exhaust, etc. I made my choices of all the different options and placed the order. The car was born on April 12, 2001 at the Pontiac Factory in Canada. The factory builds the base of the car and it is then shipped to SLP. SLP then completes all the required upgrades. Finally the car goes back to the factory for final inspection before the train ride home. This car is a very capable road racer and has done quite well at the drag strip as well. I have taken the car all over the country to shows and races. The car pulls over 1g of lateral acceleration and will do the standing quarter mile in the low 13second range.

Last but not least in the collection is the '88 GTA I have had for years. I love this car. It is currently in line for another renovation process. This time I am moving right to the edge of street legal versus dedicated racecar. I have put together a 383ci stroker motor with all the finest racing components. The existing race ready suspension from the last go ‘round will be freshened up, while the chassis will be stiffened with sub-frame connectors and a 6 point roll cage inside. All of these modifications will have the car delivering blistering road course performance and likely running the drag strip in the very low 12 second range. I am working on a shifter design that will allow me to shift up and down sequentially with buttons on the hand controls.

This has been a description of one man's addiction to, as I've been saying, all things fast. This can also be read as a metaphor for the desires and aspirations of all people living under challenging circumstances. The thing that I hope everyone who reads this article takes away from it is that you have to live you life as who you are regardless of any impediments placed in your path. Not all of us suffer from this addiction to all things fast. But, we all have things we love to do. The important thing is to not let your disability or anything else dictate the terms of your life. In most cases, the person inside you will adapt to the circumstances and do whatever is necessary to fulfill your aspirations.