“If I didn’t think I could do it, I wouldn’t be here. I’ve never been one for a dog and pony show,” she informed him. As I whispered to her so only she could here me, “Hey lady, you want to see a donkey?” Becoming Antonia Part 13 By The girl with the wrench in her hand, & Zomba

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It’s been about a few months since Jess woke up in the hospital. I visit her every day and can say without a shadow of a doubt that she is surprising the doctors every day. The same ones who told her she’d be a paraplegic with diminished use of her arms, for the rest of her life, are amazed that she can now wheel herself around in her wheel chair and for the most part take care of herself.

As for Sarah and me, I’ve been flying back and forth to Syracuse just about every other weekend, so I can see her and the kids. It’s amazing how much my boy looks and acts just like I did when I was his age. Isabelle is just adorable. Adopted or not, there is no doubt that she takes after Sarah. Both of them are very strong willed, and, if either one get’s their mind made up about something, there are two chances of changing it, slim and none. The only problem is “Slim” usually has his coat on and is half way out the door, if you catch my drift.

I kept my promise to Patrick about building a car for him to race. He took to the track like a duck to water. He moved up quickly from the Novice class and became a force to be reckoned with in the Junior Honda’s.* He even took home the win at the annual “Classic Kick-Off” race, held by the local track in Fulton. It’s one of the biggest races of the year on the east coast. It is sponsored by the Oswego Speedway and is held under the lights on the Thursday night before Labor Day. That is when the speedway holds it’s annual 200 lap season finally for the super modifieds. The race is a big treat for the kids. The speedway usually has some of it’s drivers and crews bring their cars down for the people to take a close look at, and there is usually an autograph session with the drivers before the finals start.

Meanwhile, I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out if and how I can get Jess back behind the wheel of a race car. She’s told me on more then one occasion that the only thing she’s ever wanted to do in her life is drive. A chance encounter with an old engineering friend of mine at the PRI show, led me to think I can pull it off.

The Performance, and Racing Industry show is a who’s who of racing technology. I met up with an old friend from college, who was working for one of the venders, to have dinner when she obviously knew my mind was elsewhere.

“Ok, what’s the ‘sitch?'” she asked me sipping her drink.

“What do you mean Tina?”

“Well you’ve been sitting there for over 10 minutes and haven’t so much as touched your food. Come on, dish, what’s bothering you?”

“Well you know Jess has full movement of her arms and everything else above the waist right?”

“Yeah, you called me that day from the hospital when you found her racing her wheel chair with some kid on her floor.”

“Ok, well it got me thinking. How can I get her back in a race car? I mean she obviously still likes to race, and she CAN move her arms. But, how do I give her control over the car?”

“You’re joking right? HELLO! Earth to Toni. I work for a company that makes servos to control different parts of the car. All we’d have to do is hook up some simple hand controls in place of the peddles and BINGO! We’re racing,” she told me, just beaming with joy.

I just looked at her in shock. I never thought it would be that easy, but she was right. I was trying to go about it all wrong. I was trying to figure out how to hook up pulleys and levers to do the job, I never even thought about electrics.

“And I’ll go you one better,” she informed me. “Since I’m vice president of product development, I don’t think it would be too hard to talk the higher-ups that this would be the perfect project to put some marketing money into.”
“You mean like a sponsorship?” I asked, almost not believing my luck.

“Exactly like a sponsorship. How soon do you think you can get the car ready?”

“Well if I can talk Chip into the deal, I should be able to have it ready to go for the season opener in Homestead.”

“I’ll call my people in the morning and have them meet you at the shop Monday. How’s that sound?” Tina asked me.

“Tina, if you weren’t married, I’d kiss you,” I laughed.

“And if you weren’t so cute when you’re happy, I’d be offended you didn’t,” she told me with a wink.

I called Chip from my hotel and told him the idea. He was a bit reluctant at first, but I told him that if anyone could sell it to the league, it was him. He told me he’d do his best, and that he’d set up a meeting with the league right after the first of the year. I agreed and went to work to get the hand controls in place so I could surprise Jess for Christmas. The down side was that I was going to miss another Christmas with my son. I’ll make it up to him. I’m going to have a little surprise in store for the next time I get a chance to get home and visit with Sarah, Patrick and Isabelle.

I showed up at the hospital on Christmas day and talked the nurse into letting Jess out under my care for the day. She could always read me like a book, so she knew there was something up my sleeve when I got her in my truck and started heading out of Indianapolis in the direction of the shop.

“Alright, where are we going on such a nipple whipping cold day?” she asked as she reached over and cranked up the heater.

“Just relax. Can’t a friend help another friend get some fresh air?”

“Ok, I guess, but where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. Just sit back and relax,” I told her as we pulled up to the shop. She just looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Come on let’s get inside,” I told her.

“What are we doing here? You know I can’t drive,” she told me as she started to cry.

“Just relax,” I told her as I hugged her. “I told you, I have a surprise for you.”

I wheeled her into the shop and lead her over to the car I had covered up with a tarp. I yanked the tarp off and beamed at her with joy as I yelled, “Merry Christmas.”

She just looked at the car, then back at me, then back at the car. “What the hell is this Toni? You know I can’t drive anymore. HELLO! I can’t move my fucking legs.”

“You don’t have to. Tina, from Extreme Servo’s Inc., set me up with some of their products. This car is completely hand operated,” I told her, smiling from ear to ear.

She looked over the car and then caught eye of the hand controls on the steering wheel. Her eyes started to water as she looked at me and realized that her dream of driving race cars wasn’t over after all.

“Oh, Toni!” she finally said wiping the tears from her face. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Have to, no. Need to, to help my friend. Most definitely.” I bent down to hug her

We embraced for what seemed like forever when my cell went off. I checked the caller ID and saw that it was Chip, right on time.

“Hey Chip.”

“Well? You gonna make me ask, or are you going to tell me if she said yes?”

“I haven’t asked her yet, why don’t you do it?” I told him, handing Jess the phone.

I can only guess as to what he actually asked her, but from the looks on her face she was giving, I can surmise that he asked her if she wanted another shot at INDY. She told him “Most definitely,” as she handed me back the phone.

“Ok, so we’re all set for the big day on the 7th. The league agreed that if she can drive that car you built and prove that she can handle it without trouble, they’ll let her race,” he informed me.

“We’ll be there Chip. And one more thing. Thank you.” I said as I hung up.

“Well, we need to get you back to the hospital and get you a release so we can get you to the test,” I told Jess.

“Just let them try and stop me,” she told me with that smile she has. The one I hadn’t seen in a while.

We spoke to the doctors. While reluctant to release her, they did and cleared her to drive again. So, she came back to my place with me, and we got her ready for the test and the press conference after. We met Chip at the track bright and early the next morning, and the top officials from the league were there for the test.

Jess climbed into the car by herself and strapped herself in like she always did. We had put her in the car at the shop to make sure she knew where everything was, so when the safety official went over the different parts of the controls with her she could find them without any problem. He gave her the all set, and we cranked the engine to life. I got on the headset and started my normal speech to her, like I always had.

“Ok, just take it easy for a few laps. Feel the car out, and let the tires get some heat into them. Don’t go crazy. Just relax and have fun out there. No pressure.”

“Ok mom,” she shot back at me

I was like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs as she started her warm up laps. I trusted Tina, but I was still worried about what if something went wrong. All I could do was watch as Jess made some relatively slow laps to let the temperatures come up in both the motor and the tires. I glanced over at the league officials, and they were actually smiling as she went by.

“How’s it feel out there?” I asked her out of concern.

“I’m dropping the hammer.” She laughed as I heard the revs come up on the engine, and she took off like a scalded dog.

“No you’re not! DAMN IT JESS!” I screamed at her over the radio, then just shook my head, knowing I couldn’t stop her.

After a few laps, she was flirting with the track record again, and I thought that was enough. I looked at the head official, and he nodded to me with a smile.

“Alright lead foot, that’s enough for now. Bring it in.”

She pulled into the garage area, and the safety officials met her before she could even unbuckle. They wanted to test to see how quickly she could get out of the car if she needed to. So they pulled out a stopwatch and someone yelled go, and, before I could even think, she was out of the car and sitting on the ground at the feet of the officials. I helped her into her chair and waited for the officials to render their decision.

Chip came over to us, and, like I always told him, he should never play poker. He was beaming from ear to ear as he told us that we did it. They were letting Jess drive again. I hugged Jess and then helped her clean up for the press conference that Chip had scheduled for after the test.

It was a sea of flash bulbs as I followed Jess in to the media room. She had insisted on wheeling herself in since the last time most of these people had seen her they were taking her out of the track on a back board. We took our seats next to Chip and just sat there as he told the world the news.

“Earlier today, under the watchful eye of the top league officials, Jessica made a test run in a car that had been outfitted with special hand controls. She passed every test they gave her, including being able to extricate herself from the car in case of emergency. I am pleased to re-introduce to you all, my driver for the upcoming season, Jessica Zimpkin,” he said with a smile and went over to hug Jess, who wheeled herself over to the podium and started answering questions.

She pointed to Bod Dilner from ESPN. “Go ahead Bob.”

“Jess, that was a heck of a crash. Do you think you can put it out of your head and really drive the car like you used to?”

“If I didn’t think I could do it, I wouldn’t be here. I’ve never been one for a dog and pony show,” she informed him. As I whispered to her so only she could here me, “Hey lady, you want to see a donkey?” Which of course was making note of when we went to TJ, after one of the races out west, and, like I thought, she fought to stop from laughing.

“Ok, Jerry?” as she pointed to Dr. Jerry Punch from Speed.

“What made you want to come back after nearly being killed last season?”

She just shook her head and quoted Richard Petty. “You can take the driver out of the track, but you’ll never get the track out of the driver. Racing is all I’ve ever wanted to do since my dad strapped me into my first quarter midget when I was 4. Think what you will. Say I have a death wish if you want. But if I go, I want to go with my helmet on,” she told them all as the tears started to flow. “Alright, who’s next?” she asked.

“Who built the controls for your new car?” came a question from the back.

“I’ll turn things over to Toni. She built the car, so I’m sure she can answer any technical questions you have,” Jess said as she wheeled herself away from the podium, and I stepped up.

“The car uses the latest in servo actuated controls from Extreme Servo’s. The crew there hooked us up with everything we’d need to allow Jess to be able to control the car with just two hands,” I told them as I held up the steering wheel from the car. “Here’s her throttle lever, her brake, and clutch are on the other side. These buttons are for the air shifter.”

I went through and demonstrated the controls. “It’s actually very similar to the old Honda single seat dune buggies. The throttle is monitored by computer, and everything is fed to the TPS. The brakes were going to be my biggest headache until the league announced that ABS was legal now. So, I basically did the same thing with the brakes, having a computer monitor the lever and feed a servo attached to the master cylinder. The clutch is just a straight shot at the servo, with no computer monitor,” I told them. I held the wheel still, so they could get a good look at it. “Extreme Servo’s even hooked us up with a safety override. So that all she has to do is hit this button here, and every servo returns to it’s home position. Which is full off for the throttle, and full on for the brakes. Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at the future of our sport. This will be the safest car on the track at the season opener in Homestead, period.” I looked around and smiled for the cameras as the flash bulbs made me think a strobe light was going off.

When all was said and done, we answered questions for over 2 hours, and, after it was over, Chip pulled us aside and had the most serious talk I’d ever remembered having with him.

“Promise me, that whatever happens from here on out. We win INDY.”

Jess and I just nodded at him, and we went back to my place and just crashed into bed after a long day.

To be continued:

* www.quartermidgets.org for info about the class Patrick races