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Feb. 28, 2013, 6:26 a.m.
2/28/2013
By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com
One of the most common things that I am asked by racers, track owners, spectators, and friends is, "Doesn't it make you mad when a track doesn't have a ramp and a place cut out on the drivers stand for you to drive from?" Some say that tracks should be required like any other business to be fully handicap accessible, ADA approved, and built to "code" like any other business. Others feel that the cost and expense of being handicap accessible is too much to ask of R/C tracks as they are not usually bringing in the income that larger retail businesses etc.
The topic was brought to my attention again over the past week, and I wanted to share my opinions on the topic and hear YOURS as well.
R/C racing is a sport that absolutely anyone can be involved in. Regardless of your age, gender, physical situation, or experience, any person can buy an R/C car and enjoy racing. After getting paralyzed racing motocross, R/C became my main focus and has been ever since. Over the course of the past six years, with enormous help from family and friends, I have been given the opportunities to pursue R/C racing around the country attending a wide variety of tracks. Some facility's have ADA city approved ramps and platform cut-outs for wheelchair racers to drive from, others are hidden in the hills with a skid steer bucket and some tie downs to lift me up high enough to race.
(Racing in the rain at the '08 IFMAR Worlds on the boom lift creation - Photo courtesy of NeoBuggy.net)
As a paralyzed racer in a wheelchair, in my opinion, there is no "right answer". Building ramps of any size and sort are expensive, when you add in the ADA codes and regulations those costs only go up. Do I think every track with a 15' tall drivers stand should have a 400' ramp with easy slope, rest spots, and rubber grip? No. Do I think every track that is not wheelchair accessible should be excluded from any sort of "major" event? No. Do I think every track needs to follow "code" when building a ramp? No. Do I care how I get onto the drivers stand to race? No.
For a track to install ramps is a HUGE expense for the track owners and can be a major renovation of a facility, and in no way shape or form do I ever wish to see a track close or never open because the funds are not there to accomodate my wheelchair. I have been carried by racers, lifted by machines, and even ATV winched up drivers stands.
In my opinion what is more important than ramps is having a place to drive from on the stand that allows me (and all other wheelchair drivers) to roll out and get my shoulders even with the other drivers in order to see the race track, pit lane, etc. without having radios blocking the view. This is most often easily done to wooden drivers stands by making a cut-out in the railing with a platform (32" wide x 24") that jets out and allows a wheelchair to roll out onto it.
(The guys at Real R/C Raceway were amongst the first in the midwest area to build a driving platform for handicap racers.)
Most often building a platform (not necessarily as elaborate as the one pictured above) is not a high dollar project and it makes almost any drivers stand usable for wheelchair racers.
If a track is going to build a ramp, again this is MY opinion, the cost and expectations of following "code" regulations are ridiculous. Sure the ramp is super easy to use and roll up and down, but if the track can save $25k building a steep ramp that I need a little help going up and down, I'm all for it! Any ramp is easier than no ramp at all.
(Novelty R/C Raceway in 2008. At the time they had stairs with this VERY handy flip down platform to drive from. Today they have built a ramp over the existing stairway to make racing even easier, at half the cost of a "regulation ramp".)
Do I believe it should be mandatory that all tracks are handicap accessible? That is a trick question, because in my opinion almost anything is wheelchair accessible if your willing to be flexible and try things. I cannot thank all of the track owners, racers, and friends who have spent countless times carrying me up and down stairs, building and pushing me up and down ramps, lifting me up in machines, building various contraptions, standing beside me operating the cherry picker for entire A-mains, constructing platforms, and the list goes on and on. Whether the ideas we try to make it possible for me to race work or fail, the fact that you all have gone out of your way to help me so much over the years is appreciated more than you will ever know.
In a perfect world it would be a dream come true for every R/C racetrack to have easy to roll ramps, platforms, and padded run-off zones for when I get whisky throttle coming off the stand...BUT in the real world it's just not possible at this time. As our sport/hobby continues to grow I believe the demand for ramps and accessibility will become greater as not just wheelchairs benefit from the ease of ramps over stairs, and it will become more "mandatory" that tracks are fully accessible.
In the meantime, paralyzed or not, I am a racer. As long as I get to race my R/C car, no matter what it takes to do it...I am a happy camper!
What are your thoughts and opinions on R/C tracks being handicap accessible? Should it be mandatory? Share your thoughts and opinions below!
*Track Owners - If you are interested in working towards making your facility more handicap accessible, and would like more information on ways to do so, please feel free to send us an email at
press@liverc.com.*
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