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Launch With Insulin

Mr. Blackwell really loves racing. In fact, sitting in our garage is an old-ish RX-7 with remnants of several auto-cross taped on car numbers. Unfortunately, grad school has slowed the progress of several "upgrades" to his car (now, our car), bless his heart. So we make due by loading up our cooler and heading down to Birmingham for the IndyCar races every once in a while. This year we went on Saturday instead of Sunday, so we just saw the tail end of the IndyCar qualifying, the Rolex race and the Continental Tire race. But I still had time to check out Charlie Kimball's NovoLog FlexPen car, sign my name, and get doted upon by the Certified Diabetes Educator who was "tickled" to see a Type 1!
 
And even though he drives a car, and I fly on helicopters, we really aren't that different. Charlie is "the first licensed driver with diabetes in the history of INDYCAR" and I'm waiting for my turn to be "the first certified astronaut with diabetes in the history of NASA". See? Not that different. Maybe my slogan can be "LAUNCH WITH INSULIN", similar to Charlie's "RACE WITH INSULIN"? Thoughts?
 

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  1. Ah! That is AWESOME! Did you get a chance to chat with Charlie, too? He's a great guy.

    I love that you had a chance to sign his car!

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  2. Charlie Kimball is a great sucess story and champion for his cause. Also a true insiration for many. A little known fact in history,,1942, Howdy Wilcox is about to start his second INDY 500, from the outside of the second row, after finishing 2nd the year before, when INDY medical officials find out he was diabetic. At the time he was the third ranked driver in AAA. INDY officials disqualified him, the rest of the drivers petitioned that he be allowed to start, they even attempted to boycott the race, until Eddie Rickenbacker told them to drive or they would never drive again at INDY. Relunctently they raced, and Howdy's car, now driven by Maury Rose, went out after 50 laps. A sad story for Howdy, but look how far the sport has come and deversified. Maybe Charlie carries Howdy's spirit with him in that car at INDY. I'll be pulling for Charlie this year when the green flag drops at INDY next month. Dad.

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