In an earlier blog, I wrote about the accessibility of Las Vegas for those with disabilities, or maybe I should say the inaccessibility. My frustration to find adequate and reasonable transportation for those with motorized wheelchairs came out loud and clear. The goal was to take two friends out to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway so that Darrell, a huge NASCAR fan, could ride in a race car around the speedway. After failed attempts in securing transportation, we rented a trailer for their wheelchairs and hooked it up to our truck. Since the truck was too high for my friends to transfer into, we also took a passenger car to make their access easier.

The adventure began at the Hilton hotel in Las Vegas where we loaded up and headed to the speedway. My friend Glenda Hyatt had kept this entire day a secret from her husband Darrell. Even as we loaded up and drove out to the Las Vegas Speedway, Darrell had no idea where we were going.

As we arrived at the speedway we went through the tunnel and drove into the infield where the entire track was now visible to everyone. I still don’t believe Darrell had a clue why we were there. We pulled up to pit road and the blue trailer of the Richard Petty Driving Experience. For all the difficulty of getting transportation in Las Vegas, the Richard Petty Driving Experience made up for it a hundred fold.

I have been around auto racing most of my adult life and these were some of the finest people in the industry that I have met. Several of the driving schools were concerned that Darrell was in a wheelchair and had little to no use of his legs. Whether it was for insurance or safety reason, they wouldn’t budge. But Richard Petty's school welcomed us with open arms and went the extra mile to ensure that Darrell had the experience of a life time.

As we got Darrell ready for his ride by putting on a fire suit, I joked with his wife Glenda about how she never imagined that I would be dressing and undressing her husband.

With the help of some of the school’s employees we lifted Darrell into the #20 Home Depot NASCAR Sprint Cup racecar. For those that don’t know, these cars don’t have working doors so you have to climb in and out of a small window opening. Once Darrell was strapped in, the ride began with 3 laps at 165 miles per hour.

When the ride was over, Art, his racecar driver, pulled onto pit road and you could see Darrell smiling from a hundred feet away. By the pictures you can see the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. As we got him out of the car and back into his personal racecar (wheelchair), we proceeded back to the drivers changing area. After getting Darrell out of his fire suit the school informed us there had been a glitch with the DVD video. Here is where Richard Petty Driving Experience really outperformed expectations. In most cases it would be easy to hop in the car and repeat the experience. They knew this may be a struggle for Darrell and it took a lot of effort on his part to get in and out of the car, not to mention getting dressed and undressed. The school felt terrible about what happened and wanted to make it right. They said, if Darrell was willing, they were more than happy to let him repeat the ride. The choice was up to Darrell, and it was probably the easiest choice of his life.

We suited Darrell up again and watched him take 3 more laps at 165 miles per hour. When the 2nd ride ended I could tell Darrell didn’t want to get out of the car. His first comment to me was “how are we going to get my chair faster as now I need speed.” I told Darrell and Glenda they could drag race and Darrell quickly showing his new racing spirit, said "I'd win!"

At the end of the experience the school employees gave Darrell a nice trophy plaque of his adventure. Usually they charge for these, but they were apologetic for the "inconvenience" of having Darrell take a second round of laps. If all mistakes were this "bad" I think we would all want a life full of them.

As we loaded up the truck to head back to the Las Vegas strip, we were treated to an air show of Air Force fighter jets. Not only did Darrell get to experience life in the fast lane, Glenda and he were getting to see very low flyovers by some of the fastest jets in the world.

I would like to again thank Richard Petty Driving Experience and especially Art, Jeremy, Aaron and Don who made the day that much better. This is a first class operation with a staff that goes the extra mile at every step.

For my friend Glenda, she is going to have to live with the racing enthusiast that she has created. It was an incredible surprise that she planned for Darrell. How will she top this? One thing is for sure, Glenda is full of surprises and I bet she is already working on another idea.