In a message dated 3/6/2005 8:20:07 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,
dwramsey@worldnet.att.net writes:
I wonder what the blind land speed
record is?
Crash
UK
Blind land speed record broken
Steve Cunningham: "Breaking down barriers"
A bank worker has broken the world land speed record for a blind person.
Steve Cunningham, from Chacombe in Oxfordshire, broke the current record of
132.5 mph in a borrowed #70,000 Chrysler Viper, capable of 180mph.
The 36-year-old father-of-two reached a speed of 147mph at the disused
Bruntingthorpe airfield in Leicestershire.
Mr Cunningham, who has been blind since the age of 12, was accompanied by a
professional instructor in the passenger seat telling him which way to turn.
Challenging prejudice
He was watched by his wife Heather, 27, and his three-year-old guide dog
Hughie.
Before making the attempt, he said he wanted to confound people's prejudices.
"It is not about breaking records, it is about breaking down barriers. It is
easier to break a record than to break the conceptions about what people with
a disability can do."
Mr Cunningham, who had been preparing for the attempt for more than 18
months. was prompted to make the attempt by friend and rally-driving
instructor
Peter Colmer Gwynne, 33.
Mr Gwynne perfecting the technique of telling Steve which way to turn the
steering wheel via intercom - crucial when he reached his target speed of
150mph.
Money raised through the attempt will go to The British Blind Sports
Association and the Blind Dogs for the Blind, which Mr Cunnigham will soon be
joining as a full-time fundraiser.
Robert B. Houston
Santa Teresa, NM
'74 Midget
'63 TR4
'03 Beetle
... Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but
rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally
worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- WOW-- What a Ride!"
-Marcel Proust
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