Filed under: Motorsports, Videos
This is Richie Parker. He’s a number of things: car enthusiast, engineer, employee, son. He’s a normal guy for his age, working a job in a field he loves. Oh, he also happens to have no arms. After watching this video from ESPN, we can’t help but think that Richie might describe himself in just such a way, with his birth defect a secondary part of his life, scarcely worth mentioning. His story is a remarkable one, about not letting bumps in the road stop you and about finding ingenious solutions to problems you or I have never thought about.
Richie was born with bilateral amelia, a non-genetic birth defect in which limbs aren’t formed. While the idea of not having any arms might be terrifying to many, as shown in the video, having dealt with it since birth has lead Richie to develop a number of interesting solutions. He can ride a bike, open the fridge and microwave on his own, use a computer and drive a car with his feet – virtually everything we can do (and take for granted) Richie can do with a bit of determination and creativity. Not surprisingly, finding those interesting solutions to everyday problems teamed with his love of cars led to a job at one of the finest NASCAR teams in the country. Take a look at the full video from ESPN, embedded below.
After that, perhaps you’d be interested in hearing a bit about some more people who have managed to overcome similar issues in equally impressive ways.
Continue reading The story of NASCAR’s Richie Parker asks you to leave your excuses at the door
The story of NASCAR’s Richie Parker asks you to leave your excuses at the door originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Aug 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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So, now that we know it is legal for the FBI to place GPS trackers on cars without a warrant, the next logical question is, how often does it happen? We can’t say for sure, but the recent experience of 20-year-old U.S. student Yasir Afifi leads us to believe it’s taking place more often that we’d like to think.
According to Reuters, the Swedish government is pursuing a $15.9 million debt that it says is owed by Saab. The country said that if the carmaker’s newest owner, Spyker, didn’t turn over the funds by September 20, that it would leave the matter in the hands of its official debt collector. Since that date has already come and gone, we can only imagine that there’s a crack team of burly looking Swedes threatening to break some kneecaps in Zeewolde as you read this. Meanwhile, Spyker CEO Victor Muller has said that the issue is nothing more than a legal dispute and that it will be handled through the appropriate channels.
