Tag: parker

Video: The story of NASCAR’s Richie Parker asks you to leave your excuses at the door

Filed under: Motorsports, Videos

ESPN: Richie Parker video

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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Video: Watch this bad parker get what’s coming to him

Filed under: Videos, Jaguar, Humor

Jaguar XK driver is taught a lesson

If you’re lucky enough to have a nice vehicle, do your fellow gearheads a favor and don’t park like a clown. Seriously. Not only will you anger everyone who is trying to find a place to park, but your nice car is a billboard reinforcing the stereotype that car people are self-important and inconsiderate.

Take this gentleman for example. He has a Jaguar XK, and understandably wants to take care of it. Rather than parking it far, far away from any other cars and getting a bit of exercise by walking to his building, he takes up two spots (albeit barely) close to the structure. From the cameraman’s narration, we can tell his coworkers are less than thrilled about his inability to stay between the lines.

Naturally, they wanted to teach him a lesson, so they parked a bigger vehicle as close to his driver’s door as possible. Mr. XK’s attempts to enter his vehicle are rather amusing, culminating in his climbing through the passenger side and scooching over to the driver’s seat. While we can debate this sort of treatment all day long, it was effective. The video includes a follow up at the end showing where the XK driver parked the next day, and as you might guess, it wasn’t in the same spot.

Take a look at the full video below, and remember, be a considerate car person.

Continue reading Watch this bad parker get what’s coming to him

Watch this bad parker get what’s coming to him originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Parker Brothers Choppers builds World’s Largest Bigwheel

Filed under: Etc., Motorcycle

Parker Brothers Choppers builds world's biggest bigwheel

Parker Brothers Green Machine – Click above for image gallery

At the age of five, this writer received the gift of gifts: a police-issue Bigwheel with a megaphone and a working siren. After a week or two of patrolling the sidewalk for a week like I owned the block, my best friend busted out of the garage with the one thing that could trump my three-wheeled interceptor; the Green Machine. Sure, my Bigwheel may have been faster in a straight line, but he could drift, spin out and even parallel park at five miles per hour.

Oh, the jealousy.

I’m guessing I’m not the only one who has been green with Green Machine envy, and luckily we can get even as adults.

The geniuses at Parker Brothers Choppers decided to make a Green Machine for really big kids, complete with an 80-cubic inch Harley Davidson Evo engine. What, you wouldn’t expect us to actually pedal a Bigwheel with a 45-inch front wheel, would you? Even better, it’s still steered by a pair of levers that control the rear wheels, so all the tricks your evil nemesis friend did as a kid can now be done by you at 30 miles per hour. Heck, Jeff Halverson at Parker Brothers claims to have done 50 mph on the beast, so someone without a lot of fear can really do some damage on this thing.

Unfortunately, the whole steering-via-the-rear-wheels thing would make it really difficult for this trike to gain approval from the Department of Transportation, so don’t expect to put an order in for one of these any time soon. Hit the gallery below to dream a little dream.

Gallery: Parker Brothers Green Machine

Parker Brothers Green Machine

[Source: Wired | Images: Parker Brothers Choppers]

Parker Brothers Choppers builds World’s Largest Bigwheel originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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