My start in the hobby of RC airplanes began where my hobby of racing motorcycles ended. I was a Land Speed Racer (a "how fast can you go" kinda thing). I held the record for the world's fastest Nitrous Oxide motorcycle from a dead stop to 1 mile for 9 years, and it got boring. So, I got into the unlimited class where there were only 9 riders trying to break 300 mph in just 1 mile from a dead stop.
So, I built a 605-horsepower blown fuel methanol motorcycle to attempt that feat. After 2 years, I started inching up on that record. April 30, 2016, I got ready for a run. That morning, there was a 12-mph tail wind, and a Land Speed Racer NEVER gives up a tail wind. That's FREE horsepower. My motorcycle was screaming as I went through the gears. At the 3/4-mile marker, the wind changed from a tail wind to a cross wind. It pushed me over at 271 mph, and I was thrown off at 265 mph. I tumbled for almost 1/4 of a mile: 1,305 feet, just 15 feet shy of the 1/4-mile mark. I broke 71 bones, snapped off my lower left leg and lower right arm, and was internally decapitated at C1-C2 and C5-C6.
I lacerated my liver and shook up my head, giving me a terminal brain injury. I was in a coma for 9 days. I just thank God for my wife who, for better or for worse, was there for me. But the Lord knew I couldn't just lay in rehab to get well. I needed something. Something that would fill the hole of not being able to EVER get back on a motorcycle. A friend of mine (who I blame to this day for my new obsession) put me on a buddy box to fly an Apprentice. I was hooked. An addiction that has brought me happiness again in life. New friends, a new hobby, a new way to spend money. I have been blessed to be able to build, fly, crash, and repeat. Over and over.
Every time I touch the field, there is a wave of happiness that surrounds me. Yes, I have made the walk of shame quite a few times and armchair instructors always have a good critique to offer me. I have been flying for 8 years now and if it weren't for this hobby and the friends I've met and made, I would be a vegetable by now.
God bless this hobby, God bless my friends at the field, and God bless my wife who still believes me when she asks how much the last plane cost.
