Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Sanders remains on a weekly schedule at Citrus County Speedway despite being a paraplegic.
By LOGAN NEILL
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 10, 2001
The ability to drive a race car always has involved a certain blend of skill, self-determination and courage.
But for Johnny Sanders, those dimensions take on an even broader scope.
Every Saturday night, when he crawls into his bright yellow Sportsman racer, it is for more than just the challenge of speed. For the 41-year-old paraplegic, racing is a challenge of will.
Having been forced to live from the perspective of a wheelchair the past 21 years, Sanders often has had to assume the limitations other people have put on him. Yet on the track, things are different. "We're all on equal ground," said Sanders, who competes at Citrus County Speedway. "Everyone wins and loses the same way."
That is a reason Sanders views his mission with great pride.
Through the use of specially-designed hand controls that allow him to work the accelerator and brake without his legs, he is among only a handful of disabled race car drivers in the country who run a regular weekly short-track schedule.
Though his Joe's Family Restaurant/Taco Bell-sponsored machine hasn't visited victory lane in more than two years, Sanders -- sixth in division points -- hopes to change all that with the introduction of a new car later this season.
"The cars running in this division right now are much more advanced since I started racing in '94," he said.
"We've done just about everything we could to it to make it more competitive, and it's still not top notch," Sanders said of his car. "I felt it was time to try something else."
Sanders, who grew up in Dunedin the son of stock car enthusiasts, never has found himself far from the world of racing. His parents, Dewey and Becky, were longtime car owners, and for awhile in the late 1970s even acted as promoters at Citrus County Speedway.
While Sanders enjoyed stock cars, he shared with his father a love for two-wheeled action. Sadly, however, motorcycles brought tremendous personal tragedy and loss in Sanders' life.
The first occurred in 1980 when a crash left him paralyzed below the waist. A 31/2-month stay in a Tampa hospital left Sanders, then 20, physically and mentally shattered.
"I finally forced myself to look more at the positives and less at the negatives," Sanders recalled.
Hoping to find a career in the business world, he enrolled in junior college and later graduated with a bachelors degree in business.
Meanwhile, Sanders continued his interest in racing from the sidelines, helping the efforts of his younger brother, Dale, who was driving for his father. Sanders never gave up hope that he may someday return behind the wheel.
But Sanders' father was killed in a motorcycle accident shortly after he helped complete the race car that would enable his son to achieve his dream.
"It was tough because he was my main encouragement to get back into a race car," Sanders said.
The following year, Sanders built the car he currently drives from a wrecked car that once belonged to his father.
Though his life in the sport has been one of mixed blessings, Sanders is pleased that his success always has been the result of his commitment to it no matter the frustrations he might face.
"The enjoyment I get from racing is what drives me the most," Sanders said. "To me, going down a straightaway door-to-door with another guy is tremendously exhilarating. There's nothing I would trade for that."
WHAT: Short-track stock car racing in the Late Model, Sportsman, Street Stock, Mini Stock, Hobby Stock and Street-Legal Junker classes, as well as kids rides during intermission.
WHEN: Saturday. Gates open at 4 p.m, and the first heat race is at 6:30.
WHERE: 2 miles south of Inverness on U.S. 41.
ADMISSION: Adult general, $10; seniors and students to age 17, $8; children under 10, $2; under-12 child with paid adult, free; pits, $20.
INFORMATION: (352) 726-9339.
LATE MODEL: 1. Herb Neumann, Jr. (488), 2. Dale Sanders (479), 3. Billy Bechtelheimer (451), 4. Danny Johnson (442), 5. Perry Lovelady (395).
SPORTSMAN: 1. Mike Veltman (643), 2. Rex Struble (540), 3. Chris Hooker (513), 4. Alan Struble (492), 5. Mark Dominique (480).
STREET STOCK: 1. Travis Nichols (585), 2. Ernie Reed Jr. (566), 3. Mike Bell (556), 4. Dean Lawyer (534), 5. Victor Stanley (499).
MINI STOCK: 1. Frank Coleman (528), 2. Mark Sowell (505), 3. John Coleman (488), 4. Mike Moore (486), 5. Don Faunce (477).
HOBBY STOCK: 1. Richie Smith (667), 2. Roy Perkins (574), 3. J.D. Goff (558), 4. Brandon Johnson (531), 5. Art Brueningsen (513).
FIGURE 8: 1. Bob Hage (264), 2. Robbie Hage (248), 3. Peanut Higgenbotham (234), 4. Robert Aaron (230), 5. Charlie Meyer (228).
STREET-LEGAL JUNKER: 1. Stuart Madison (574), 2. John Donahue (466), 3. Allen Turner (456), 4. Rick Badessa (452), 5. Gary Johnson (444).