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Foundation
"NEVER GIVE UP"
By DAN SHELTON
Sports Writer
Danny Pollock is a name that may not be well known in the
Greencastle community, but it should be.
Pollock is a unique individual; in that he is one of the few people
who don’t let their handicaps disable them.
Pollock is paralyzed from the chest down due to an accident a few
years ago, and like the saying goes: what doesn’t kill you will only
make you stronger; Pollock is a true example of that.
Pollock comes from a family of racers. His grandfather and father
raced stock cars at Lincoln Park Speedway and that is where Pollock
realized at a young age what he wanted to do when he grew up.
Pollock started his racing career driving go-karts after he finished
second in his first ever race at a track that his dad’s company
rented for the evening. At that point, Pollock was hooked.
Pollock moved up in the racing world, jumping into the Modified car
field and to the UMP Modified cars in the 1998 and 1999 seasons, but
money problems forced the racer to sell his car to be able to
survive in life. In 2001, Pollock was able to join the ranks of
modified racers once again thanks to a friend, but his racing career
took a major hit that year when he wrecked his ATV, and was left
paralyzed. In reality it takes the use of a person’s hands and feet
in combination to drive any kind of race vehicle, but Pollock has
never been one to follow the rules.
Just a few months after being in the hospital, Pollock, with the
help of his younger brother Andrew, was back racing go-karts.
"We were out in the garage on a Friday and decided that we were
going to make some hand controls for the car so Danny could race
that weekend," Andrew said. "We didn’t know what hand controls
looked like, but we went down to Wal-Mart that Friday night and
bought some materials and were racing that Saturday. We finished
fourth in the feature."
The hand controls that the Pollock brothers made would ultimately
lead to something Pollock had dreamed of all his life, racing
sprint-cars.
Sprint-cars are considered one of the most dangerous open wheel race
cars out there and it takes real guts to sit behind the wheel of
one, and Pollock had just that, guts. But sprint-cars are a lot more
expensive than Go Karts or UMP Modify race cars and to drive one
without the use of ones legs is unheard of, but that didn’t stop
Pollock. Pollock was able to save up enough money to buy a car,
which used to be one of Steve Kinser's sprint-cars, and with the
help of Snyder Enterprise he had an engine. Coming up with the money
to buy the car and an engine is one thing, developing something like
hand controls for a full-size race car was something else.
With the help of a friend Pollock used to race with that graduated
from Rose-Hulman, the task of developing hand controls was soon
under way, and after a few trial and error sessions, Pollock had
something he could work with. "The hardest thing for him the first
few months was getting used to the hand controls," Andrew said.
Pollock has had to make a few modifications to the hand control
system since it was invented, but he has used them ever since.
Pollock right now is in his fourth season of racing Sprint cars full
time at Lincoln Park Speedway and he has done more than just go out
and run with his competitors; he has beaten them too. Pollock won
his first ever heat race in 2005 at Lincoln Park Speedway and
finished 12th in the point standings last season. "When he won that
race it brought tears to my eyes," Andrew said. "To see him (Danny)
overcome everything he has, I was never so happy and proud of him at
the same time."
Ever since Pollock has started racing with his hand controls, he
said that he has gotten attention wherever he has gone.
"When we were at Lawrenceburg during Sprint Week last year, I was
about to go out and run my race when this guy comes up to me and
starts crying and says, 'I don’t know how you do it,'" Pollock said.
"I have only been there one time and I had people standing up and
cheering for me.
"Almost every race, I have someone come up and ask me about my hand
controls," Pollock said.
If you would ask Pollock if he is out to make a statement or start a
movement he would tell you no, he’s just another racer.
"Each race is just another race to me and I’m trying to do the same
thing as all of the other racers, win," Pollock said. "If I couldn’t
race I don’t know what I would do."
The 2006 racing season is here and Pollock has already started
preparing for the new season, but has already encountered one major
problem that he will have to overcome this year and it’s not the use
of his legs, its money. Racing is an expensive sport and so are the
parts. Pollock has been racing on the same engine for three seasons
because he hasn't had the money or sponsorship to help rebuild it,
and it's starting to wear out. Pollock has been in search of people
to sponsor him for the 2006 season and is having very little luck
right now.
"My real disability is not being able to use my legs, its money,"
Pollock said. "I want to be able to go out and race and not worry if
I break something that I can’t race the following week." I just want
to make it to the next level and just have to worry about racing
professionally," Pollock said. Through his experiences, Pollock has
become involved with some major figures in the racing business, like
Sam Schmidt. Schmidt was a professional Indy Car driver until he got
in a wreck and was paralyzed from the neck down. He now runs a full
race team. Pollock met Schmidt at Rose-Hulman during the development
of his hand controls for his race car, and it was there that Pollock
said Schmidt told him to never give up and to do as much as you can
and you will reach your goals.
"If Sam could run an Indy Car team with no legs and no hands, then I
am sure I can do a lot even though I’m paralyzed," Pollock said.
Pollock still keeps in touch with Schmidt and lets him know how he
is doing from time to time, but Pollock also knows that it takes
more than just knowing a couple big time racers to foot the bill for
racing. He knows that he needs the help from the local community if
he wants to keep his dream of racing alive.
Without some new sponsorship, Pollock may have to step out of the
racing limelight even after everything he has accomplished. He has
overcome life-threatening injuries and developed new techniques to
enable him and anyone else in his position to race, but in the end,
Pollock’s dream may come to an end because of a green piece of paper
called money.
If anyone would like to know more about the Pollock race team or any
of its members, visit http://www.dannypollock.com.
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