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2/19/2009 |
News About Members |
Disabled Racer’s Car To Be Sold To Help Others In Similar Situations |
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Kansas City - This year's "World of Wheels" Show in Kansas City will have something different for one of the participant's there. Local Olathe man, Rick Davidson, will have his 1967 Camaro there for public display, with the car to be auctioned at the end of March. The Camaro is the same car Davidson won the 1987 Summer Nationals at KCIR, just a few short months before a freak motorcycle accident left him paralyzed, on a ventilator and ended his racing career.
Davidson lives in Olathe in the childhood home that he shares with his mother. He has personal care attendants that take care of him now instead of the nurses that his late father's GM health insurance used to provide. Like many others in his situation, he is trying to maintain his independence and live at home with help, but financial circumstances are starting to make that seem an impossible dream. He decided to do the one thing that he never thought he would.
He's selling the car that he's had since he was 16. His mother and father put the car into a trust right after Rick's accident "just in case". Now, to continue living at home, he had to make the decision to let it go. "It was one of the hardest things to do," Davidson says, "my Dad and my friends helped me build that car. I won a lot of races with "her", but now it's time for someone else to enjoy it."
22 years later, Davidson still enjoys the smell of the burning rubber and nitro at the track and mingling with his friends that still race. Unable to race his Camaro, he, with the help of some close friends, undertook the adventure of doing a ground up restoration of the racecar. Now many months later, it will make its debut at the "World of Wheels" at Bartle Hall in Kansas City, MO on February 27 - March 1, 2009. The car will then go to auction in late March at
Kemper Arena. Davidson, now a volunteer peer counselor for local not-for-profit Positive Changes, Inc. , will use a portion of the auction proceeds to remain in his home. The rest of the monies will be donated to Positive Changes, Inc. to help others in situations similar to his. "Just knowing that someone else will benefit from this makes me smile." Davidson said, as he sat looking at his many pictures of the Camaro and the years he spent with "her".
For more information about Rick Davidson or the Car, please call 913-764-2072. For more information about Positive Changes, Inc., please visit www.Positive-Changes.org
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