Driver sets speed record…Blind
Dan Parker was in a high-speed crash driving a drag race car in 2012. Dan suffered a traumatic brain injury so severe it blinded him. “I never imagined I’d be back in the seat of a race car. But I’ve been a racer my whole life, I just had to figure out another way to do it,” Parker told CBS News. A machinist by trade, Parker got adaptive equipment so he could make parts and then designed an entire race car. The previous record was held by Mike Newman of the United Kingdom, who achieved a speed of 200.51 miles per hour in 2014. Dan graduated from the Louisiana Center for the Blind seven years ago on March 31. Last week, Parker and his crew — along with supporters from the National Federation of the Blind and Cruise, an autonomous vehicle company — traveled to Spaceport America in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to attempt a Guinness world record.
Dan broke the record by driving a customized car at a speed of 211.043 mph. His corvette was equipped with a computer guidance system that fed him verbal commands for the run. There was also a sighted driver sitting next to him that was never needed. Parker set the record and more importantly, an example for his nephew. “Ted, I want you to know that blindness is not what is stopping you,” Parker recently told my nephew. “Surround yourself with believers and go for your dreams. You can make excuses or you can make it happen.”
Fast Funnies
I definitely learned my lesson about speeding today and it will never happen again.
I didn’t get pulled over or anything, I accidentally showed up to work 20 minutes early.
A policeman greeted a driver pulled over at the roadside:
“When I saw you driving down the road, I guessed 55 at least.”
“You’re wrong, officer, it’s only this hat that makes me look that old.”
Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
A speeding motorist was stopped by a police officer. “I’m a good friend of the mayor,”
pleaded the speeder. “That’s great,” said the officer as he handed him the ticket. “Now
she will know I’m doing my job.”
April 12th Birthdays
1980 – Jennifer Morrison, 1995 – Soaorise Ronan, 1974 – Christina Moore, 1980 – Claire Danes
1947 – David Letterman 1948 – James Taylor, 1946 – Ed O’Neill, 1956 – Andy Garcia