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Drag Racing: How It Parallels O&P
By Tracy Slemker, CPO  There is a lot more to drag racing than what meets
the eye. To those new to the sport, it looks like a bunch of guys
who get together, soup up a car or bike, and then stomp on an
accelerator to the cheers of a 100,000 speed fanatics like
themselves. In reality, it's a precise exercise in alignment,
balance, assembly, and quality workmanship. No racer wants to go
down the track at nearly 200 miles per hour wondering if the parts
are substandard or wondering if the vehicle was put together and
balanced correctly.
We in the O&P profession can draw a lot of parallels between
our work and the work that is done by a race team. Our patients
have their own worries and challenges, and it's our job to help
them deal effectively with them. If amputees' lives were a race,
we'd be their crew chiefs.
Working with Reggie Showers
 Personally, I have an even deeper connection with
the parallel I've described. Since 1997, I have been working very
closely with Reggie Showers. Reggie is a Pro Stock Motorcycle racer
with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). My work with him as
his prosthetist and as his sponsor has been very rewarding and
eye-opening. Reggie has been a bilateral transtibial amputee since
he was in an electrocution accident at the age of 14. Now 39, he is
a polished and successful professional athlete. His profession,
which has him racing down a quarter-mile track at speeds in excess
of 180 miles per hour, presents challenges to me as his
prosthetist. Overcoming these has helped me reshape my thoughts
about how patient care and fabrication should be conducted. The way
race teams operate led--and continues to lead--my own team to new
ideas.
Educational Outreach: ProLAB® Tour
But an idea, especially a good idea, needs to be shared. Reggie
Showers has provided us with the opportunity and the means, so
we're hitting the road with an educational outreach program, the
ProLAB® Tour. The ProLAB Tour is a continuing education
opportunity, making the 15 stops Reggie makes during the 2003 NHRA
season, which began in March in Gainesville, Florida. Our
"classroom" features a 36-foot Kenworth mobile training/fabrication
lab parked alongside Reggie's rig in the pits. The Kenworth is a
self-contained O&P facility. PDI's NexForm lathe and Nexvac
thermoformer are onboard, making up the centerpiece of our hands-on
CAD/CAM training. Outside the Kenworth, in a well-appointed patio
area, our students learn how modular high-tech components enhance
clinical and fabrication processes. These events take place all
over the country, essentially bringing our ideas to you.
At some point, when the race and preparation schedule permits,
Reggie and his crew chief, George Bryce, give a short clinic on Pro
Stock Motorcycle racing. That's where our message about the
parallels between drag racing and O&P gets hammered home.
Reggie and George settle for nothing less than the best parts, the
tightest alignments, and the lightest weights. Going to the
starting line unbalanced, too heavy, and with substandard
components presents a dangerous situation. I feel that our patients
deserve the same consideration the Pro Stock racers enjoy. Although
most of our patients don't have to endure three Gs at 180 miles per
hour, they have their own challenges. They should be as well
equipped and prepared as they can be.
The experience of learning from Reggie and George and seeing
other race teams in action is simply unmatched in my long
experience with O&P educational outings. The ProLAB Tour
immerses the attendee in a high-stakes arena, where professionals
get things done at a very high level. That is an example for us
all.
There are substantial costs involved with an enterprise like
this, and we have help. Snap-on Tools has been generous with its
help. Snap-On has been heavily involved in racing and is well-known
and respected. Its engineers are always at work designing
high-quality tools optimized for specific applications. The team at
Snap-On is another great example for O&P practitioners to
follow.
Showers Raises Awareness
As a professional athlete competing in a popular sport (1.5
million fans will attend the 15 events this year, with over 80
million more watching on ESPN and ESPN2), Reggie gets a lot of
media attention. His race-day schedule quickly fills with
interviews. His story is an interesting one which appeals to both
disabled and able-bodied fans. Reggie's value as a representative
of the disabled community is high, since he raises awareness of the
challenges disabled persons face. He inspires other disabled people
to work to achieve their goals. Many times patients will ask me
about Reggie's prosthesis and clinical care and how they can reach
an activity level equal to his. This is a good thing--and it could
be a good thing for all of us. Applying the national average of one
half of one percent of the population being amputees, over 40,000
of the millions of NHRA fans will be amputees. That's a lot of
people Reggie can reach and inspire to come to the O&P
profession for more help in achieving their dreams.
The ProLAB Tour also has the potential to educate third-party
payers about the amount of professionalism and technology it takes
to create a sound prosthesis. Many are in the dark on the specifics
of our industry, and with the ProLAB Tour, we hope to shed a little
light.
NHRA/ProLAB Invitation
We are in the process of inviting almost every O&P
professional to the NHRA/ProLAB events this year. Even if you're
not a racing fan or are not favorably disposed to motorcycles
because of their inherent dangers, it's still beneficial to get the
exposure to the race teams while earning the CEUs from the course
we provide. We're more interested in the attendee getting something
out of that exposure to race teams and our course than the actual
racing itself, although watching the actual racing is not a bad way
to spend the afternoon.
I think that the future of O&P will demand a more high-tech
approach to patient care and fabrication as the amputee population
continues to grow. It's a race we must win. If you're interested
and can't wait for the invitation to our course, contact us for a
schedule.
Contact Tracy Slemker, CPO, at Prosthetic Design Inc. (PDI),
800.459.0177 or 937.836.1464; www.prostheticdesign.com Prosthetic Design, Inc. 
Table Of Contents - July 2003
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