It takes a unique kind of person to not only want to get back to something that caused a traumatic accident but to plan out your foreseeable.
British racer, 18-year-old Billy Monger had to have his legs amputated after a horrific crash where he had nowhere to go and slammed into a stopped car at high speed.
After lots of surgery and rehab ahead of him, the racing community came together and raised $1.1 million for his future rehab. But Monger, who has had a positive outlook since his accident, is looking to race once again later this year.
Monger has joined up with the La Filiere Frederic Sausset driver academy, an academy that focuses on training disabled race car drivers. Sausset himself is a quadruple amputee and as an amputee, finished 38th out of 60 cars at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans by using his thighs to accelerate and brake and attach his right arm to the steering column to steer while having two non-disabled co-drivers drive too.
Monger is planning to race with Sausset in an endurance race in November with the hopes to be at Le Mans to race the 24 Hours in 2020, when Monger would be 21. If all goes well, Monger hopes to be noticed by some of the top teams and get a ride with them while Sausset helps other disabled racers get an opportunity.
To say this is inspirational is an understatement. I don’t know how I would react if I ever had an accident like that where I would use my legs (obviously hope to never experience that) but I’m not going to promise I would be in such high spirits as Monger has.
Despite a helluva setback that might have caused many people to find something else, Billy Monger is still following his dream. His accident doesn’t affect his ability to race a car in his mind. If he had the skill to compete before he lost his legs, he should still have that now. And considering teams have been able to adjust the cockpit of a car for a disabled racer to drive, Monger should be able to hold his own.
[Jalopnik]
