Amputee race driver will donate winnings to help others

[okarol]

Amputee race driver will donate winnings to help others
By Tim Gallagher Journal staff writer

DENISON, Iowa -- Must be something about race car drivers; Rick Newland moves full-speed ahead.

"I'm lucky," says Newland, a 47-year-old stock car driver from Denison. "I've always been able to move forward. I'm a positive person."

Newland has reason to go negative. He's seen both legs amputated, as well as five fingers; all due to osteomyelitis, a soft-tissue infection of the bone.

"It's brutal," he says.

Others are in worse shape. Newland has seen them in his frequent trips to Omaha for treatment. Newland can still cut iron and paint cars, which he does to fill his days. He can also drive and maintains his chauffeur's license.

"I see people who have lost their whole hands," he says. "That would be tough."

Newland will race this summer for those people. This head of Denison's Tazmanian Devil Race Team plans to divide his 2008 winnings, giving portions to the National Kidney Foundation and the American Diabetes Association, while also establishing a transportation fund for folks around Denison who must travel to nearby Carroll or Harlan for kidney dialysis.

"Look, it probably won't be that much money," says Newland, a 1980 graduate of Dow City-Arion High School. "But I think every little bit can help. Locally, I think people who are going to Harlan or Carroll for dialysis really need the help."

Especially as gas inches toward $4 per gallon.

Newland has asked Crawford County Memorial Hospital Administrator Mark Rinehardt to consider establishing a dialysis unit at the hospital in Denison.

It's not in the plans, Rinehardt says in an e-mail.

"I think they could start one up for $500,000," says Newland, adding he's disgusted the local hospital board is considering spending a similar amount for a concrete culvert at a potential new hospital site south of the Crawford County seat.

"They approve a half-a-million-dollar culvert for a new hospital site when people need dialysis?" Newland asks. "I can't believe they anticipate building a new hospital and not including dialysis in it."

Rather than stew, he moves ahead and asks Rinehardt to start a transportation fund for people who need the service. This isn't self-interest, by the way. Newland hasn't needed dialysis since his successful transplant 17 years ago.

Rinehardt says the board will look at Newland's offer to establish such a fund.

"I wish there was more I could do," Newland says.

Racing since 1991

Just getting to the track represents a victory for Rick Newland, one of few drivers sporting a wheelchair logo on his silver stock car. "Just Being Here, I've Already Won," the sticker proclaims on the No. 27 car.

Newland, who graduated from Wayne State College in 1985, was teaching industrial arts two years later when he suffered renal failure and quit teaching. He went through four years of kidney dialysis before undergoing kidney transplant surgery Dec. 27, 1991.

"I had no rejection episodes after the transplant," he says.

His left leg was amputated two years earlier, the result of an infection that occurred after a fracture. He lost his right leg the same way in 1991, he broke it and his body could not fight off the infection of the bone.

"When I came out of the hospital, my mom and dad were still around and I had lots of people caring for me and supporting me," he says.

Newland says he received a prosthetic for his right leg one summer day in 1991 and raced later that night. His prosthetist, Mike Tillia of Omaha, came to Denison to watch the race.

"I started in 28th place that night in the A-feature race and moved up to finish eighth," Newland recalls. "I remember standing around with everyone after the race and introducing my prosthetist to them. I said he was the man who gave me my legs today!"

Since then, Newland has driven like all the other Siouxland hot-shoes. He uses his legs to apply the gas and brakes. His remaining fingers and thumbs steer him to finish lines on tracks in Denison, Alta, Algona, Harlan, Sioux Center, Fort Dodge and McCool Junction, Neb.

Newland examines his Tazmanian Devil car Tuesday morning as a north wind whips off U.S. Highway 59 at his home north of Denison. He reaches into the car and flips a switch to start it.

"Nothing," Newland says. "We've got some work to do."

May 9 is his season-opener. He plans to tackle the dirt oval called Blackbird Bend at Onawa, Iowa.

Newland leans on his crutches and runs a hand through his beard. He stares skyward and wonders about Blackbird Bend. "I've never raced there," he says. "It's a short track, but I'll try."

Whatever he wins, he'll give away. Then move full-speed ahead.

The Journal's Tim Gallagher may be reached at (712) 293-4229 or via e-mail at timgallagher@siouxcityjournal.com

See video of Rick Newland at www.siouxcityjournal.com

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/04/10/news/top/9d3d10d30dc81c7286257427000cd22e.txt