Ben Brown – Mission Possible
- Updated: July 20, 2008
photos by Barbara Miller
If you’re a regular on ATV Scene you already know who Todd Macke is and what he’s done with his new organization called ART (Ability Riders of Tomorrow). If not, read up on what ART is doing for riders with disabilities and for our sport in general. The link above also tells Todd’s remarkable story which includes a life long passion for ATV racing, despite his Cerebral Palsy and Spinal Scoliosis disability.
As interesting as Todd’s story is, our focus this time is his newest ART recruit. It’s his new friend in the Great White North, Ben Brown that’s our subject this time.
Ben, a 20 year old T-5 paraplegic, doesn’t let his disability limit his life one bit. He rides 2-3 times per day on his 2005 Yamaha YFZ 450, which is modified for his handicap. Away from his other activities, which include wheelchair basketball, weight lifting and moderating a local motocross site, Ben is a full time student at Kingstec Campus of Nova Scotia Community College where he is studying Human Services. He plans to some day become a disability counselor or a disability sports organizer in his area.
Thanks to Todd and his ART program Ben was able to race an ATV National for the first time since his accident two years ago. And now, here’s our conversation with Todd a week after their adventure at the 2008 Red Bud National….
How did you meet Ben and just what did ART do for him?
Ben found me actually on the ATV Scene forums. Ben is “reconmaster” and I’m “mxquad”, in case anyone wants to talk with us. Anyway, he found the article about my plans to race the 2007 Maxxis 12 Hours of ATV America by myself on ATV Scene.com. We have been talking to one another online since last October. In March of 2008 we seriously discussed bringing Ben into the ART (Ability Riders of Tomorrow) program and to a WPSA event where he could fulfill his dream of racing in a big ATV National.
What type of disability does Ben have to make him eligible to race for ART?
Ben Brown is a T-5 Paraplegic from an ATV racing accident in Canada a year and 11 months ago last Sunday. He is paralyzed from the middle of his chest down.
Can you talk more on Ben’s dream?
Ben’s dream was to come to the US and race against able bodied racers and to meet all the ATV pro riders that he reads about online.
So how was ART able to help Ben with this?
ART basically sponsored Ben in an effort to make this thing a reality for him. We chose the Red Bud ATV National and ART arranged all the details and funding to make it happen.
Go on…
At first Ben thought I would drive up to Nova Scotia Canada to pick up him and his quad up then drive to Red Bud. With today’s gas prices and the time that would take, we quickly figured out a plan B. I decided to fly Ben into Chicago and let him race my ALBA YFZ. To do this we needed to set up my YFZ to be adaptable to his disability.
That doesn’t sound easy. How did you end up making your quad adaptable for him?
Ben can’t shift or use the rear brakes with his legs. At home he rides a 2005 YFZ 450 so it was ideal to put him on my ALBA YFZ. Ben uses a Rekluse clutch and rear brake system, and a electronic shifter. ART racing didn’t have the budget to purchase all three items and fly him into Chicago. So we had Ben remove his Rekluse clutch and rear brake system, and bring the parts with him on the plane. Ben also uses special snowboard bindings that bolt to the foot pegs to keep his feet attached to the quad. Ben also uses a special hump seat and straps that go over his legs to keep his lower body secure to the seat. Ben uses foam knee blocks that keep his legs from going forward during hard braking. Ben didn’t want to remove his Pingel electronic shifter because it’s wired into his ignition and took it took a year to dial this system in. So we had to figure out a way for him to race without shifting gears. We solved this easy enough. I told Ben to start and race the entire race in 3rd gear.
Wow, don’t you think being strapped to a quad is dangerous?
I spent five months talking with Ben on all sorts of race situations and he answered everything well. I even watched videos of him riding. This proved to me that he was the real deal. I had confidence in Ben and would not put him on a national track if I didn’t believe he could do it.
What class did he race and how did everything go?
We signed up together to race the 450C and Open C classes as these classes have had lower count of riders lately. Guy Sutton and Craig Suggs put everything on my ALBA YFZ and it was time for our first practice on Friday. Our plan was to go out together. I would follow him and some what block from the rear. Ben got ahead of me in line and got a head start on me. It took me four laps to finally catch up to Ben when the Rekluse clutch fried in the sand whoop section. He was hauling butt! Ben would end up missing the next two practices while we made clutch repairs and replaced the dead battery.
If Ben was out there on your quad, what were you riding?
Originally Ross Dantonio offered me his Polaris MXR. However, due to some mechanical issues on Thursday I had to find another ATV to race. A short walk to my sponsor and good friends at Hetrick Racing quickly resolved that issue. Rich put me on Joel Hetrick’s practice Suzuki Z400, which used to be Shane Hitt’s quad.
Sorry to hear about all the set backs and mechanical issues.
Yeah, I guess that’s all part of it. It was a challenge to get Ben up and running again. Craig Suggs and I searched all over the Red Bud pits asking if anybody knew how to adjust the Rekluse clutch. It’s more of a cross country racing clutch and nobody there knew anything about the Rekluse clutch. We ended up taking it off and began searching for a stock clutch replacement. Team Yamaha generously donated a new set of clutch plates. We put the new plates in and found we were short five fiber plates. We were then off to Thomas Brown’s trailer where his father donated the 5 fiber clutch plates we needed. Ben would have to use a manual clutch for the weekend, but he gladly accepted the challenge. When we made the change to the clutch, it wouldn’t engage. Rick Stockton fixed that problem, the clutch basket plate goes on a certain way for engaging the plates. Once we got the clutch fixed, the battery quit on us. So I took off and found what I’m pretty sure was the last battery in South Bend, Indiana. By Friday night we had the clutch completely fixed after we cut 1/8 inch off the cable adjuster bolt to get enough slack in the cable so it didn’t fry the clutch again. Lastly ITP generously donated a set of rear Quad Cross tires for Ben. This demonstrated our perseverance and how generous the ATV community truly is. I played the role of team manager, mechanic, assistant and competitor. It was pretty cool.
Okay it’s Saturday, time to qualify, how did it go?
I lined up on the gate for our first class all the way on far left side. Ben lined up in the middle of the gate with other able bodied racers. He started off in 3rd gear and raced the whole track in 3rd gear. My intent was to get a good jump and a decent start then back off to follow Ben. It worked. I tucked in behind Ben and quickly realized that he was riding great! I passed him a few times to keep him motivated but didn’t want him to ride over his head. The quad held together great and the new ITP Quad Cross tires tossed plenty of roost on me! So I knew they were working well too. In the second class qualifier while dicing back and forth with Ben after the second lap I could tell he was getting a little tired. I pushed him in the corners, yelled down the straight always, and even put a block on a guy before a tabletop. I could tell the guy was getting ready to jump the big table top and I just didn’t want him landing anywhere near Ben. It would have been pretty close so I quickly got in his way instead. We raced our two last chance qualifier motos on Saturday. It was great. We jumped the ski jump side by side, bumped each other in the corners, and even crossed the checkered flag side by side at the end of our last LCQ! All in all, we had an absolute blast riding together.
It sounds like you guys didn’t mind not qualifying for the main events on Sunday?
You know what? Not making the main ended up being the best thing for both of us. Since our Sunday was now open, we signed up to race the Industry class. This race I believe was the highlight for Ben. And it’s a memory I know I’ll always cherish. We got to line up next to Shane Hitt, Tim Farr, Hunter Miller, Cody Grant, John Ragon, Mitch Reynolds and a host of magazine guys – all of them on new KTM SX quads. KTM was nice enough to include us in this once in a lifetime race. This race is where the gloves came off for me. I raced this one as hard as I could. I launched off the gate and held the KTM guys within site. I couldn’t help but leave Ben behind this time. Riding in the same race as these guys was a privilege and I wanted to do my best. Also, I kind of wanted to show Ben what I had.
Excellent! Good for you guys for getting to be a part of that race. Did Ben end up meeting any of his Pro ATV heroes?
We didn’t have a pit bike but that didn’t stop Ben from getting to meet everyone. He wheeled himself all over the pits in his wheelchair. Ben was accepted openly by everybody in attendance. He got to meet and hang out with just about every pro rider there. Chad Wienen autographed one of his race helmets for Ben. How cool is that? Jeremiah Jones let Ben use his accessible shower at the track and the two had a nice long conversation. I think he really enjoyed meeting Jeremiah.
Sounds like one heck of a weekend.
We were really blessed to have great weather all weekend and no accidents! This “Make a Wish” experience is what ART is all about! It’s very rewarding to me to be able to make other people with disabilities happy. And it didn’t stop there. On Monday night we visited Kyle Bartolini, he is a young kid that is paralyzed. He was awarded a new Dinli ATV at RedBud in 2005. Red Bud fans might remember him when John Natalie brought him up on the prodium with him that day in 2005. Anyway, Ben got to meet Kyle and they bonded. Later during the evening I presented Ben with two award plaques, a gold medallion, and an autographed Doug Gust jersey. We showed Ben my old Inside ATV Racing video called “Air Force”. It was a fun night.
So what’s the plan for 2009?
ART would like to bring Ben back for another national. The X-Games now has a new adaptable racing class that paralyzed racer Ricky James is competing in. Maybe we can too in 2009. Also, as you guys know, I loved the 12 Hours of ATV America endurance races. The 2007 event at Cody and Hunter Miller’s place was incredible. All the hard work me and my team put in for that race really turned out great for us and now for others like Ben. After all this is where my ART program was born. Since there wont be a 12 Hours of America this year, I plan on racing the Ironman class at the new Heartland Challenge endurance race aboard a factory-backed Monster Energy Kawasaki KFX450R. I’ll be running my ATV hero’s number #31 (Jimmy White).
I think we can wrap this up as a big success. How do others with disabilities and similar dreams get to be a part of the ART program?
The ART program is open to all people with disabilities. You don’t have to be a racer. The ART program also applies to our service men and women who return with disabilities. We accomodated Ben Brown and I’m sure we can accomodate just about any type of person with a disability. They can contact me at MySpace/todd_macke.
Before we ask about your thank yous, on behalf of the entire sport and industry, thank you for going out of your way to help others. We hope ART can continue to make a difference for many others for many years to come. Now, is there anybody you would like to thank for making Ben’s dream come true?
Thank you. You know I think this was an entire ATV community success! The people in this sport are amazing. I need to thank Big Daddy Motorsports, 88 Live To Ride, Cody Shelton who took care of Ben’s airfare. Harv Whipple of the AMA, Red Bud MX, who assisted with all the fees and had a wheelchair accessible restroom on site, ITP for donating a set of Quad Cross tires, Yamaha Motor Corp for donating a set of clutch plates to keep Ben on the track, Tomas Brown and family for donating fiber clutch plates when needed. The list goes on…. Hetrick Racing for letting me race Joel’s practice quad. EScore for the transponders. Dantonio Racing, who donated a whole bunch of YFZ parts for Ben’s YFZ. Guy Sutton and family for hosting Ben before and after the races, Cody Shelton for hosting Ben while at the race track, Craig Suggs and Rick Stockton for working on the YFZ throughout the weekend, Cyclesport Yamaha of Hobart, Indiana for wiring a new starter button in place of the OEM piece, KTM North America for including us in their industry race, and all the Red Bud staff, riders and families, Pro and amateur alike, for being so friendly with us. I would also like to thank my sponsors for helping with all the equipment for Ben to race: ALBA Action Sports, ITP, Big Daddy Motorsports, FASST Co., DG, Outerwears, FLY, SIDI, Scott, Durablue, Denton Racing, TCS Suspension, Streamline, ROX Speed, Keith Little Racing and Hetrick Racing.
