For the first time in 28 years, Darrell Gwynn took to a race track as a driver.
His time on Dover International Speedway was not in what was a once familiar dragster, but rather an adaptive Furniture Row car with an assist from Regan Smith.
Smith took the adaptive car onto the course and then turned control over to Gwynn.
Gwynn was able to drive for part of a lap for the first time in 28 years since an accident that almost claimed his life through a special straw provided by Falco Adaptive Motorsports (@FalciMotorsport). Using this special device, Gwynn was able to control the car by “sipping” and “puffing” on the straw.
“Without a steering wheel, it’s hard to keep it perfectly straight in the corners with just your head,” Gwynn told Smith after his laps at Dover. “Normally NASCAR drivers, they drive with their arms and their … eyes. Here, you have to drive with your head and your mouth.”
Gwynn was injured in an exhibition race at Santa Pod Raceway in England in 1990. Halfway through his run, his dragster turned abruptly left into a retaining wall at approximately 240 mph leaving him paralyzed and without his left arm.
Video of Gwynn and Smith at Dover was broadcast via Facebook Live.