Shane Hmiel defies all the odds to race a car again

Ellen J. Horrow, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

In some ways, when Shane Hmiel enters the car Saturday at Rockingham Speedway, it will be the most natural thing in the world.

Except for the fact that it was never supposed to happen, or so Hmiel and his family thought.

Hmiel was an up-and-coming NASCAR driver, making a name for himself in the Nationwide Series — then known as the Busch Series — when he was suspended for failing a drug test for the first time in 2003. He failed two more drug tests in the next three years, the last one coming in February of 2006, prompting NASCAR to ban him for life.

But it was not the drugs or the suspensions or the permanent NASCAR ban that changed Hmiel's life forever. It was the crash in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 9, 2010, that nearly killed him.

Hmiel was attempting to qualify for a United States Auto Club Silver Crown race when his car slammed into the outside wall and rolled over several times, damaging the protective roll cage. He was paralyzed with severe head and spinal injuries, and doctors initially told Hmiel and his family that he had a 10 percent chance to live and that he would never walk or breathe on his own again.

Now, a little more than two years later, Hmiel, 32, will once again be behind the wheel of a racecar, when he participates in the Race to the Rock, an event hosted by Accessible Racing, which provides a therapeutic driving experience that helps disabled individuals rediscover their capabilities.

"This whole thing is pretty incredible," Hmiel says. "I didn't seek this out, but I'm so thankful to Accessible Racing for this honor. They have done and continue to do great things for the physically disabled."

The event is an unexpected gift for Hmiel, the combined efforts of Accessible Racing co-founder and President Brian Hanaford and Shane's mother Lisa Hmiel.

"My mom is amazing," Hmiel says. "This event was actually her idea and she worked so hard to make it happen."

Hanaford and Lisa Hmiel worked together with Rockingham Speedway president Andy Hillenburg to not only provide an opportunity for Hmiel to race again but for two wounded military veterans to join him through the Racing4Vets organization.

Scout Sniper Jessie Fletcher and Lance Corporal Cody Evans, both retired Marine Corps veterans from Walter Reed Hospital who lost their legs in IED explosions, will join Hmiel on the track to drive an adapted Grand Am stock car in the Race to the Rock.

"Seeing the look on other disabled people's faces when they get in the racecar is the most rewarding feeling," says Hanaford, a former track athlete who suffered from a traumatic brain injury himself in a car accident. "The idea to modify a racecar for wounded vets came to me after 9-11, and it took years for the financing and modifications to come together, but we've been able to impact so many people and really change people's lives."

Providing inspiration and hope for disabled veterans was a big draw for Hmiel, who says the military personnel are far more courageous than he could ever be. Hmiel, who remains deeply involved in racing as the co-owner of a USAC midget team with former series champion Levi Jones, says he got a second chance and wants to use it to give back and show other disabled people that they too can overcome their challenges.

Hmiel's own challenges were enormous. Following his accident, Hmiel spent nearly 40 days in a coma, most of which was medically induced. He experienced multisystem failure, including respiratory failure. He developed further complications after surgery and at one point his parents were told he was minutes from death.

Hmiel has no memories of the crash or of the previous few days preceding it. His first memory following the crash is of flying to Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and brain rehabilitation facility in Atlanta, with his mother in mid-November 2010. Hmiel remained there until April 2011 before finally returning home.

Hmiel lives with his girlfriend of five years and his parents in North Carolina. He travels 75-minutes each way five days a week for physical therapy sessions at Race to Walk in Mooresville, N.C. He spends the other two days — and roughly six hours a week — in hand therapy 15 minutes from his home. He has regained the use of his right hand, which he uses to power his electronic wheel chair and a customized $15,000 stationary bike.

He will use that same hand to navigate and control the racecar at Rockingham, both on the oval course and the road course. All three participants will have co-drivers who can step in and take over at any time. Hmiel will drive with former NASCAR Busch North Series champion "Dynamite" Dave Dion; former NASCAR analyst and Nationwide Series driver Randy LaJoie is partnering with one of the veterans.

"We had such a great response from so many people in the racing community," Hanaford says. LaJoie, whose Joie of Seating company makes custom race car seats with an emphasis on comfort and safety, "even provided the seat for the car."

Hmiel is excited and grateful for the opportunity to do something no one ever believed he would do again.

"I have had a lot of people in my corner pulling for me since I got injured — my family, my girlfriend, my friends — and I want to make them proud. Oh, and I don't want to finish last," he says, still a racecar driver at heart.

Follow Ellen Horrow on Twitter @EllenJHorrow