Racing Against Autism

In 2006 at the age of three, our son Samuel was diagnosed with Autism.  We never suspected he had a major problem, we just thought he might be slow or a little behind.  It was my parents who first brought to my attention an article that outlined many of Sam's behaviors and tied it to Autism.  After some rather quick evaluations, it was confirmed and we started learning as much as we could.  My wife investigated special education programs and targeted therapies that would help Sam learn and grow.  He wouldn't be like other normal kids and we as parents had to accept that fact and try to find the best learning opportunities for him.

After participating on some local programs, Sam now attends a regular elementary school.  He spends part of his day with the regular students and part with a special needs class.  The balance appears to be good for him as his Mom and I have both noticed wonderful progress.  Sam is classified as High Functioning, though I'll admit some of the terms confuse me.  He acts very much like other normal boys, but has a few behavioral problems, speech difficulties and other quirks.  Because of the education and therapies available to him, we ae hopeful he will grow up leading a fairly normal life, though we have no idea how things will really help out.

I've always felt bad about "taking" from society.  I've never liked it when I was temporarily out of work and had to draw unemployment, but my family and I were thankful for it.  Sam having Autism was another experience where we had to draw on the generosity of others or Federal/State programs.  Because Sam is high functioning and because Autism seems like it's on the rise, I feel we need to try and give back in some way.  This web site is dedicated to raising awareness and hopefully raising money.

In 1999, I became involved with the DeTomaso Pantera.  During my time with the Pantera Owners Club of America and Pantera International, I became exposed to Open Road Racing, ORR for short.  Not being quite what the name implies, Open Road Racing is not illegal street racing, it's racing against the clock on a temporarily closed section of public highway, usually in a state with long distances between cities using two-lane state highways (not Federal Interstates).  A few years ago, I decided I wanted to start participating in ORR events.  At about the same time I started thinking about how I might turn that into a fund raising kind of event like a fun run or marathon.

My objective for fund raising is not to get sponsors for the car to pay for parts and maintenance, it's to raise money for Autism organizations.  Locally, we have just such a charity with The ISAAC Foundation.  Named after another Autistic child, the name was worked into an acronym:  Intervention Services Assistance for Autistic Children.  This was the charity I decided I wanted to benefit from any fund raising activies I could muster via racing the Pantera.

This web site was born from those ideas and other examples found on the Internet.  Here you can find more informatoin about Autism, links to other Autism sites, more about The ISAAC Foundation, the Pantera, my car and how you can donate to assist others in receiving grants toward Autism therapies.   Please take a look around, learn what you can and help us help the kids that need it.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you come back often.