Sgt. Dwyer

[aeronca65t]

The guy below is Sgt. Liam Dwyer, a U.S.Marine of Litchfield, Connecticut.
He was severely injured by an IED on May 22, 2011 in Afghanistan. Dwyer, 30, a 1999 graduate of Litchfield High School, lost his left leg above the knee and suffered major damage to his right leg and right arm in the explosion.

He was out racing with us this weekend at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix at the PittRace Complex (formerly BeaveRun).
He'll be racing with us at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh next weekend too. He did a great job!
<span style="font-style: italic">(I know my friend Bill Stoler will not mind if I hot-link his photo for this post)
</span>

 

[DrEntropy]

Hooah!

 

[Gliderman8]

Way to go Sgt. Dwyer

 

[Basil]

Very cool. I saw a story recently where a group of wounded warriors rode in a 100km mountain bike ride in the desert sun.

 

[DNK]

Hooah!

Ditto

 

[AN5Sprite]

Humbling. Thanks for calling attention to his example.

 

[waltesefalcon]

Whats that he's driving?

 

[aeronca65t]

Liam is driving a Mk II Sprite. Pretty sure it has a 1275.

 

[Guest]

Awesome.

 

[PAUL161]

Gives me a warm feeling knowing that these brave soles are getting help and some of the respect that they rightly deserve.

THANK YOU SGT. DWYER!!! May your life be blessed with nothing but kindness and prosperity. Your my kind of people. PJ

 

[waltesefalcon]

How does he use the clutch? Is it hand actuated?

 

[dougie]

AWSOME!!!

 

[aeronca65t]

Walter:

An artificial leg is attached to knee area with a custom fixture. He pushes clutch with artificial leg. I'm not exactly sure how it works but there is a wrench to adjust it somehow (I imagine it adjusts joint friction).
Liam was actually supposed to be driving a different rhd Sprite that he had driven before, but that one conked in practice. I'm told that car had a special clutch pedal that helped position his heel. They had this spare car, but pedal are just stock; he managed anyhow.

He has been heavily supported in his racing by Dave Thomas, one of our VRG racers who owns three race-Sprite. Dave's a lawyer and a huge guy. With that combination he has managed to encourage/convince a number of businesses to support Liam. I know OG Racing gave him a new helmet and some other stuff. Other companies helped too, and they are credited on the side of the race car. It's a decent sized list.

The car Liam's drove is the blue one.
Dave is in the orange one (Dave owns both of these).
The blue one is not technically legal for vintage (due to the fender flares), but no one really cares.

 

[waltesefalcon]

Nial that's amazing.