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i am a 62 yr. old male, have been a gearhead since i was 12 yrs. old. i dragged race extensively in my 20's and then my career got in the way. i always had nice cars and trucks, many corvettes, z28s, 409 impalas. etc. i had uncontrollable hypertension all my life, since i was 18. as with most men i did not take care of myself, and had my first stroke in 1988 and a massive pulmonary imbolism in 2005. i started showing cars in 2004, but that did not satisify my car cravings. but everything was postponed and almost ended. year before last i had a severe heart attack two weeks later. i could not sit up, walk feed myself or function as a human being. the amazing thing is that i suffered total memory loss. i was also blind for weeks. i did not reconize my wife, two daughters or five grandchildren. in the fall of last year my daughter and son in law rolled me up to a shop behind my house. i now know it is 40'x50' and had four bays. in it was a beautiful black corvette a z28 camaro and a big, black, 2003 ss chevy truck. i started reading hotrod magazines which had stacked up for two years and proceeded to subscribe to 12 more magazines in which i read every word including the ads. i got reaquainted with and old friend who builds street rods, street machines and does restorations. last winter my wife started giving me driving lessons at the high school. i started doing wierd exersizes. twist and bends that i invented myself without help of a therapist, all to help me be a better driver. the driving progressed to county roads, to interstate highways and to a dragstrip about 60 miles from my home. the track manager would let me make run after run with him in my ss truck to observe my vehicle controll reflexes etc. i read an article about the maxton mile in hotrod. i was already intrigued with the idea of land speed racing and i started making preparations to run in the sept. event. my friend with the hotrod shop helped me make a few changes to my truck and i stepped up the workout program. cut to the chase, i went to maxton to just run for time only but tonya turk said i might as well run in a class, c/pp. i made a few runs in the 123 to 125 mph range and then was informed that the track record for my class was 128.2 mph. i was hooked. i thought what would increase my speed, i folded the mirrors against the body and keith turk suggested taping up a large portion of the three grilles, which i did. when i made my next run i brake held the truck to 2600 rpm, held a straight line and made sure that my foot was placed over the acceloratot pedal so as to fully push it against the carpet. i glanced at the tach when i crossed the lights and i was 500 rpms more than any other run. i could hardly wait to collect my timeslip. big disapointment, i was 1.9 mph from breaking the class record. but i thought about how far i had come since 2009 and how exsiting it was to go down the track and i said a silent prayer giving thanks to the man above, good doctors and my loving and supportive family. many thanks to tonya as well keith, and all the volunteer staff for helping a dream come true. ps, i forgot to mention i also have r.a. and parkinson's disease.