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It's been 26 years since three-time world champion Wayne Rainey crashed into a raked gravel trap at Misano and tumbled just the wrong way, snapping his back and leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.
His was one of the most visible examples of the cruel way the sport of motorcycle racing can take you from the top of the world to the most challenging lows, all in a second. One minute he was leading the world championship, fighting for a fourth consecutive title, and the next he was facing a lifetime of never walking again.
Rainey did not give up. After running a grand prix team for a while, he moved on to other things in life. Most recently, along with his partners in the KRAVE Group, he has resurrected U.S. professional road racing from the near-death experience it had under the management of the Daytona Motorsports Group, steadily strengthening the MotoAmerica series.
Over the years, Rainey raced karts some and he had a special set of wheels, a sort of motorized cart that he could roll his wheelchair on and use to get quickly around the paddock at the track. But he never rode a motorcycle after that day in Italy in 1993.
Until now.
Inspired by an invitation to come to Japan and ride again, he decided to do a test run, with the help of Yamaha, Keith McCarty and other friends. This video tells the story of that day and doesn't require many more words from me. As Rainey said, "It made me feel young again."
One postscript. This year at the Pittsburgh round of MotoAmerica, there was a special race on Ohvale race bikes for young boys and girls trying to get started on a racing career. Rainey spoke to them over lunch, and one asked him why he stopped racing. He explained about the career-ending, life-changing crash, and he forthrightly told them that racing can take everything away from you, even your life. But he concluded by saying, "Racing is everything to me. I don't have any regrets."
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