Miss-Delectable
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Lights show deaf man how to take the fast lane - Newsday.com
Born 90 percent deaf, this Franklin Square man is in his third season driving race cars.
Daryn Miller spent the 20-lap race among the top five cars. Behind the leaders, the bumping and grinding was so intense that some cars had panels hanging. He just kept driving, averaging between 63 and 68 mph on the quarter-mile oval, immune to what was going on with the rest of the pack.
Along the fencing and in the bleachers, pit crews wearing radio-controlled headsets communicated with drivers. At the corner of the fence stood Miller's father, Bob, with a remote control in one hand and using his other to signal his son.
As Miller's red car, No. 30, approached the turn, his father signaled him to keep giving the gas. It is Saturday night in early September at Riverhead Raceway in the Charger division with 23 stock cars jockeying for valuable points based on the finish. Henry Cataldo of North Massapequa captured the checkered flag, but no one in the field was happier than Miller.
The 32-year-old from Franklin Square finished a personal-best fifth. While his competitors used their headsets, Miller has four lights in his car that his father controls with the remote. Miller was born 90 percent deaf, and he is considered profoundly deaf, unable to discriminate where sound is coming from, his mother said.
Vic Calise, the director of sports marketing of the United Spinal Association, which promotes programs for people with spinal injuries, said it's unusual to have disabled race drivers. "It's rare to have anybody with a disability in racing. As a whole you don't see much said about it," said Calise, who is disabled.
"He's at a big disadvantage compared to us," said Chris Turbush of Riverhead, who finished sixth. "He's handicapped out there and getting it done. He's always trying to get better. Maybe next year he's going to get a main event win."
Turbush, who comes from a family of race-car drivers, is not only a competitor; he is sort of a mentor for Miller. His family videotapes the races and shares them with Miller, offering advice.
Miller is in his third season driving race cars after driving go-carts for three years. That adjustment, more than his disability, is what Turbush believes is holding Miller back from breaking out.
"The car has a lot of motor and a little bit of tire, not like go-carts," he said. "He's got to learn to let the car roll. I think he very much has potential."
Whereas communication is Miller's biggest disadvantage on the track, focus is his biggest advantage. Unable to discriminate where sound is coming from, Miller watched four colored lightbulbs hanging inside his car, a system designed by his father, who raced at Freeport Speedway in the 1960s. Two red lights surround a yellow and a green bulb. The red bulbs tell him to go either left or right, the green to just keep going, and the yellow indicates there is a caution -- an accident or other incident that causes officials to slow the race down -- on the track. His father observes the conditions and lights the respective bulb with the remote control.
"Everybody has a radio and he doesn't; he's all eyes," said Bob Miller. "He reads lips. He can't see or hear cars next to him."
On Aug. 5, his car was hit by another, the oil cooler igniting flames. While everyone held their breath, Miller reacted calmly, turning off the ignition and stepping out of the stock car.
"I couldn't think until he popped his head out," Bob Miller said. "He turned the car off on instinct."
Daryn Miller's off-track life is just as full.
He met his girlfriend of two years, Teri Chavanne of Seaford, at Riverhead Raceway. He works doing landscaping and maintenance for Hempstead Town and also owns a landscaping business, which subsidizes his racing.
"He's always been busy; he has to support his habit," said his mother Lynnda, who does not go to the track in fear in jinxing her son. She doesn't worry, saying she confident of her husband and son. "I called my husband after the heat races to see if he's still alive and in one piece. He goes with God and he flies with God, so he'll return."
Born 90 percent deaf, this Franklin Square man is in his third season driving race cars.
Daryn Miller spent the 20-lap race among the top five cars. Behind the leaders, the bumping and grinding was so intense that some cars had panels hanging. He just kept driving, averaging between 63 and 68 mph on the quarter-mile oval, immune to what was going on with the rest of the pack.
Along the fencing and in the bleachers, pit crews wearing radio-controlled headsets communicated with drivers. At the corner of the fence stood Miller's father, Bob, with a remote control in one hand and using his other to signal his son.
As Miller's red car, No. 30, approached the turn, his father signaled him to keep giving the gas. It is Saturday night in early September at Riverhead Raceway in the Charger division with 23 stock cars jockeying for valuable points based on the finish. Henry Cataldo of North Massapequa captured the checkered flag, but no one in the field was happier than Miller.
The 32-year-old from Franklin Square finished a personal-best fifth. While his competitors used their headsets, Miller has four lights in his car that his father controls with the remote. Miller was born 90 percent deaf, and he is considered profoundly deaf, unable to discriminate where sound is coming from, his mother said.
Vic Calise, the director of sports marketing of the United Spinal Association, which promotes programs for people with spinal injuries, said it's unusual to have disabled race drivers. "It's rare to have anybody with a disability in racing. As a whole you don't see much said about it," said Calise, who is disabled.
"He's at a big disadvantage compared to us," said Chris Turbush of Riverhead, who finished sixth. "He's handicapped out there and getting it done. He's always trying to get better. Maybe next year he's going to get a main event win."
Turbush, who comes from a family of race-car drivers, is not only a competitor; he is sort of a mentor for Miller. His family videotapes the races and shares them with Miller, offering advice.
Miller is in his third season driving race cars after driving go-carts for three years. That adjustment, more than his disability, is what Turbush believes is holding Miller back from breaking out.
"The car has a lot of motor and a little bit of tire, not like go-carts," he said. "He's got to learn to let the car roll. I think he very much has potential."
Whereas communication is Miller's biggest disadvantage on the track, focus is his biggest advantage. Unable to discriminate where sound is coming from, Miller watched four colored lightbulbs hanging inside his car, a system designed by his father, who raced at Freeport Speedway in the 1960s. Two red lights surround a yellow and a green bulb. The red bulbs tell him to go either left or right, the green to just keep going, and the yellow indicates there is a caution -- an accident or other incident that causes officials to slow the race down -- on the track. His father observes the conditions and lights the respective bulb with the remote control.
"Everybody has a radio and he doesn't; he's all eyes," said Bob Miller. "He reads lips. He can't see or hear cars next to him."
On Aug. 5, his car was hit by another, the oil cooler igniting flames. While everyone held their breath, Miller reacted calmly, turning off the ignition and stepping out of the stock car.
"I couldn't think until he popped his head out," Bob Miller said. "He turned the car off on instinct."
Daryn Miller's off-track life is just as full.
He met his girlfriend of two years, Teri Chavanne of Seaford, at Riverhead Raceway. He works doing landscaping and maintenance for Hempstead Town and also owns a landscaping business, which subsidizes his racing.
"He's always been busy; he has to support his habit," said his mother Lynnda, who does not go to the track in fear in jinxing her son. She doesn't worry, saying she confident of her husband and son. "I called my husband after the heat races to see if he's still alive and in one piece. He goes with God and he flies with God, so he'll return."
