Back From War, Back at the Wheel

[thedrifter]

August 24, 2008
Wheelspin
Back From War, Back at the Wheel
By CHRIS DIXON

Greer, S.C.

ROLLING up to the starting line on one of the tracks at the BMW Performance Center, Cpl. Ray Hennagir, who lost both legs and four fingers of his left hand to an improvised explosive device in Iraq, got right to the point.

“You picked a good course to ride with me on,” he said. “I like to go fast.”

With that, he yanked back the hand lever that controls the throttle of a specially outfitted 2008 BMW 650i coupe. Two seconds later he was approaching turn one, a sharp left, at about 40 miles an hour. He slammed on the brakes by pushing the lever forward, hurled the car sideways and then accelerated hard into a sweeping right-hander.

In another three seconds, the car was pushing the limits of what its traction-control system would allow. He screeched through the next hard-braking-and-turn maneuver and swooped past a series of cones with the tires screaming. He clipped one cone, adding a two-second penalty to his lap time.

The result was a total time of just over 34 seconds, three seconds behind Cpl. Kenneth Lyon Jr., another wounded marine whose injuries, not as severe, do not require him to use hand controls.

Corporal Hennagir, of Deptford, N.J., had driven admirably, given that this was his first time at the wheel since being injured last year. He drove with control levers that substitute for the functions of the foot pedals. The controls are so effective that he can brake hard enough with his wounded hand to engage the antilock system — even as he uses his right hand on a spinning knob to turn the wheel.

“That was intense,” he said. “I think I’m going to have to trade in my Grand Am when I get back home.”

Corporal Hennagir and Corporal Lyon, both 21, were part of a group of about 30 wounded marines improving their skills at BMW’s driver training center here, a few miles from the company’s South Carolina assembly plant. At the request of the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, an aid organization, BMW donated instructors, cars and the use of its track for a special two-day driving retreat last spring.

Three marines injured in Iraq — Corporal Hennagir as well as Cpl. Bradley Walker, 27, of White Pine, Tenn., and Lance Cpl. Jeremy Stengel, 22, of Waterford, Wis., were driving BMWs outfitted with hand controls. The event included lessons on performance driving, defensive strategies and making evasive maneuvers.

Marines who have lost limbs go through a Veterans Administration training regimen with their new hand controls, but Corporal Lyon and Corporal Walker said it didn’t teach defensive skills or approach the intensity of the BMW program. “You get much more of a feel for the hand controls,” Corporal Walker said. “And you learn skills like looking ahead through corners and how to cope with emergencies better. It gives you much more peace of mind.”

When discussing their military histories and the attacks that led to their injuries, Corporal Hennagir and Corporal Lyon were entirely matter-of-fact. Corporal Hennagir signed up for the Marines when he was 17, shortly before he received his driver’s license and bought a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am. He drove the car only briefly before being deployed to Fallujah in 2005 as a combat engineer — a specialty that requires intensive work with explosives.

“It’s funny,” he said. “I really wished I would have been able to get my license sooner, because once I did, I was all about driving. I wanted to soup the car up, but I never had the chance.”

In June 2007, he was searching for a weapons cache hidden by insurgents in a field filled with improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s. When a misstep set off an I.E.D., the concussion knocked him out momentarily. He awoke to find himself flying 50 feet through the air, he said.

“I was surprisingly able to keep my cool,” he said. “I don’t know why.”

Corporal Lyon, of Marion, Md., said he was a serious car enthusiast before joining the Marines. His interest in mechanics and fast cars grew after he replaced a wheel bearing on his 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix and later the clutch on his 3 Series BMW. He described his mental state while working on cars as Zenlike.

“It’s like riding on a cloud,” he said. “That was my antidrug.”

The opportunity to learn mechanical skills was a reason he joined the Marines, he said. After boot camp, Corporal Lyon was deployed to Iraq, where he began repairing light armored vehicles. It was dangerous work; returning vehicles to service that had run over mines often required improvisation.

“They were lighter than Humvees and tougher than tanks, and they could go anywhere,” he said. “So we went everywhere.”

In May 2006, two months into his third deployment, Corporal Lyon was severely injured in a mortar attack. The shell took his left leg above the knee, broke his jaw in several places and left him with nerve and shrapnel injuries.

He walks on a prosthetic leg and has been training himself to push a clutch pedal. It’s not easy, as all the force must be applied through the prosthetic leg using only his hip muscles.

Amputees in the program drove cars equipped with hand controls developed by Sure Grip, a Canadian company. The systems’ ease of installation — the job takes about an hour, the company says — surprised Daniel Doot, a BMW technical manager. He also noted how readily the marines adapted to the controls.

“We were under the impression that these Marines were all currently driving,” he said. In fact, of the amputees only Corporal Lyon and Corporal Walker had driven since being injured.

“Some of the guys with the hand controls were turning better times than drivers with all their limbs,” Mr. Doot said. “It was phenomenal.”

This was no surprise to Russ Newton, sales manager of Sure Grip. He said BMW had bought a relatively standard push-pull system costing $800 to $1,000.

Typically, the left handle controls braking and acceleration: pull back and the car takes off, push forward to stop. Hand-control systems are usually obtained with a doctor’s prescription. The control lever can be placed on either side of the steering wheel, and if the driver has the use of at least one leg, it is possible (though “not highly recommended”) to work a clutch pedal.

Among the fastest drivers in the BMW course was Cpl. Jordan Muck, 24, of Alexandria, Va., who suffered serious brain injuries and was left partly deaf by a roadside bomb explosion in 2007.

Though well-spoken today, he had trouble communicating after he was injured and basically withdrew from the world, he said. Once an avid reader, Corporal Muck can no longer sit and enjoy a book because of his difficulty concentrating on the words.

“We’re going to have to deal with this for the rest of our lives,” he said. “Getting to go on trips like this helped me cope with anxiety and just talk to people. Something just clicked.”

Lance Cpl. Stengel, who will start an F.B.I. internship when he is discharged, added: “Before the BMW drive, I went to the Florida Keys with some injured marines and we got our certifications for scuba diving. Doing something like this is just a great way of seeing what you can really do.”

Ellie