Meet Charlie Kimball, Indy Lights Race car Driver

I have the pleasure of knowing Charlie and his family. Charlie was a member of our local 4H club for years while our kids were in. His mother is a very good friend of mine. I thought you guys would like to read a bit about Charlie and maybe keep tabs on his career! (Picture: F3 Euroseries Round 1- Hockenheim)

Source: The Camarillo Acorn
Website: http://www.thecamarilloacorn.com/news/2 ... s/030.html
"Race car driver Charlie Kimball doesn't panic easily.
Whether driving 185 miles per hour on the narrowest of race tracks or forgoing admittance to Stanford University to pursue his dream of becoming an Indy Car racer, Kimball knows what it means to focus on the finish line and stay calm under pressure.
The 24yearold Camarillo resident said that his nerves were never tested more than in October 2007, when he awaited a call from his doctor with what he feared would be a life-changing prognosis.

Kimball, an American who was building a name for himself as a racecar driver in Europe's high-octane World Series by Renault, was told by his doctor he had Type I diabetes.

The diagnosis forced the Rio Mesa High School graduate to take stock of not only his health but also the prospects of continuing his career as a racecar driver.

On your mark

Born in England, Kimball's love for racing was sparked in 1993 when his dad, Gordon Kimball, an American engineer who was working overseas for a Formula 1 race team, gave him a hand-me-down go-kart.

The Kimball family returned to the United States that year, settling in Camarillo, where father and son got to work renovating the kart.

The Kimball family has been part of Ventura County's farming community for five generations, Kimball said. His parents met at Santa Paula High School in the 1960s and own an avocado ranch in Santa Paula.

While Kimball and his dad were looking for a seat for the gokart, the then-9-year-old redhead saw his first racing kart. Kimball said it was love at first sight.

Having convinced his dad to buy the kart, it didn't take Kimball long to start winning local and regional races, proving it was money well spent.

The Kimball family soon found themselves traveling on weekends to compete in go-kart races across the United States and as far away as Canada.

In spite of his success on the racetrack, Kimball's mother, Nancy, made it clear from the start that school, not racing, was to be his primary focus.

"Her rule was that B's don't race," Kimball said of his mom. "I had to get straight A's in school to continue racing because she never saw it was a career; she saw it as a hobby and didn't want (racing) to get in the way of me getting a higher education."

As a birthday gift, the 16yearold Kimball was given two days behind the wheel of a Formula Ford race car, the entry level car for open wheel racing. A few laps around the track and Kimball was sold.

He said he would have left go karts behind for the faster Formula Ford racers if he hadn't already committed to finishing the season.

He finished in style, winning five national championships, including the International Kart Foundation's Grand National Championship title in California.

Get set

Kimball went on to compete in Ford Formula race cars. He won four races, including a third-place finish in the U.S. Formula Ford 2000 Championship, by the time he graduated from Rio Mesa High School in 2003.

Graduation from high school brought with it a new challenge. Having been accepted to Stanford, one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S., Kimball had to choose between college and pursuing his racing career.

It was a decision that led to some very serious conversations with his parents, he said.

"There were some tense moments, I will admit," said Kimball, who opted for the racetrack, not the classroom. "At 18, I knew that was the road I was going to walk down."

Kimball moved to England, driving his way into the competitive British Formula 3 series. With five wins and two track records, Kimball was the first American to win a British F3 race in more than a decade.

Continuing to climb the racing ranks, Kimball made the jump in 2006 to competing in the Formula 3 Euro Series. He took first place in Zandvoort in the Netherlands in August 2006, making him the first American to win a Formula 3 Euro Series race.

A year later, when he received the news that he had diabetes, Kimball had to throw the brakes on his racing career.

As he sat in the doctor's office the day after he was diagnosed, he said, his "world was off axis and spinning out of control." The thought of not being able to race anymore was forefront in his mind.

It wasn't until the doctor assured Kimball that he could race again that "my world started spinning again, and I had a plan," he said.

Go!

Kimball returned to the U.S. and became a patient of Dr. Anne Peters, director of the clinical diabetes program at USC Medical Center.

Peters is no stranger to caring for diabetic athletes. One of her patients, three time Olympic swimmer Gary Hall Jr., won 10 medals, including five golds.

Peters said she understood the risks Kimball faced as a diabetic race car driver.

"I wasn't willing to tell Charlie he could (race) if I thought he could hurt himself or other people," she said.

Peters said Kimball has to keep his blood sugar at just the right level to perform. If it drops too low, he could pass out and crash his car. If it's too high, his reflexes wouldn't be able to respond to split-second decisions.

But Kimball again proved his commitment to the sport, and with the right medication, a good diet and exercise, he was given the green light to race again.

He returned to Formula 3 Euro Series and took second place in a field of 30 in his first race after his diagnosis.

"He's a star," Peters said of Kimball. "He absolutely does what he's supposed to do."

Kimball became a spokesperson for New Jersey-based Novo Nordisk, makers of the Levemir FlexPen, a pre-filled insulin pen, and for San Diego-based DexCom, makers of a blood monitoring equipment, two products Kimball uses regularly that have helped him stay competitive on the racetrack, he said.

Last year, Kimball returned to the U.S. to compete in the Firestone Indy Lights series, one step below the Indy Car Series.

He placed seventh and 10th in two races earlier this month at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Last weekend, Kimball took 19th place in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, where he sideswiped a wall on the notoriously tight course, bent his suspension and was forced out of the race.

Despite his disappointing finish, Kimball is ranked 13th overall in the division and will race in Kansas on Sunday for the fourth race of the 15-race series.

"People can learn from Charlie," Peters said. "People can understand that if they have a disease like diabetes, they can still live their dreams."

Kimball said that his dream is to one day stand atop center podium as an IndyCar driver—a victory that will prove he's beaten more than just a clock or other drivers. He's beaten the odds.

"Having diabetes doesn't slow me down," Kimball said. "While (diabetes) is always along for the ride, it doesn't define who I am."

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