Driving in the Fast Lane with Diabetes

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For the first time in several years, I wasn"t able to make it to the Indianapolis 500 race this past weekend -- which is a real bummer since it was the historic 100th anniversary of this iconic race.

There was good reason, as I was attending my youngest cousin"s wedding this weekend, but still it was disappointing to break my six-year streak of attending this big Indy race that I"ve grown to love.

But it was exciting to know that myself and others in the Diabetes Community were there in spirit and even in name.

In early May, Novo Nordisk shared news that several diabetes advocates, industry folk and diabetes organizations would have their names displayed on T1D driver Charlie Kimball"s car at the Indy 500. I"m honored to be one of the 42 names included!

How freakin" cool!

For those who don"t know Charlie"s story: the thirty-something Indianapolis resident was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2007 at age 22, and since then he"s been proving that his dead pancreas can"t stop him. Charlie was the first-ever driver with T1D allowed to compete in the Indy 500, and this historic run was his 6th year in the race.

Charlie"s been partnered with Novo Nordisk since 2008, and his racecars display the company"s logos (mostly Levemir, the long-acting insulin Charlie"s been promoting). He goes by @RaceWithInsulin on Twitter.

For this 100th running of race, Novo and Charlie"s racing team (Chip Ganassi Racing) decided to do something special. They changed up the number of his car from his traditional #83 -- which has meaning to his family as that year was the best Indy 500 finish with a car designed by his racecar designer dad, and was also fondly adopted by the diabetes tech innovation #WeAreNotWaiting movement (every time 83 pops up via Nightscout / CGM in the Cloud, the system displays a fun "pedal to the metal" message).

Instead, Charlie was sporting #42 -- a number tied to diabetes in that it represents Novo"s new Tresiba basal insulin that lasts 42 hours, and also happens to be the racecar number of fellow Chip Ganassi driver Kyle Larson, who has a cousin with T1D. Larson"s car carried Charlie"s name during the Coca-Cola 600 race in North Carolina this past weekend, too.

On his car, Charlie also added those 42 names from the D-Community -- including well-known PWD advocates like Kerri Sparling, Scott Johnson, Anna Norton of DiabetesSisters, and Dr. Anne Peters who is Charlie"s endo, along with the JDRF and ADA and others like longtime Novo exec Camille Lee. I can still barely believe that I was included...

Which makes it even more bittersweet that I couldn"t attend to see this car in person.

Novo made a $4,200 donation to the ADA"s Indiana chapter on behalf of the winning driver after 42 of the 200 laps. The company matched that donation to the Charlotte chapter of the ADA on behalf of the leading Coke 600 driver after 42 laps as well.

Pretty awesome gestures, Novo, and some smart goodwill PR!

We have to assume this was inspired by the interaction with patient advocates at the first-ever Novo D-advocacy forum hosted by the company this April, where we had the chance to meet Charlie and even watch him compete in the Phoenix Grand Prix.

Disclaimer: I actually started using Novo insulin products shortly after that meeting, which I"d like to take the opportunity here to clarify was a complete coincidence having to do with changes to my insurance formulary; I was not pitched or swayed by anything that happened at the Novo advocacy forum.

Type 1 Driver Conor Daly Also Accelerating His Career

Charlie wasn"t the only D-peep in the Indy 500, as fellow type 1 Conor Daly was also on the track again. Conor lives on the northside of Indianapolis and was diagnosed about a decade ago as a teenager.

Conor also happens to be a second-generation race driver, as the son of pro driver Derek Daly (who reached the pinnacle of the sport, competing in Formula One and Indy Cars for well over a decade).

Years ago, Conor"s dad was a guest speaker at the Diabetes Youth Foundation of Indiana (DYFI) camp I was attending, where he shared his son"s story -- and I"ve been following Conor"s career with interest ever since.

Conor has competed in the Indy 500 for a few years now, but 2016 is particularly newsworthy as Lilly Diabetes became his sponsor for the first time this year.

Other Racecar Drivers with Diabetes

Another well-known PWD driver is Ryan Reed (@DriverRyanReed), who"s actually been sponsored by Lilly Diabetes in the NASCAR series (different than the open-wheel style of IndyCar racing) for a number of years, and is someone we"ve had the pleasure of meeting and talking to in the past. It seems that for the historic 100th anniversary of the Indy 500 in Lilly"s backyard, the company recognized the importance of having a stake in that race too.

We"re also excited to know about Dylon Wilson, who is from North Carolina and competes in the Whelan all-American Series of NASCAR.

Dylon is probably the least-known of these PWD drivers, but has been making the news more in recent months with efforts share his diabetes story and how he handles the challenges of racing.

Dylon is 20 years old and was diagnosed on his 13th birthday back in 2009. Our friends at Pump Wear had a great Q&A with him earlier in the year, and we connected with Dylon by email to hear details of his BG management and what inspires him.

He tells us he uses Medtronic"s 530G insulin pump and Enlite CGM, and bounces around between different BG meters while racing, and he uses Glucerna"s Carbsteady drinks and snacks on race day to keep his BGs boosted.

"Other racers that have (diabetes) are inspiring to me. But the real inspiration to race comes from the tons of children that get diagnosed every single day, and have to go through school, and team sports growing up and having to learn the disease all at the same time with them thinking, "Why me?"

"When I"m in the car, and things aren"t going right, all it takes is me thinking about a little boy or girl that can"t sleep at night because the disease isn"t cooperating... I"ve been through that and I know how hard it is, and that"s what drives me," Dylon wrote in an email.

We"re just thrilled to see PWDs competing at high levels of racing, along with the many other sports feats we hear about.

While most of us don"t have the Sammy Hagar issue of I Can"t Drive 55, it"s pretty awesome to see D-peeps like Charlie, Conor, Ryan and Dylon hitting those 200s on the speedometer while keeping their blood sugars in check behind the wheel.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn"t adhere to Healthline"s editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline"s partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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