What is this page?

This page details the history of the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page and answers some of the questions that I've been asked about the website.

Why did you create this site?

Realizing that it was difficult to find information about wheelchair racing I created the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page to share what I had learned. It evolved from my personal bookmarks. I soon added sub-pages for related topics.

Who is the Webmaster?

Don Birzer.

In 1991 I attended a Wheelchair Sports and Recreation Camp at the Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch in Stewartville, Minnesota. I soon knew that I wanted to race.

The next year I got my first Quickie racing wheelchair and I've been training and racing ever since. Wheelchair racing has become one of my most enjoyable activities.

Because of my involvement in racing I have traveled to new places and met people I would not have otherwise have met.

In about 1997 I started coaching for the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association, mostly kids with SCI, CP and spina bifida. I've met many great kids and coached them at several Junior Nationals, Phoenix, Seattle and Albuquerque and the Windsor Indoor Games. They have competed in the Paralympics, World Games and many national events. Some of their pictures are in the Rogues Gallery.

In 2000 I traveled to Sydney, Australia to see the Paralympics. It was great fun seeing people I know competing for their countries. Australia is a wonderful place that I hope to visit again.

Professionally, I am a Unix (Sun Microsystem's Solaris OS) system administrator for General Electric Medical Systems and I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

What is the background picture?

The background image on the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page is the start of the 1995 Riverside Rumble 10 K in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. I used a Umax Vista S6E scanner to scan a color photograph and GraphicConverter to convert the JPEG image file to greyscale and reduce the "Q" to obtain a smaller file size.

I like the effect and think it makes a nice background image. I'm actually in that picture, about three rows back and a little to the left! In 2002 the Riverside Rumble 10 K was cancelled, I hope it will be back soon.

Who is that guy in the racing chair at the top of the page?

I admit it, it's a crudely rendered self-portrait. That's as good as I can draw with a mouse!

Occasionally I change the image slightly, mostly for my own amusement.

What are those icons at the bottom of the page?

The icons link to other sites, most referring to tools that I use to create these pages.

Some relate to my other interests, such as SETI@home. Here are my SETI stats.

How did the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page originate?

In 1996 I bought my first Apple Macintosh, a Performa 5215 and my first HTML book, O'Reilly's HTML, The Definitive Guide". I learned how to write simple HTML and hand coded the first Wheelchair Racing Resource Page using a text editor. I now use Optima System's PageSpinner.

My attitude towards web design has always been that web pages should provide content first and beauty second. Pages should display properly for the broadest possible range of users regardless of what equipment they use or which software they choose.

I attempt to create pages that are HTML 4.01 compliant and browser independent. I hate web pages that only work with one browser or one OS or one screen resolution or are so image laden that they are too slow for dialup users.

The Wheelchair Racing Resource Page should display properly with most versions of Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, iCab, Chimera, Opera, Lynx or Safari.

You'll never see an under construction icon. Active pages are always under construction.

The first home of the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page.

The Wheelchair Racing Resource Page was first hosted on Exec PC. They provided years of good service, however as time went by their Unix shell access became more restricted and the limited speed of dialup became an issue.

The Wheelchair Racing Resource Page moves.

In 1999 I moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and bought an Apple Macintosh G4. I also built a Redhat Linux system with an Asus AMD Athlon processor from Multiwave.

I wanted faster network access! In 2001 I finally chose a broadband cable service, Time Warner's RoadRunner. I typically see speeds of 2500 kbps down/450 kbps up and have good reliability, however I rate their customer service as "needs improvement."

After 5 years and over 38,000 page hits I migrated the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page to RoadRunner. The hit counter that I used on Exec PC incremented every time the page was loaded. The present counter gives a better indication of how many visitors have accessed as it does not increment when accessed from the same computer twice in a row. On the first year anniversary the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page will have had over 6500 visitors.

How can I contribute to the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page?

Email me information about races, events or sports organizations or an image of a race and I'll post it to the Rogues Gallery.

Report any errors or dead links or suggest additions to the Wheelchair Racing Resource Page.

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