Charlie Kimball won’t be slowed by diabetes

Via Toronto Star
July 17, 2014

When the checkered flag waved to end the second of a two-race weekend doubleheader in Houston three weeks ago, Verizon IndyCar Series driver Will Power looked positively exhausted.

He was out of his Penske Racing car and sitting on the ground, in the shade, pale and appearing to be a candidate for an IV.

On the other hand, driver Charlie Kimball positively glowed. He looked as if he hadn’t broken a sweat and, in fact, said in a TV interview he felt so good that he was ready to go out and drive another race the very next day.
Get this: Charlie Kimball has diabetes. And Will Power wasn’t the only IndyCar driver sucking oxygen from a bottle after that race, either.

Kimball, who will be driving for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing in two more doubleheader races in the Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place Saturday and Sunday, is the first — and so far the only — Type 1 diabetic to be licensed by IndyCar to race in the series.

And his blood sugar count is part of the race team’s data.

“I wear a continuous glucose monitor when I’m racing,” Kimball said in an interview this week.

“So there’s a sensor on my body and it transmits to a display and that display is actually plugged into the car’s data system. So on my steering wheel, I have speed, lap time, oil pressure, blood sugar, water temperature. I have car and body data right there together.”

Since Kimball was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 22 (he’s 29 now), he hasn’t let it hold him back and has been steadily employed by teams in a number of different series, from British Formula 3 to Firestone Indy Lights to the top of the mountain, IndyCar, where he’s raced since 2011.

Kimball says that because of his illness, he’s better prepared mentally and has a better understanding of his body in general. “I have to consider everything I eat, I consider every activity I do.”

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