Charlie Kimball's Blog

Via The Windsor Star

When he was first given the news, it hit Charlie Kimball harder than any wall he’s impacted at high speed while driving on the Verizon IndyCar circuit.

In 2007, at the age of 22, Kimball, driver of the No. 83 Novo Nordisk Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing, was diagnosed with type one diabetes.

“I was racing in Europe in 2007 and went into the doctor with a heat rash and came away with a diagnosis of diabetes,” Kimball recalled. “Without any family history of it, it was a pretty big surprise to me.

“I had to learn a lot about what it meant to me as a person, me as an athlete and finally, me as a racing driver.”

While every day is an ongoing balancing act for Kimball, the third-place finisher in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, to ensure he is maintaining his blood sugar at the required level, this weekend, as he comes to town for the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, he faces his toughest fight of the season.

“One of the additional pressures of having diabetes is I have to manage my blood sugar throughout the whole race weekend,” Kimball said. “It’s not just any day I’m in the car, but the days leading up to race weekend as well.”

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