VOL. 56 ISSUE 18 MAY 7, 2019 P119
the world, I still had racing and riding. Now I don't
have that. So, I'm working on getting into a dirt
car. I'll probably start out with a mini-sprint or a
Midget or something. Just anything to be able to
get out and have that adrenaline again."
Those plans are in the works, but Baker knows
the time to push like hell on the rehab is right
now when he's still young, and the body can
still take it. The cars will always be there, but
the chance to one day walk again might not, so
the former Grand National Champion with the
famous number 6 is going to give it everything
he's got.
"The work is getting myself back on my feet
so I can get rid of this damn wheelchair," Baker
says. "I'm going to live and still try to do as much
fun things that I can, but at the same time, the
main priority is pushing as hard as I possibly can
to get back on my feet. I'm obviously not the first
[to get paralyzed], and I won't be the last, and it
could be a whole lot worse. I was going through
YouTube videos recently, just watching old races,
and I came across my friend Jethro Halbert's cel-
ebration of life video. Jethro was one of my child-
hood racing heroes. He passed away in 2014
after a wreck at Calistoga, California, in the heat
race that I was actually in. It was me, my brother,
and Jethro's brother Sam, all four of us brothers
were in a race. It could have been any one of
us. So, I just got to thinking watching that, being
paralyzed sucks, but I'm still here. Everybody's
dealt a different hand. Got to roll with it." CN
