Brown says upper body strength is important but not at the expense of conditioning, so he is not shy about working them on the track. The chairs they race are custom-made and expensive. Comparing them to the wheelchairs they use just to get around campus is like the difference between an Indy formula car to, say, the world's best scooter. Davis and Blauwet have spent time in Florida supervising the construction of their vehicles. Technology, says Davis, can make all the difference when trying to shave a few hundredths of a second in a race.
Spills are infrequent, but can be ugly.
Davis has sustained his share of shoulder injuries from collisions and falls. Brown says Davis and Blauwet are both driven by competition, and he likes to challenge them on their workouts. A veteran wheelchair racer, Brown came to the UA nearly three years ago from the University of Illinois. His own success as a junior athlete and for the Illini have brought considerable credibility to the UA program, which is housed at the Disability Resource Center at First Street and Cherry Avenue. The center provides athletes with a weight room where they round out their practices on the track.