April 30, 2024 • 31 mins
Meet Torsten Gross, a C6 quadriplegic who discovered his need for speed after the 36th traffic ticket and a racing experience day at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. Now he competes against non-disabled drivers in his 981 Cayman retrofitted with hand controls. In order to share his passion for motorsports, Torsten launched the Just Hands Foundation, an organization that gives anyone who uses hand controls to drive the opportunity to get onto a track with an instructor. And…spoiler alert…his new TV Show Just Hands: For the Love Of Racing—which follows his racing adventures—comes out in June. Don’t miss your chance to hear about his epic journey.
About the Host, Paul Amadeus Lane
Abilities Expo ambassador, TV & radio personality and disability advocate Paul Amadeus Lane has leveraged his considerable media experience to host the Abilities Zone. Former Bureau Chief of both ABC News Radio, KMET 1490-AM and NBC News Radio, KCAA 1050-AM, Paul is a self-proclaimed tech junkie and also hosts the TECH ZONE and Entertainment Zone podcasts. As an accessibility consultant, he was instrumental in helping PlayStation create its Access Controller to level the playing field for disabled gamers. If you don’t see him on the red carpet interviewing celebrities, you’ll find him speaking at CES, E3, the TechConneXt Summit and more.
About the Host, Paul Amadeus Lane
Abilities Expo ambassador, TV & radio personality and disability advocate Paul Amadeus Lane has leveraged his considerable media experience to host the Abilities Zone. Former Bureau Chief of both ABC News Radio, KMET 1490-AM and NBC News Radio, KCAA 1050-AM, Paul is a self-proclaimed tech junkie and also hosts the TECH ZONE and Entertainment Zone podcasts. As an accessibility consultant, he was instrumental in helping PlayStation create its Access Controller to level the playing field for disabled gamers. If you don’t see him on the red carpet interviewing celebrities, you’ll find him speaking at CES, E3, the TechConneXt Summit and more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Now wait a minte touristing. Youmean to tell me that I'm paralyzed.
You and I have both quads.We can drive race cars. Well yeah,
because if you're crash into a wall, you don't really feel it.
So uh, I'm Paul Almadeia sLane and welcome to the Ability Zone.
Prepare for something amazing. Oh AlmaDan. Yeah, you don't wait for
(00:27):
no one, oh Ama d Yeah, you don't wait for no one.
I am so delighted to have youon our show today. We have an
amazing guest that's going to be anAbilities Expo in Edison, New Jersey coming
(00:51):
up, so make sure you goto the website and register and you're going
to see some amazing exhibitors. ButI want to introduce you to my guests
right now. I am so delightedto have with me right now. My
next guest, Torston Gross, what'sgoing on Towardston? How you doing?
I'm doing good, my man?How are you? Hey? I am
(01:12):
delighted to have you on and sohonored to be with you now waiting to
mete Torston. You mean to tellme that I'm paralyzed. You and I
have both quads. We can driverace cars. Well, yeah, because
if you crash into a wall,you don't really feel it. So uh
so, I guess we have anadvantage to that, you know on that
side, and uh yeah, whoneeds some feet? What you got when
(01:36):
you got hands? Right? Ilove it. I love it. So
Torsten, how did you know thiswas something that that you were able to
do? My friend, I didn't. So my wife got me a track
day at Limerock Park after we Sowe we had a weekend house, which
an now our permanent house here inConnecticut that is seven miles away from Limerock
(01:59):
and which is one of the country'smost strategic race tracks. And I'd been
pulled over. I'm not going toadmit that it was at that time.
Thirty six times in my life,I won't admit that, but that might
be true. If it is true, then my wife would know that I've
(02:20):
got a penchant for speed, andshe saw that you can do a track
day here with your own personal carthat's already you know, your car as
long as it's not I think theysay something like as long as it's not
taller than it is long, someaning it can't be like a mini van
(02:43):
or something like that. But anysedan and most new SUVs now because of
their handling, can go on thetrack and do a track day. It's
not racing, but a track dayand experience it. And the second I
did that, I just saw mywallet king because I was like, this
is I now need to do this? Yeah, And that's how I got
(03:06):
into it, my wife, likeall the things marriage, So you have
to just blame it on your wife, like, isn't that kind of isn't
that? Yeah? Always it's likea trick that I've learned too. You
had to make it their decision andthen if it's yeah, I get to
go. Yeah. Always lease onmany letters. I was totally kidding about
(03:30):
that, you know, no nastytweets. I'm totally kidding. No,
you know. In Towurst And let'skind of backtrack a little bit now too.
You became a quadriplegic at a veryyoung age, and well, why
don't you share that that journey withus and then kind of like where you
kind of took yourself through a journeyof what what you wanted to do in
(03:51):
life and now you got this amazingthing going on. If you might sharing
that with this please, yeah,not at all. So when I was
fifteen, I dove in the ocean, broke my neck thirty six pieces,
drowned. It was what they callclinically dead for two and a half minutes.
So I broke my c six intothirty six pieces splinters, And yeah,
you know, I kind of seeit fortunate that I was fifteen,
(04:13):
because when you're younger. This is, you know, solely my perspective,
but I believe that when you're younger, you're going through so many life changes
anyway, even walking, you're goingfrom middle school to high school, you're
going high school to college, college, your first job. Things are changing,
you're moving to different places. Youare conditioned as a human to change
(04:38):
inside those life changes. When you'reolder, you're a little more conditioned and
you've got your routine, and somy routine never got screwed up. Well
it did for the time right aftermy accident, but that just becomes a
factor of life versus my life completelychanging. And so I kind of accepted
(05:00):
it fairly, easily and simply.Now, I was also fifteen, so
it's I was at that age whereif you told me to do something,
the answer just clinically is no.But I learned to deal with my accident
kind of moving forward. And Ithink the biggest thing that really motivated me
(05:25):
is that a doctor had said tome, well, quads don't live alone.
Quads always need aids. And atfifteen, I was like, well,
well that's not going to happen.But it still took me nine years
to put on my socks myself.It took so long, and then I
(05:46):
decided one day, because I gotin this program called MIAMII School where for
my job I would have to travela lot, I locked my AID out
of the apartment and I said,well, I'm going to do all my
care myself. And she was like, no, you need to let me
in. I said, no,I'm I'm going to figure this out.
(06:06):
Even if I get real sick rightnow, I'm going to figure out my
AID, you know, doing itall myself. So I literally locked my
AID out of my apartment for multipledays just to figure out how to do.
I'll just say all my routines myself. And once that happened, that
kind of unlocked everything where I thengot into the advertising world, and I've
(06:30):
been in advertising and marketing ever since, so much so that before the pandemic
I was on a plane every dayor maybe every other day, just traveling
from client to client. So yeah, so my my life spans kind of
broad swath of living in Europe,living here, you know, and figuring
(06:54):
out who I was in a chairversus trying to figure out who I can
be by being in a chair.Right, So I didn't have really an
identity at fifteen, knowing us anidentity you think you do, but you
don't. Right, So that's thelong winded way. Sorry if that was
too long of explaining, you know, diving accident at fifteen. And this
(07:14):
year is my thirtieth anniversary. NowI appreciate that towards then because my I
just got my thirty first anniversary inJanuary. So happy break your neck adversity,
so, you know, and andand just to hear, I was,
I was real young when I hadmy maccent as well to it.
And you're right, you know,you know, we were kind of young.
(07:34):
I didn't know better. You know, we just pivoted and we just
went on and and just live life, you know, to the fullest.
And you've been able to do someincredible things, you know, being independent,
having a great career and an advertisementand when you when you look at
just the the community that we're apart of, and you see like younger
ones who are coming up, whoare in the same chairs that we are,
(07:58):
on the same wheel as we are. What type of I don't want
to say advice, but what typeof life lessons can you share with them
and their families as they're navigating kindof like this this new normal for them.
It's a great question. I thinkthe first thing I would just say
say is society has painted a picturethat is not true. We are the
(08:24):
little cripple kid that's being pushed byhis mom behind in the back of a
TV commercial. We are the peoplethat can't do anything that we are mentally
and physically incapable of. Dare Ieven say being human or being equal?
(08:46):
And I don't think that that itwas something that culture had set out to
do, because I do believe alot of advancements that have happened over the
past twenty or thirty years to makeit so that we are way more equal.
That's not to say that before twentyyears ago we weren't, but I
think now our lives are a wholelot more intertwined with able body people where
(09:11):
we can be equal in so manymore ways that don't let the societal of
you dictate what you think your lifeis going to be. Number one and
number two nobody knows. And Isay that strictly as I'm a C six
(09:31):
quad you put me next to anotherC six squad or completely different, or
we can be completely different. Youput me next to somebody with spina bifita
or multiple scrosis, completely different.But from a societal perspective, if somebody
says, oh, they're in awheelchair, well so is my friend.
Okay, if I'm ten, Idon't look at you and go I know
(09:54):
what it's like to be black.Like, that's not the way it works.
Just because we're a wheelchair doesn't meanthat we're the same. It's like
there were all different slices, right, which, by the way, I
love. But people try and relateand I love that, right, But
then what they do is they makejudgment calls on everyone. And so if
you're a parent or you're a kidand go, well, I can't do
this or I can't do that.Because someone told me that I've lived my
(10:18):
life on loving the word no.You tell me the word no, and
I will figure out how I'm goingto do it faster and better than you,
and so far I've proven it right. So I those would be two
things. And the last thing Iwould say is make up your mind before
(10:41):
you know how you're going to dosomething. Meaning if I want to go
race a car or do something likethat, I guarantee you I can come
up with twenty reasons why that that'snot going to work and why it shouldn't
work. That's a problem because isif you're already thinking of the know before
(11:01):
you think I actually want to dothis, you're not going to try and
again C six quad, I knewthat I wanted to be in marketing and
be a strategist. I knew thatI needed to do the care myself and
to lock out your aid half yourapartment. I'm not advising that to everybody
(11:22):
on this listening to this, butmy point is the determination I didn't know
how I would do it. Ifailed a lot, like a lot.
And what's funny about these conversations isyou started off by saying, you know,
I've done a lot in my lifeand I'm very fortunate that I can
consider myself very I'll just use theword successful. How you didn't introduce me
(11:50):
though, is let's talk about allthe failures you've had to get to hear,
right, Let's talk about everything youdid wrong to get to hear.
We never highlight that. And thereason why I say that is if you're
coming in from the outside and you'reexpecting everything to work, oh careful,
(12:13):
y'all, that it ain't gonna work. But if you come into it going
fail and fail fast, but learnfrom the failure, that's how you become
better. So anyone who's in achair or landed in a chair, know
that the therapists are doing the bestthat they can. But they're just they're
being They're giving you the treatment onaverage, what does the average person need
(12:33):
you're going to leave there. Weall had our first wheelchair that we left
the hospital with. That is aclunker. You know, it doesn't fit
really well. I think it tookthree iterations for me to get my tighlight
to where I want to be,and now I just call tighlight. I'm
like, y'all make me another,but it took a long time to get
there. And so if you feellike, don't expect the baby to walk
(12:58):
at six months right, same thingright after if you're in a wheelchair,
don't expect to get to where youwant to go in six months or a
year. Give it time, right, but but you will get there.
And yeah, that would be ApparentlyI just gave them a lot of advice.
Apparently they have to, you know, you know, tors And I
(13:20):
love it, man, because youknow, as saying in a hood,
game is sold and not told.And you you know, you, you
know, you have given us alot to digest. And I'm glad you
did because I think that's something thatwe have to do. We have to
let them know about the failures thatthey came before the successes because it gives
them real life expectation. And hey, look at look at Torson and Paul.
(13:41):
You know they're they're successful. NowI'm going to be like that.
Well, it's a ninety nine tonine percent chance that you won't be right
at front. But after you failand keep failing, you'll get to the
point where you'll have some have somesuccess. And I love the fact how
you mentioned that we're not a monolith. How I'm a see six quid,
you're a six sixth squad and wewere totally different and and just our disabilities,
(14:03):
and I'm so glad that you highlightthat towards them because that's as a
real life my friend. I reallyappreciate that. And yeah, you know,
now we look at what's bringing youto the Abilities Expo in New York,
and you know, before we talkabout some of the great things you're
going to show off and some thingsyou're going to talk about, what is
your Abilities Expo experience before you,you know, got involved with with all
(14:28):
the great things that you're doing.You know, it's interesting if I look
back at it, I need toput it in different phases. So abilities
exposed, a newbie, ability isexposed, and intermediate and now as an
advance. Then here's what I meanby that. A newbie. So you
know I was maybe I don't know, I was newly in a wheelchair.
(14:52):
I forgot what age. And yougo there and your eyes are wide open.
You're like, oh my god,there's all this stuff here, and
and it's overwhelming, right in agood way, how much stuff there is.
And you don't know, really what'sfor me, what's not for me?
Why is it? You know,you're wide eyed and bushy tails,
right, you're just so excited abouteverything. Mid tier right, intermediate.
(15:16):
That's a couple of years later.You go in there, and what's funny
is I go, well, Iknow everything about being in a chair.
I'm just coming as I have tocome, and I kind of click off
from the community a little bit.I'm like, I've got it all.
I'm good. I'm good now thati'd say advanced mean now, but thirty
years in a chair and now I'ma little more open eyed, and I
(15:37):
go in and go, wow,a lot of things have changed. And
that, to me is an interestingway of how I've experienced the ability as
an expo where no matter what partof the journey that I was on,
it's been there for me to showme different things that I didn't know was
there, whether I was receptive tothem or not. And I think that
(16:00):
that's what's kind of cool about it. Yeah, it really is. It
really is. And you know,I have similar, you know, experience
with the expo too. I rememberwhen I about a year after my injury,
my caregiver who was a good friendof mine, She's like, Hey,
I'm gonna take you and your sisterto this place. You can see
it. And I saw a commercialand blah blah, blah blah. Then
the parlays into this amazing kind ofexperience that we've all been a part of.
(16:22):
And you know, when when whenyou're there and coming up, what
are some of the things you're you'reyou're gonna you're gonna highlight, you're gonna
show off, you know, toto really just just highlight just this magnificent
thing that you're doing right now.And you're getting others involved too. So
I'll tell you first Bart just handsis so that it puts a little more
into context. So uh, tome, race car driving or even performance
(16:48):
driving, track driving, even beforeyou become a race car driver, is
the only thing that makes you equalwith able body people. You know,
I've done a boat load of sports, but you know, for skiing will
never be equal to able body peopleor in their division. We'll never do
even though we can do marathons,we'll never do that against able body people.
(17:11):
Will never do any sport really againstable body people. And that,
as far as saying, bothered me, but like I'd always wanted to compete
against my friends and you know,able body folks. And so okay,
fast forward now to finding track driving, and it was such a fundamental shift
for me because on so many otherreasons why it was great. Forget about
(17:37):
the need for speed. It mademe equal to able body people and that
is what a cool moment to experiencethat. And so I thought, well,
this is something I need to sharein the world because there are other
people who have shared racing with me, sailing with me, like a sale
(18:00):
to prevail, a shake a legor whatever. There are so many groups
Achilles that got me doing hand cycling. I didn't find that for motorsports,
and so I put together Just Hands, which is a program that is at
this track right here, which isat Limerock, Connecticut. But we also
(18:23):
have a car at Spa, whichis the number one Formula one track in
the world in Belgium. We haveone at nurburg Ring in Germany. We
have multiple cars coming up here inthe US this year where you can go
to performance driving. It's not racing, it'll get you into racing, but
(18:44):
it is performance driving on a track. Now, what we're doing at the
Abilities Expo is we are bringing ourone of our cars, which is a
nine to eighty one Porsche Cayman twopoint seven later, which is instingly enough,
has two sets of hand controls leftand right hand controls, because I
(19:06):
want to make sure because people drivein different styles, right and so I
want to make sure that no matterwhat side you drove on, you felt
comfortable. But the car is completelysuited for somebody in a chair to drive.
And so people can take a lookat that car, we can talk
to them about signing up. Youknow, there's certain criteria that you need
to meet in order to do it, but I'd say a fair amount of
(19:32):
people meet that criteria and we'll beshowing that at the expo, and I
will also be giving a workshop,and that workshop is going to be talking
about racing, but it is alsogoing to be screening the trailer of my
new show, and so we cantalk about that at some point too.
(19:52):
But that is what is happening atthe expo for just hands. All right,
let's talk about that new show.Bro no time like the President,
right, So I was really excitedthat I can't tell you the streaming service,
but let's say it's a very largestreaming service that is not Netflix that
(20:17):
you know that followed me. Theproduction company followed me around for about a
year and they documented my journey intoracing. Everything from racing to crashing my
car sixty miles an hour sideways intoa wall and breaking my femur three ribs
and puncturing my lung. Made itall the way to the hospital for that.
(20:41):
Yep. They so they really coveredall of it, all of it,
and that will be streaming in June. But I will be showing that
the trail out the Abilities Expo andthe races that it covers is at Hawkins
Glen, Virginia International Raceway, UHDaytona and the Formula one Track Coda Circuit
(21:11):
of the Americas in Texas in towardsAnd that was the question I was going
to ask you have you had hadan accident in your your vehicle, And
yes you have and and what wasthat like towards the you know, being
in in that type of collision,you know, very anti climactic. Uh
(21:33):
it bad outcome, breaking my leg, but you know, a crash happens
real fast. And I'll actually tellyou the story. Interestingly enough, when
I crashed, I remember crashing,but then the next thing I remember is
being in the ambulance. But what'sactually interesting about the whole thing is that
(21:55):
I was awake through the whole processand you never know how you act in
one of those horrible situations. Areyou a hair on fire type person?
Are you, you know, apaniker? Are you you know? Do
you shut down? Like? Whatkind of person are you in those moments?
And because of the show, mycar was wired up and I was
(22:19):
very calm and very exact, Andwhen the crew came to get me,
we didn't know that my leg wasbroken, and so we put me into
the Now my ribs hurt for sure, and my lung hurt, but I
didn't think it was that bad.I thought it was just a little bit
of a you know, compression ofhitting that hard. When they put me
(22:41):
into the the cab of the truckto bring me back to the paddock,
I put put my hands down onmy thighs. This hand stayed there,
This hand went down, and Ijust looked at the guy. I'm like,
we gotta go, like we gotto go. And it's it's scary
because you also don't know what yourbody body reacts as a quad you get
(23:02):
dysreflexic, like do you whatever.Luckily I didn't get anything. They actually
took me to the emergency room andthey go, well, normally we would
sedate you because this is the mostpainful bone in your body to break.
And I just went, we're good. And so we heard it snap back,
so did my wife and she wasstanding next to me. And the
(23:22):
funniest part about the whole thing,if there is a punchline. I'm six
five. So when they put meinto the ambulance, the door wouldn't close
when they transported me, and theywent, We're gonna have to slide you
up, and I'm like, we'regood. I don't feel it. So
they put a rod all the waydown my femur and look, that stuff
(23:45):
really wasn't the big deal. Thebig deal to me was the ribs because
everything we do is rotation on aplane of your upper body, you know,
leaning over to pick stuff up toall all at right, or all
rotation of your of your of yourribs. That that wasn't fun, but
(24:08):
it's look, there there are twotypes of race car drivers. They're ones
that have crashed and ones that will. There's no there's no middle round,
right, and now I'm one.I'm one that has and let's hope it
doesn't happen again, but I'm sureit will because you know, when you
(24:29):
do something that you push to theedge, then you you are bound to
go over it. I do wantto say this though, just hands,
so that's me and training for racingjust hands is performance driving you are on
a track. But what I wasdoing is not what somebody who goes through
just hands would go through. Itis incredibly safe. So I don't want
(24:55):
anyone listening to this to think,well, let's go do it tourist and
data and if I break my femeor no big deal. I don't want
anyone to think that. So Ijust I just want that to be reiterated.
Now I appreciate that, And andhow has it changed your approach when
you are doing competitive competitive racing.Does it make you a little more cautious
out there or you don't mind sharingthat with us? No, I think
(25:18):
look the like any sport. Youknow, when a tennis player turns around
to get the ball and then theyturn back to the court, they're not
they're not walking around. They havea mental moment where they're clearing everything that
just happened in the past, eventhe five shots that they missed, and
each shot is their first shot mentally. That's how you know extreme athletes,
(25:42):
some very good athletes think. Theysay, well, that happened and that
doesn't mean that it's going to happenagain. Well, I want to get
it back out there right away.I mean, I'm so addicted to this
and every time I go around thatcorner, and that corner is right there,
(26:06):
that's the corner that I hit.Every time I go around that corner,
I'll look at it, but Istill won't think about that crash.
I think. You know anyone's mentalitysports are not. You need to understand
that things happen in life, andif you allow those moments to dictate your
future, then you're not going tomove forward because the one thing that we
(26:32):
can all guarantee is that things gowrong to guarantee right, death taxes and
stuff going wrong, and if youallow those things that go wrong to stop
you, you will never move forward. Period. So look, was it
was it scary? Yeah? Sure, But when you're in the middle of
(26:53):
a race or if you're on track, you are so hyper focused that you're
not really thinking about, well couldI crash? It's not something you want
to think about. Yeah. No, I'm glad, glad to share that.
Hey, Torriston, I'm in California. I won't be at the New
York show, but I'm sure alot of my friends are listening who are
out here. They want to findout more information about by no Hands.
(27:18):
How can I do that? Well, just hands, not no hands.
No hands would be funny because Imean hand or feet out remove it.
So go to just hands dot org. You know we have people flying in
from from actually globally the flying todo our thing. But more importantly,
if you sign up, that helpsus understand where people are. We are
(27:44):
going to be putting a car outin California, we are going to be
putting one in Texas, we aregoing to be putting one in Florida.
So the more we know where peopleare, we'll bring the cars out there
and we'll set up set up campif you will, to make sure that
people can drive. So to justorg and sign up and yeah, that's
how you can get in touch withus. Awesome towards den grills for just
(28:07):
hands. Before you know, Iwanted to go back to one thing.
I know you now hit it allreal good. When you said you're six
y five, I was like,that's why we hit it all because I'm
six six. So we you knowwe what six six sixty five, You're
just trying to make me look badthat you're an inch taller. Man,
Like that's one you just need tosay it, so that'd be like,
listen, shorty, check yourself.I'm an inch taller than you. I
(28:30):
got it. I would do thesame thing. I would do it.
Yeah, just a little bit beforeI let you go, my friend,
anything else you'd like to share withthe audience with one who will be attending
the expo in New York, Thefloor is yours, No, I think.
Look, I'm thankful for a billionsexpot to give me the platform to
spread this. I think, youknow, the more we take advantage of
(28:52):
expos like these and really show thatthere's a need and a want for this,
because our our imunity is very scattered. Without things like abilities expo,
it's hard to find the latest ofthe latest, and so I'm thankful for
that. I hope that vendors,you know, providers all want to go
to this. That's why we bringjust hands there. And you know,
(29:17):
I hope everybody comes and stops buyand says hello, awesome, well towards
and I'm looking forward to seeing youface to face like here in California.
Are if they find me out therea good chance to see you and say
hello and and really appreciate what youdo. Appreciate just your voice in our
community, and keep on doing whatyou're doing. And once once the show
(29:38):
drops on a on a streaming platform, i'ma have to have you on my
entertainment show that I do. Wecan talk about this show even more.
I would love to that. I'dbe honored to do that. All right,
bro, stay well and will's upSon's good man, take care.
A huge shout out to my manTorst and Gross doing some big things with
(30:00):
just hands. Yeah, I madea mistaken I said no hands. He
was like a real real cool guyabout it. We think about hands free
and everything. But yeah, butdon't forget check out Towardston at the Abilities
Expo in Edison, New Jersey.Go to our website and register right now.
You will not be disappointed. Well, it's time for me to make
(30:21):
like a tree and get out ofhere. But until next time, folks,
do me a favorite, Stay healthy, stay safe, and remember I
love you all the life and wheelsup. Oh Alma day. Yeah,
you don't wait for no one,Oh Alma day. Yeah, you don't
(30:51):
wait for no one. It ain'tno top. And when I'm reaching for
the top and I know looking back, I'm only looking forward my goals,
and my goals don't till five whoyou know? And I'm fine, I'll
be fine. I just want youto know, it ain't no stopping when
I'm reaching for the top and Iknow and you know looking back, I'm
only looking forward my goals and mygoals don't define who you know, and
I'm fine, I'll be fine.I just want you to know inspiration,
(31:15):
let it guide you and motivating wecan all move forward and progress just like
a motor case. Ain't know stoppingwhen I'm reaching for the top and I
know looking back, I'm only lookingforward. My goals and my goals I'm
define who you know. And I'mfine. I'll be fine. I just
want you to know, h
Now wait a minte touristing. Youmean to tell me that I'm paralyzed.
You and I have both quads.We can drive race cars. Well yeah,
because if you're crash into a wall, you don't really feel it.
So uh, I'm Paul Almadeia sLane and welcome to the Ability Zone.
Prepare for something amazing. Oh AlmaDan. Yeah, you don't wait for
(00:27):
no one, oh Ama d Yeah, you don't wait for no one.
I am so delighted to have youon our show today. We have an
amazing guest that's going to be anAbilities Expo in Edison, New Jersey coming
(00:51):
up, so make sure you goto the website and register and you're going
to see some amazing exhibitors. ButI want to introduce you to my guests
right now. I am so delightedto have with me right now. My
next guest, Torston Gross, what'sgoing on Towardston? How you doing?
I'm doing good, my man?How are you? Hey? I am
(01:12):
delighted to have you on and sohonored to be with you now waiting to
mete Torston. You mean to tellme that I'm paralyzed. You and I
have both quads. We can driverace cars. Well, yeah, because
if you crash into a wall,you don't really feel it. So uh
so, I guess we have anadvantage to that, you know on that
side, and uh yeah, whoneeds some feet? What you got when
(01:36):
you got hands? Right? Ilove it. I love it. So
Torsten, how did you know thiswas something that that you were able to
do? My friend, I didn't. So my wife got me a track
day at Limerock Park after we Sowe we had a weekend house, which
an now our permanent house here inConnecticut that is seven miles away from Limerock
(01:59):
and which is one of the country'smost strategic race tracks. And I'd been
pulled over. I'm not going toadmit that it was at that time.
Thirty six times in my life,I won't admit that, but that might
be true. If it is true, then my wife would know that I've
(02:20):
got a penchant for speed, andshe saw that you can do a track
day here with your own personal carthat's already you know, your car as
long as it's not I think theysay something like as long as it's not
taller than it is long, someaning it can't be like a mini van
(02:43):
or something like that. But anysedan and most new SUVs now because of
their handling, can go on thetrack and do a track day. It's
not racing, but a track dayand experience it. And the second I
did that, I just saw mywallet king because I was like, this
is I now need to do this? Yeah, And that's how I got
(03:06):
into it, my wife, likeall the things marriage, So you have
to just blame it on your wife, like, isn't that kind of isn't
that? Yeah? Always it's likea trick that I've learned too. You
had to make it their decision andthen if it's yeah, I get to
go. Yeah. Always lease onmany letters. I was totally kidding about
(03:30):
that, you know, no nastytweets. I'm totally kidding. No,
you know. In Towurst And let'skind of backtrack a little bit now too.
You became a quadriplegic at a veryyoung age, and well, why
don't you share that that journey withus and then kind of like where you
kind of took yourself through a journeyof what what you wanted to do in
(03:51):
life and now you got this amazingthing going on. If you might sharing
that with this please, yeah,not at all. So when I was
fifteen, I dove in the ocean, broke my neck thirty six pieces,
drowned. It was what they callclinically dead for two and a half minutes.
So I broke my c six intothirty six pieces splinters, And yeah,
you know, I kind of seeit fortunate that I was fifteen,
(04:13):
because when you're younger. This is, you know, solely my perspective,
but I believe that when you're younger, you're going through so many life changes
anyway, even walking, you're goingfrom middle school to high school, you're
going high school to college, college, your first job. Things are changing,
you're moving to different places. Youare conditioned as a human to change
(04:38):
inside those life changes. When you'reolder, you're a little more conditioned and
you've got your routine, and somy routine never got screwed up. Well
it did for the time right aftermy accident, but that just becomes a
factor of life versus my life completelychanging. And so I kind of accepted
(05:00):
it fairly, easily and simply.Now, I was also fifteen, so
it's I was at that age whereif you told me to do something,
the answer just clinically is no.But I learned to deal with my accident
kind of moving forward. And Ithink the biggest thing that really motivated me
(05:25):
is that a doctor had said tome, well, quads don't live alone.
Quads always need aids. And atfifteen, I was like, well,
well that's not going to happen.But it still took me nine years
to put on my socks myself.It took so long, and then I
(05:46):
decided one day, because I gotin this program called MIAMII School where for
my job I would have to travela lot, I locked my AID out
of the apartment and I said,well, I'm going to do all my
care myself. And she was like, no, you need to let me
in. I said, no,I'm I'm going to figure this out.
(06:06):
Even if I get real sick rightnow, I'm going to figure out my
AID, you know, doing itall myself. So I literally locked my
AID out of my apartment for multipledays just to figure out how to do.
I'll just say all my routines myself. And once that happened, that
kind of unlocked everything where I thengot into the advertising world, and I've
(06:30):
been in advertising and marketing ever since, so much so that before the pandemic
I was on a plane every dayor maybe every other day, just traveling
from client to client. So yeah, so my my life spans kind of
broad swath of living in Europe,living here, you know, and figuring
(06:54):
out who I was in a chairversus trying to figure out who I can
be by being in a chair.Right, So I didn't have really an
identity at fifteen, knowing us anidentity you think you do, but you
don't. Right, So that's thelong winded way. Sorry if that was
too long of explaining, you know, diving accident at fifteen. And this
(07:14):
year is my thirtieth anniversary. NowI appreciate that towards then because my I
just got my thirty first anniversary inJanuary. So happy break your neck adversity,
so, you know, and andand just to hear, I was,
I was real young when I hadmy maccent as well to it.
And you're right, you know,you know, we were kind of young.
(07:34):
I didn't know better. You know, we just pivoted and we just
went on and and just live life, you know, to the fullest.
And you've been able to do someincredible things, you know, being independent,
having a great career and an advertisementand when you when you look at
just the the community that we're apart of, and you see like younger
ones who are coming up, whoare in the same chairs that we are,
(07:58):
on the same wheel as we are. What type of I don't want
to say advice, but what typeof life lessons can you share with them
and their families as they're navigating kindof like this this new normal for them.
It's a great question. I thinkthe first thing I would just say
say is society has painted a picturethat is not true. We are the
(08:24):
little cripple kid that's being pushed byhis mom behind in the back of a
TV commercial. We are the peoplethat can't do anything that we are mentally
and physically incapable of. Dare Ieven say being human or being equal?
(08:46):
And I don't think that that itwas something that culture had set out to
do, because I do believe alot of advancements that have happened over the
past twenty or thirty years to makeit so that we are way more equal.
That's not to say that before twentyyears ago we weren't, but I
think now our lives are a wholelot more intertwined with able body people where
(09:11):
we can be equal in so manymore ways that don't let the societal of
you dictate what you think your lifeis going to be. Number one and
number two nobody knows. And Isay that strictly as I'm a C six
(09:31):
quad you put me next to anotherC six squad or completely different, or
we can be completely different. Youput me next to somebody with spina bifita
or multiple scrosis, completely different.But from a societal perspective, if somebody
says, oh, they're in awheelchair, well so is my friend.
Okay, if I'm ten, Idon't look at you and go I know
(09:54):
what it's like to be black.Like, that's not the way it works.
Just because we're a wheelchair doesn't meanthat we're the same. It's like
there were all different slices, right, which, by the way, I
love. But people try and relateand I love that, right, But
then what they do is they makejudgment calls on everyone. And so if
you're a parent or you're a kidand go, well, I can't do
this or I can't do that.Because someone told me that I've lived my
(10:18):
life on loving the word no.You tell me the word no, and
I will figure out how I'm goingto do it faster and better than you,
and so far I've proven it right. So I those would be two
things. And the last thing Iwould say is make up your mind before
(10:41):
you know how you're going to dosomething. Meaning if I want to go
race a car or do something likethat, I guarantee you I can come
up with twenty reasons why that that'snot going to work and why it shouldn't
work. That's a problem because isif you're already thinking of the know before
(11:01):
you think I actually want to dothis, you're not going to try and
again C six quad, I knewthat I wanted to be in marketing and
be a strategist. I knew thatI needed to do the care myself and
to lock out your aid half yourapartment. I'm not advising that to everybody
(11:22):
on this listening to this, butmy point is the determination I didn't know
how I would do it. Ifailed a lot, like a lot.
And what's funny about these conversations isyou started off by saying, you know,
I've done a lot in my lifeand I'm very fortunate that I can
consider myself very I'll just use theword successful. How you didn't introduce me
(11:50):
though, is let's talk about allthe failures you've had to get to hear,
right, Let's talk about everything youdid wrong to get to hear.
We never highlight that. And thereason why I say that is if you're
coming in from the outside and you'reexpecting everything to work, oh careful,
(12:13):
y'all, that it ain't gonna work. But if you come into it going
fail and fail fast, but learnfrom the failure, that's how you become
better. So anyone who's in achair or landed in a chair, know
that the therapists are doing the bestthat they can. But they're just they're
being They're giving you the treatment onaverage, what does the average person need
(12:33):
you're going to leave there. Weall had our first wheelchair that we left
the hospital with. That is aclunker. You know, it doesn't fit
really well. I think it tookthree iterations for me to get my tighlight
to where I want to be,and now I just call tighlight. I'm
like, y'all make me another,but it took a long time to get
there. And so if you feellike, don't expect the baby to walk
(12:58):
at six months right, same thingright after if you're in a wheelchair,
don't expect to get to where youwant to go in six months or a
year. Give it time, right, but but you will get there.
And yeah, that would be ApparentlyI just gave them a lot of advice.
Apparently they have to, you know, you know, tors And I
(13:20):
love it, man, because youknow, as saying in a hood,
game is sold and not told.And you you know, you, you
know, you have given us alot to digest. And I'm glad you
did because I think that's something thatwe have to do. We have to
let them know about the failures thatthey came before the successes because it gives
them real life expectation. And hey, look at look at Torson and Paul.
(13:41):
You know they're they're successful. NowI'm going to be like that.
Well, it's a ninety nine tonine percent chance that you won't be right
at front. But after you failand keep failing, you'll get to the
point where you'll have some have somesuccess. And I love the fact how
you mentioned that we're not a monolith. How I'm a see six quid,
you're a six sixth squad and wewere totally different and and just our disabilities,
(14:03):
and I'm so glad that you highlightthat towards them because that's as a
real life my friend. I reallyappreciate that. And yeah, you know,
now we look at what's bringing youto the Abilities Expo in New York,
and you know, before we talkabout some of the great things you're
going to show off and some thingsyou're going to talk about, what is
your Abilities Expo experience before you,you know, got involved with with all
(14:28):
the great things that you're doing.You know, it's interesting if I look
back at it, I need toput it in different phases. So abilities
exposed, a newbie, ability isexposed, and intermediate and now as an
advance. Then here's what I meanby that. A newbie. So you
know I was maybe I don't know, I was newly in a wheelchair.
(14:52):
I forgot what age. And yougo there and your eyes are wide open.
You're like, oh my god,there's all this stuff here, and
and it's overwhelming, right in agood way, how much stuff there is.
And you don't know, really what'sfor me, what's not for me?
Why is it? You know,you're wide eyed and bushy tails,
right, you're just so excited abouteverything. Mid tier right, intermediate.
(15:16):
That's a couple of years later.You go in there, and what's funny
is I go, well, Iknow everything about being in a chair.
I'm just coming as I have tocome, and I kind of click off
from the community a little bit.I'm like, I've got it all.
I'm good. I'm good now thati'd say advanced mean now, but thirty
years in a chair and now I'ma little more open eyed, and I
(15:37):
go in and go, wow,a lot of things have changed. And
that, to me is an interestingway of how I've experienced the ability as
an expo where no matter what partof the journey that I was on,
it's been there for me to showme different things that I didn't know was
there, whether I was receptive tothem or not. And I think that
(16:00):
that's what's kind of cool about it. Yeah, it really is. It
really is. And you know,I have similar, you know, experience
with the expo too. I rememberwhen I about a year after my injury,
my caregiver who was a good friendof mine, She's like, Hey,
I'm gonna take you and your sisterto this place. You can see
it. And I saw a commercialand blah blah, blah blah. Then
the parlays into this amazing kind ofexperience that we've all been a part of.
(16:22):
And you know, when when whenyou're there and coming up, what
are some of the things you're you'reyou're gonna you're gonna highlight, you're gonna
show off, you know, toto really just just highlight just this magnificent
thing that you're doing right now.And you're getting others involved too. So
I'll tell you first Bart just handsis so that it puts a little more
into context. So uh, tome, race car driving or even performance
(16:48):
driving, track driving, even beforeyou become a race car driver, is
the only thing that makes you equalwith able body people. You know,
I've done a boat load of sports, but you know, for skiing will
never be equal to able body peopleor in their division. We'll never do
even though we can do marathons,we'll never do that against able body people.
(17:11):
Will never do any sport really againstable body people. And that,
as far as saying, bothered me, but like I'd always wanted to compete
against my friends and you know,able body folks. And so okay,
fast forward now to finding track driving, and it was such a fundamental shift
for me because on so many otherreasons why it was great. Forget about
(17:37):
the need for speed. It mademe equal to able body people and that
is what a cool moment to experiencethat. And so I thought, well,
this is something I need to sharein the world because there are other
people who have shared racing with me, sailing with me, like a sale
(18:00):
to prevail, a shake a legor whatever. There are so many groups
Achilles that got me doing hand cycling. I didn't find that for motorsports,
and so I put together Just Hands, which is a program that is at
this track right here, which isat Limerock, Connecticut. But we also
(18:23):
have a car at Spa, whichis the number one Formula one track in
the world in Belgium. We haveone at nurburg Ring in Germany. We
have multiple cars coming up here inthe US this year where you can go
to performance driving. It's not racing, it'll get you into racing, but
(18:44):
it is performance driving on a track. Now, what we're doing at the
Abilities Expo is we are bringing ourone of our cars, which is a
nine to eighty one Porsche Cayman twopoint seven later, which is instingly enough,
has two sets of hand controls leftand right hand controls, because I
(19:06):
want to make sure because people drivein different styles, right and so I
want to make sure that no matterwhat side you drove on, you felt
comfortable. But the car is completelysuited for somebody in a chair to drive.
And so people can take a lookat that car, we can talk
to them about signing up. Youknow, there's certain criteria that you need
to meet in order to do it, but I'd say a fair amount of
(19:32):
people meet that criteria and we'll beshowing that at the expo, and I
will also be giving a workshop,and that workshop is going to be talking
about racing, but it is alsogoing to be screening the trailer of my
new show, and so we cantalk about that at some point too.
(19:52):
But that is what is happening atthe expo for just hands. All right,
let's talk about that new show.Bro no time like the President,
right, So I was really excitedthat I can't tell you the streaming service,
but let's say it's a very largestreaming service that is not Netflix that
(20:17):
you know that followed me. Theproduction company followed me around for about a
year and they documented my journey intoracing. Everything from racing to crashing my
car sixty miles an hour sideways intoa wall and breaking my femur three ribs
and puncturing my lung. Made itall the way to the hospital for that.
(20:41):
Yep. They so they really coveredall of it, all of it,
and that will be streaming in June. But I will be showing that
the trail out the Abilities Expo andthe races that it covers is at Hawkins
Glen, Virginia International Raceway, UHDaytona and the Formula one Track Coda Circuit
(21:11):
of the Americas in Texas in towardsAnd that was the question I was going
to ask you have you had hadan accident in your your vehicle, And
yes you have and and what wasthat like towards the you know, being
in in that type of collision,you know, very anti climactic. Uh
(21:33):
it bad outcome, breaking my leg, but you know, a crash happens
real fast. And I'll actually tellyou the story. Interestingly enough, when
I crashed, I remember crashing,but then the next thing I remember is
being in the ambulance. But what'sactually interesting about the whole thing is that
(21:55):
I was awake through the whole processand you never know how you act in
one of those horrible situations. Areyou a hair on fire type person?
Are you, you know, apaniker? Are you you know? Do
you shut down? Like? Whatkind of person are you in those moments?
And because of the show, mycar was wired up and I was
(22:19):
very calm and very exact, Andwhen the crew came to get me,
we didn't know that my leg wasbroken, and so we put me into
the Now my ribs hurt for sure, and my lung hurt, but I
didn't think it was that bad.I thought it was just a little bit
of a you know, compression ofhitting that hard. When they put me
(22:41):
into the the cab of the truckto bring me back to the paddock,
I put put my hands down onmy thighs. This hand stayed there,
This hand went down, and Ijust looked at the guy. I'm like,
we gotta go, like we gotto go. And it's it's scary
because you also don't know what yourbody body reacts as a quad you get
(23:02):
dysreflexic, like do you whatever.Luckily I didn't get anything. They actually
took me to the emergency room andthey go, well, normally we would
sedate you because this is the mostpainful bone in your body to break.
And I just went, we're good. And so we heard it snap back,
so did my wife and she wasstanding next to me. And the
(23:22):
funniest part about the whole thing,if there is a punchline. I'm six
five. So when they put meinto the ambulance, the door wouldn't close
when they transported me, and theywent, We're gonna have to slide you
up, and I'm like, we'regood. I don't feel it. So
they put a rod all the waydown my femur and look, that stuff
(23:45):
really wasn't the big deal. Thebig deal to me was the ribs because
everything we do is rotation on aplane of your upper body, you know,
leaning over to pick stuff up toall all at right, or all
rotation of your of your of yourribs. That that wasn't fun, but
(24:08):
it's look, there there are twotypes of race car drivers. They're ones
that have crashed and ones that will. There's no there's no middle round,
right, and now I'm one.I'm one that has and let's hope it
doesn't happen again, but I'm sureit will because you know, when you
(24:29):
do something that you push to theedge, then you you are bound to
go over it. I do wantto say this though, just hands,
so that's me and training for racingjust hands is performance driving you are on
a track. But what I wasdoing is not what somebody who goes through
just hands would go through. Itis incredibly safe. So I don't want
(24:55):
anyone listening to this to think,well, let's go do it tourist and
data and if I break my femeor no big deal. I don't want
anyone to think that. So Ijust I just want that to be reiterated.
Now I appreciate that, And andhow has it changed your approach when
you are doing competitive competitive racing.Does it make you a little more cautious
out there or you don't mind sharingthat with us? No, I think
(25:18):
look the like any sport. Youknow, when a tennis player turns around
to get the ball and then theyturn back to the court, they're not
they're not walking around. They havea mental moment where they're clearing everything that
just happened in the past, eventhe five shots that they missed, and
each shot is their first shot mentally. That's how you know extreme athletes,
(25:42):
some very good athletes think. Theysay, well, that happened and that
doesn't mean that it's going to happenagain. Well, I want to get
it back out there right away.I mean, I'm so addicted to this
and every time I go around thatcorner, and that corner is right there,
(26:06):
that's the corner that I hit.Every time I go around that corner,
I'll look at it, but Istill won't think about that crash.
I think. You know anyone's mentalitysports are not. You need to understand
that things happen in life, andif you allow those moments to dictate your
future, then you're not going tomove forward because the one thing that we
(26:32):
can all guarantee is that things gowrong to guarantee right, death taxes and
stuff going wrong, and if youallow those things that go wrong to stop
you, you will never move forward. Period. So look, was it
was it scary? Yeah? Sure, But when you're in the middle of
(26:53):
a race or if you're on track, you are so hyper focused that you're
not really thinking about, well couldI crash? It's not something you want
to think about. Yeah. No, I'm glad, glad to share that.
Hey, Torriston, I'm in California. I won't be at the New
York show, but I'm sure alot of my friends are listening who are
out here. They want to findout more information about by no Hands.
(27:18):
How can I do that? Well, just hands, not no hands.
No hands would be funny because Imean hand or feet out remove it.
So go to just hands dot org. You know we have people flying in
from from actually globally the flying todo our thing. But more importantly,
if you sign up, that helpsus understand where people are. We are
(27:44):
going to be putting a car outin California, we are going to be
putting one in Texas, we aregoing to be putting one in Florida.
So the more we know where peopleare, we'll bring the cars out there
and we'll set up set up campif you will, to make sure that
people can drive. So to justorg and sign up and yeah, that's
how you can get in touch withus. Awesome towards den grills for just
(28:07):
hands. Before you know, Iwanted to go back to one thing.
I know you now hit it allreal good. When you said you're six
y five, I was like,that's why we hit it all because I'm
six six. So we you knowwe what six six sixty five, You're
just trying to make me look badthat you're an inch taller. Man,
Like that's one you just need tosay it, so that'd be like,
listen, shorty, check yourself.I'm an inch taller than you. I
(28:30):
got it. I would do thesame thing. I would do it.
Yeah, just a little bit beforeI let you go, my friend,
anything else you'd like to share withthe audience with one who will be attending
the expo in New York, Thefloor is yours, No, I think.
Look, I'm thankful for a billionsexpot to give me the platform to
spread this. I think, youknow, the more we take advantage of
(28:52):
expos like these and really show thatthere's a need and a want for this,
because our our imunity is very scattered. Without things like abilities expo,
it's hard to find the latest ofthe latest, and so I'm thankful for
that. I hope that vendors,you know, providers all want to go
to this. That's why we bringjust hands there. And you know,
(29:17):
I hope everybody comes and stops buyand says hello, awesome, well towards
and I'm looking forward to seeing youface to face like here in California.
Are if they find me out therea good chance to see you and say
hello and and really appreciate what youdo. Appreciate just your voice in our
community, and keep on doing whatyou're doing. And once once the show
(29:38):
drops on a on a streaming platform, i'ma have to have you on my
entertainment show that I do. Wecan talk about this show even more.
I would love to that. I'dbe honored to do that. All right,
bro, stay well and will's upSon's good man, take care.
A huge shout out to my manTorst and Gross doing some big things with
(30:00):
just hands. Yeah, I madea mistaken I said no hands. He
was like a real real cool guyabout it. We think about hands free
and everything. But yeah, butdon't forget check out Towardston at the Abilities
Expo in Edison, New Jersey.Go to our website and register right now.
You will not be disappointed. Well, it's time for me to make
(30:21):
like a tree and get out ofhere. But until next time, folks,
do me a favorite, Stay healthy, stay safe, and remember I
love you all the life and wheelsup. Oh Alma day. Yeah,
you don't wait for no one,Oh Alma day. Yeah, you don't
(30:51):
wait for no one. It ain'tno top. And when I'm reaching for
the top and I know looking back, I'm only looking forward my goals,
and my goals don't till five whoyou know? And I'm fine, I'll
be fine. I just want youto know, it ain't no stopping when
I'm reaching for the top and Iknow and you know looking back, I'm
only looking forward my goals and mygoals don't define who you know, and
I'm fine, I'll be fine.I just want you to know inspiration,
(31:15):
let it guide you and motivating wecan all move forward and progress just like
a motor case. Ain't know stoppingwhen I'm reaching for the top and I
know looking back, I'm only lookingforward. My goals and my goals I'm
define who you know. And I'mfine. I'll be fine. I just
want you to know, h
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com