No Arm No Problem – The Amazing Story of Chris Wiers
No Arm No Problem – The Amazing Story of Chris Weir
There aren’t too many stories that have the power to yank us right up out of our seat and make the best of our abilities and situation, but Chris Weirs, a friend of us here at Speed Society, might just have the background to make that possible.
Born and raised in Caledonia, MI, Weirs joined the Marine Corps right out of high school. His first tour in 2004 consisted of building bases in the Anbar Province along with raids along the Syrian border towns. During this time, Weirs was able to return home without a hitch in his physical health.
On Chris’s second tour in 2005, he would find himself in Iraq in August of 2005. It would be his responsibility to search for improvised explosives and mines along with clearing the roads for resupply convoys. A bit later that year, a humvee that Chris was traveling in would hit one of the IEDs that they were searching for and Chris would be sent home shortly after because of his injuries.
After life in the Corps, Chris would bounce around, trying to figure out what this life thing is all about, much like many of us are on a day to day basis. After several different lifestyles and jobs, Chris would end up working at a custom motorcycle shop where he would work for two weeks before wrecking his own personal bike and paralyzing one of his arms. In most cases, this string of unfortunate situations would cause many folks to take a step back and look at life, quitting out on all that it has to offer, if only for a moment. Not Chris!
Shortly after, he would find himself shipping back home to Michigan and trying out community college and thus hating life. He would then end up working for Steve Morris at New Era Racecraft and eventually go back to school again. This back and forth would become a theme with Chris’s car collection as well!
All during this time, Chris would be drag racing his fixed up 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger that he would find a personal best of 11.5-seconds at 119mph in the quarter. Racing was always a passion of Chris’s as he tells us anecdotes of helping out with motor swaps when he was younger.
After tiring of the drag racing scene, though, Chris would sell the Dart and bounce around between cars and bikes, trying to find a new love which he believes he has found again, at least for now, in a 2014 Ford Mustang GT/CS, a car which he would begin to track race and do a bit of autocross in, driving tactfully around corners and through slaloms, a feat many would consider impossible with the use of one arm.
This is where we’re left with the tale of Chris Weirs. Stories like this one just go to show you that many of the obstacles that you face in life are purely mental molehills that have been constructed into mountains. Go out there and get it because life isn’t going to come around handing out freebies anytime soon! The time to seize it is now!
