Not NASCAR but nice story: Picking the recipient of the first Charlie Chamblee Honor Award was an easy task for Huntsville Speedway owner Terry Sanford Saturday night at his annual awards banquet. Hobby Stock driver Heath Mullins, who has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair took home the award. Sanford created the special award to honor Chamblee, who is considered the dean of racing at the quarter-mile asphalt track. Chamblee was forced to retire from racing near the end of the season after he was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer outside a lung. Despite weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Chamblee refused to give up and was even on hand to watch his driver Casey Bishop capture a 150-lap Late Model Stock Car feature near the end of the season. Racing for Mullins was anything but simple. Because of the cerebral palsy, he drove with hand controls made by his grandfather, Jimmy Williams. The hand controls were attached to the steering column. With his left hand, Heath pushed up to accelerate and pushed down to brake. He drove with his right hand. Mullins still managed to finish 16th in the points standings and held his own in a class where fender-bending is part of the game.(Alabama Live)(11-19-2002) (11-18-2002)
