WTF world? Why am I again only finding out about another amazing person with a spinal cord injury after they’re dead? This is really starting to piss me off. I guess this goes to show that just because you’re a disability writer apparently in the know, a lot of people can still fly under your radar - like the hardcore Danny “Magoo” Chandler.
Danny Chandler, a C6 quadriplegic, was a hugely popular motocross star in the early 1980’s - a teen phenom no less- who was injured during the Paris Supercross in December 1985. Although he went from badass motocross rider to being a quadriplegic, he was still badass, and made the best of his situation; becoming involved in the DARE program and promoting mountain bike races through the years. He sadly passed away at the young age of 50 last Tuesday. He had been battling illnesses related to his paralysis (bed sore infection, pneumonia, a UTI that went into his kidneys? I hope the cause is eventually released for posterity sake).
And make no mistake. Danny was an icon in the motocross world, still remembered till this day (one look at Google News proves that). Many believe he was the fastest rider that ever lived. He won the U.S. 500cc Motocross Grand Prix in 1982 (his biggest win) and also the Motocross des Nations and the Trophee des Nations in the same year, becoming the first rider to do so.
Ironically, the same day Danny died was also the day his long awaited Dodge Sprinter van, with the Magoo team logo, was finally completed; something Danny had been waiting a long time for, as his first accessible van from the 1980’s was in dire need of being replaced.
RIP Danny. I wish I had known about you sooner.
- Ashley
Fiolek, Deaf Motocross Superstar
- Sam Schmidt Survives SCI and Promotes Auto Racing for
People with Disabilities
- Ms.
Wheelchair America Races Autocross in Houston, Texas
