Paul Thacker believes that anything is possible if you put your mind to it—and he's got an impressive list of career accomplishments to prove it.
Originally breaking onto the scene as a racer, Thacker soon made the transition to freestyle riding and his career skyrocketed when he became the first legitimate rider to jump a snowmobile 301 feet through the air. He is now a multi-time snowmobile distance jump world record holder, a seasoned pro at Winter X Games and a familiar face in the backcountry.
Thacker’s life changed, though, in November 2010. While practising for the X Games, he came crashing down on his snowmobile and ended up with a serious spinal injury, causing him to become a paraplegic. But since then, Thacker has never given up on his dreams as a professional snowmobiler or his mission to inspire others.
In a recent interview, he made it clear to SnoRiders that the world will be seeing more of him this snowmobile season.
Since the accident, what have you been up to? I’ve just tried to continue working in the industry and riding. (I’m) doing some ambassador work, some announcing and TV commentating. I’m actually busier now than I was before. Polaris's engineering department built me a pretty cool seat so I’m able to get out and ride. I raced Winter X Games last year and got invited again this year. I was able to get out and do some backcountry riding this past spring and I’m definitely looking forward to another good season of going bigger, farther, faster and all that stuff.
You’ve been involved in Mystik Lubricants' Terracross Championship as well? I raced last year and then I was a part of it this year as well. I did the colour commentating for CBS. For next season, we’re definitely working on a Hero Adaptive class and trying to get some more adaptive athletes and maybe some wounded veterans participating.
What was it like coming back to competitive snowmobiling? When I got hurt, I didn’t expect to be able to compete again at X Games so I was pretty excited to have an opportunity to do so. It’s such a cool event and such a great group of people that participate. I was honoured and stoked to be a part of it.
Tell me about the new Paul Thacker Spinal Cord Recovery Foundation you just started. Well, I think there’s a lot of people out there in the same condition, so to speak, as myself, and I would like to be able to help more people get out and do the things they did before they got injured. It’s fully possible. People sometimes need a bit of a push or help financially or whatever the case may be. The goal is to help in any way, shape or form. It’s brand new. We’re just starting, so it will take a considerable amount of industry support and donations to be able to start making a difference.
How can people contribute? If you want to make a donation, you can go right to PT11.com. It’s really simple. It’s just a PayPal account. Once we start raising some funds, we will be able to give back. We’ll be posting everything we do and (stories about) who we are helping.
How can individuals take advantage of this program? They can reach out to me. It’s really easy to contact me through the site. There’s an email contact right there. Hopefully, we will be able to make a difference as time goes on.
Why are you doing this? The industry has done a lot for me personally over the years. I’ve made a living doing this stuff basically through fan support. Without the fans and the folks out there cheering us on, there wouldn’t be any companies that want to sponsor us. So it’s an opportunity for me to transcend being just an athlete and do some stuff on a bigger scale and help give back to the industry that’s given so much to me.
You’ve also been doing some work with Ekso Bionics and the company’s robot suit. What’s that like? It’s basically a robot exoskeleton that allows me to stand up and walk around. It’s a pretty cool piece of technology that’s just kind of started but the sky’s the limit. It’s pretty amazing.
After Winter X Games, what are your plans for the rest of the snowmobile season? Hopefully, (I’ll) get out and ride some backcountry and probably do a couple of other snocross nationals, depending on which ones have an adaptive race. Last year, the (Tesoro) Arctic Man had an adaptive class and it sounds like we’re going to do the same thing again this year. (I’m) just trying to stay busy doing ambassador stuff as well as promoting the foundation. I’m going to try and get an Ekso Bionic suit to Alaska here in the next month or so.
Sounds like you’ll be busy. If there’s one message you’d like to send out to other riders in your position, what would it be? That you can pretty much do anything you did before. You just have to have the right mindset and the right support group. You can pretty much accomplish anything. You just have to put your mind to it.
Good advice. Thanks for catching up with us, Paul! Before you go, is there anyone you’d like to recognize? Yeah, the group of sponsors that have been with me since pretty much the beginning: Monster Energy, Slednecks, Polaris, Oakley, Rockwell Watches, HMK Snowmobiling and C&A Pro Skis.
Paul Thacker is also sponsored by Kicker, Shoei, Asterisk, Fox Racing, Ogio and Bikeman Performance.
Comments