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A film by Eric Perlman & Mark Wellman
Suggested Retail Price: $29.95 VHS, $34.95 PAL- Order here ..

“Don’t give up, and never give in.
If you can’t ever loose, then you wouldn’t ever win.”

Mark Wellman

A new breed of paraplegics and amputees crank up their mountain bikes, race trucks, land sails, and big wall climbing gear in a quest for new barriers to break. From Yosemite to Alaska, the Colorado Rockies to the salt flats of Nevada…Today’s disabilities revolution is measured in rotations per second.

 


There are more than fifty million disabled people in America. Everyone works through challenging difficulties at some point in their lives ….emotional, mental or physical. This is a movie that deals with that side of life and delivers this simple message: “Don’t give up, and never give in. If you can’t ever loose, then you wouldn’t ever win.”

Even the music of this program features the power and inspiration of the disabled experience. Despite being stricken with muscular dystrophy, Rickie and Robbie Heisner formed a full time touring and recording band, VAN GOGH. Their driving melodies and evocative lyrics add depth and dimension the exploits of the disabled athletes.

WHEELS OF FIRE is more than a great sports action movie. It's pure motivation. Training, courage and innovative equipment have taken Mark Wellman higher, faster and further into the wilderness than most able-bodied people will ever go. The former park ranger has become a national hero for his ascents of Yosemite's El Capitan and Half Dome. He's been invited to address major corporations, throw out opening day baseballs and meet with two Presidents of the United States. But Wellman is more than just a paraplegic climber with a national reputation, he's a multi-sport athlete, driven to push his outermost limits.

Using the latest technology in materials and biomechanical concepts, Wellman and other outdoor adventurers with disabilities have developed and adapted custom equipment to challenge the mountains, oceans and skies. Wellman and his "disabled" friends ski across Alaska’s forbidding Ruth Glacier, mountain bike the Colorado Rockies, climb Mt. Whitney, race land sailing machines across the salt flats of Nevada, and blast the mud-pits of competition off-road truck racing.

Paralyzed from the waist down in a climbing accident, Wellman fought through the pain and depression of loss, and turned his disability into a driving motivation to overcome his obstacles. He doesn't just cope with the difficulties of his life, he dominates them.

Wellman finds kindred spirits everywhere he goes. Skiing across the Alaskan wilderness, he is joined by multi-sports athletes, Mike Crenshaw, a leg amputee, and Willie Stuart, and arm amputee. Land sailing across the Nevada desert is paraplegic, Joe Bohl, a champion racer who didn’t become an athlete until after becoming disabled. Cranking their mountain bikes across the Colorado Rockies, daredevils John Davis, Sarah Will and multi-gold medal winner, Greg Mannino show no regard for personal safety or gravity. Bashing his 800 horsepower truck through the mud-choked racetracks of Middle America, paraplegic Evan Evans battles the able-bodied head to head and beats them all.

Wellman and his friends do more than just push against physical obstacles. They use their force of will to overcome what seems, the worst that life has to offer. As Wellman says, "Wilderness adventure took my legs. But what it gave back was far more important...the sharp edge of risk, the power of teamwork, and a life full of challenge and joy."

No athlete ever achieves greatness without serious motivation. Wellman and his friends use the demands of their disabilities to drive them to the edge, past the pain and despair of loss to new levels of triumph and joy. They have made adversity into an ally. As Wellman says, "Everyone faces the world with different abilities and disabilities. It takes passion and willpower to blow through the barriers. Those are the WHEELS OF FIRE that move us to the top.”

 

Suggested Retail Price: $29.95 VHS, $34.95 PAL- Order here ...

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